Tag: Visual impairment

Blindness and Disability, Science

Survived My First Exam

Chrys Buckley

bioI had my first exam today. I was nervous, but I had studied hard for it. It went really well! If anything I was overprepared. I really took the time to make sure I understood everything. There were a few things I was struggling with and I looked them up online or later in my textbook b/c I didn’t want to get tripped up.

The exam covered a lot of material, especially the last chapter of the book that was on the test, which was an overview of all the parts of the cell, and was by far the longest chapter we’d covered, and was really dense, chock full of parts and processes and terms and tons of information that was different than the previous material (we basically went from some basic biochemistry stuff, building blocks, lots and lots of chemistry, to cell biology and there were just so many processes to understand).

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Blindness and Disability, Science

The Big Move

Chrys Buckley

PdxtripOct2009 048-2Fax From the Future: (First off, BTW that is going to be my catchphrase for whenever my current 2015 self wants to interject some thoughts into these old posts from much longer ago. This one was from September 2009. And the catchphrase is a reference to The Office) It is so weird to look back on this now. I have such a clear memory of walking into my first class. It was a night class, and it was still light out when I walked in, not knowing a single person or if I would be any good at science, kinda waiting for someone to tell me I shouldn’t be there b/c of my eyesight, and having all this excitement and fear. I had never gone to a school with such big classes and just had no idea what to expect. I remember I walked in listening to my iPod Classic (still have it, what else could accommodate my massive music collection?) and Radiohead’s “No Surprises” was playing as I walked into Hoffman Hall. It was the beginning of a really amazing time of my life that is still going on.  Anyway, on to the real post:

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Blindness and Disability, Science, Writing

Yes, this is my Final Answer…

Chrys Buckley

166696_10151441891358872_563138313_n…for the million dollar question in the game of What the Fuck Am I Doing with My Life?

Anyone who’s been following my blog this summer knows that I’ve had some back and forth thoughts about whether to start school in the fall or to attend a training center for the visually-impaired in Denver. But what you don’t know unless you’re one of the unfortunate people to have spent a lot of time with me in recent months is how intense and unending this indecision has been. I thought for sure I would go to school no matter what. Then I was unsure. Then I was certain about the center. Then indecision. Then school. Then the center. Then back and forth again and again, ad nauseam. And each time, I was SURE that I had come to a final decision.

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Blindness and Disability

Blogging About Blindness

Chrys Buckley

300px-Blindicon.svgLast night I wrote a post about the convention I just went to for the National Federation of the Blind, and about the Colorado training center for the blind that I want to attend. That post was inspired in part by the fact that I just started reading the book Freedom for the Blind by Jim Omvig..

It is an online book which can be read here, Freedom for the Blind. I am only on the second chapter and already it is stirring many thoughts, feelings, insights and internal discussions, and I can already tell that it’s worth reading. I would highly encourage my blog readers to check it out, especially those that are my friends, or those that have other blind and visually-impaired people in their lives.

My visual impairment is a topic that figures prominently in my life but one I have not talked about much, so I think I’m going to do some blogging about it. Already there are several posts swimming around in my mind. Here are some of them:

-The word “blind”

-The “hierarchy of Sight” as the NFB puts it

-Normalcy and Blindness

And lots, lots more. Stay tuned, it’s going to be interesting and exploratory and thought-provoking and awesome.

~Chrys

Currently Listening:
“Less Than Strangers” – Tracy Chapman – sad song, and I’ve been kinda sad lately, so I guess I’m okay that it makes me sad. I freakin’ love her voice. She captures so much feeling.

You and me
Had some history
Had a semblance of honesty
All that has changed now
We shared words
Only lovers speak
How can it be
We are less than strangers

Oh it hurts to lose in love
Let anger and cruelty win
It’s unfair that you doubt your feelings
And that you’ll ever love again
I know that hearts can change
Like the seasons and the wind
But when I said forever
I thought that we’d always be friends

You and me had some history
Had a semblance of honesty
All that has changed now
We shared words
Only lovers speak
How can it be
We are less than strangers

I thought I saw you yesterday
I thought I passed you on the street
I swear I saw your face
I was not imagining
That you stole a glance my way
You walked away from me
My heart it may be broken
But my eyes are dry to see

You and me had some history
Had a semblance of honesty
All that has changed now
We shared words
Only lovers speak
How can it be
We are less than strangers

Blindness and Disability

My First National Blind Convention and a Change in Plans

Chrys Buckley

Detroit HotelIt’s after midnight and I can’t sleep so I’m up, pouring over some reading material, distracting myself and thinking things over, and I thought it might be a good time to (finally) post.

At the beginning of this month, I went to a convention for the National Federation of the Blind. It was almost an accident – I hadn’t really given much thought to attending. Years ago, I went to a state meeting with a local friend, and had a kind of hard time at the meeting and hadn’t gone back. This year, I applied to their scholarship program (and every other scholarship program I could think of or find) before I left for India. Then, about a month before the national convention, I got a call from the president of my state affiliate. He told me I hadn’t gotten a scholarship, but offered for me to go to the convention. They were doing this College Leadership Program, for a handful of students who didn’t get a scholarship, trying to get more young people involved in the organization, and so they would cover everything – airfare, hotel, registration, even a food stipend. Did I want to go?

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Blindness and Disability, Music

On the Banks of the Ganga (Ganges)

Chrys Buckley

Varanasi PanormaDays are starting to run into each other. It’s very hard to keep track of what’s what day of the week and date. So I suppose it was a few days ago that our group took an overnight train to Varanasi. As mentioned in the previous post, the idea of taking the train made me want to pretty much just shit my pants. I am still alive and that is good.

The train ride was pretty hard for me. I mean, we got locks and chains for our stuff, and the people in our section were fine, and I felt like my group was a big protective unit, but with all those horror stories, I was still pretty freakin’ freaked. It was okay though. There were people just sitting on the ground in the train. A few of our group members awoke (it was an overnight train) to opened pockets, but no one had anything stolen. We were all really careful about where to put our valuables.

So then we arrived in Varanasi and spent the first day just getting oriented. It was not the same level of chaos as Delhi, but still very crazy and there are a LOT more animals here. it seems there are always cows and with that lots of cow shit, right outside the guest house where we are staying. Down by the ghats, which is like the riverbank, there are goats (including a goat that we saw in a t-shirt!), lots and lots of dogs, cats, monkeys, and so on. In fact the other day, a monkey jumped onto the roof of the guest house, which shook the whole building. Earlier today, I saw a water buffalo just cruising down the street with a cow. Animal central.

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Blindness and Disability, Writing

Delhi, Delhi, Delhi

Chrys Buckley
Delhi, India
Lodi Gardens

It hasn’t even been 48 hours since my last post, and it has been a whirlwind. This is so unlike anything I’ve ever experienced that it’s hard to find a way to put it into words.

It is total chaos for one thing, I mean just insanity, but it also sort of works. The streets are just nuts. I mean I am afraid for my life every time I walk into the streets for any reason, which is almost all the time, as there aren’t sidewalks like in the states, it’s just mad chaos with motorcycles, rickshaws (of the bike and auto variety), cars, cabs, horses, dogs, COWS, people, bikes, etc going every which way, honking constantly, with pretty much no traffic rules whatsoever.

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Blindness and Disability, Music, Writing

A rough sketch of my book – Moonchild: A Memoir of Albinism

Chrys Buckley

moonchildimagesNote: This description can also be found on the Personal Essay and Memoir page.

I am albino. Albinism is a recessive genetic condition that means my skin and hair are white, and I’m legally blind. After a sheltered and chaotic childhood, during which I worried that my parents would murder me in my sleep, I felt more different on the inside than I am on the outside. I lost (and found) myself in alternative rock music and counted down the days until I could escape to college. I felt eclipsed.

Moonchild: A Memoir of Albinism details my freshman year at college. As I dealt with finding my way around college, I had intense social anxiety. I didn’t know how to talk about albinism with people, so I didn’t. I was at school on a creative writing scholarship, and I had writer’s block as big as the Great Pyramid of Giza. I wasn’t even sure if I felt anymore. The eclipse deepened.

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Blindness and Disability, Metaphysics, Writing

Just Introducing Myself

Chrys Buckley

photo-4 newI’m a writer currently living on Orcas Island. I do fiction, poetry, essay, memoir and more. I also do freelance copy-editing and writing coaching, so if you’re interested in either, feel free to contact me for details.

I have a booth at the local Saturday Market where I have stories, memoir chapters and poetry for sale in little chapbooks, as well as CDs of a live performance I did last summer where I read writing pieces to an audience to raise money to get to a writing retreat at Esalen put on by The Sun magazine. Again, if interested in any of the above, contact me and I’ll hook you up.

My main jaunt at the Market booth is tarot reading. I use the Aleister Crowley Thoth deck for card readings of spreads ranging from one card to fifteen cards, with tons in between that address all sorts of specific or general issues. I offer over-the-phone and in-person readings by appointment, and incorporate astrology and numerology into longer appointment readings.

My current project and biggest time consumption is a memoir about my college years and the “school of life.” It’s titled Learning to Swim and I’ll probably post pieces of it here at this site. I have albinism, a genetic condition that affects 1 in 17,000 Americans. For those who aren’t familiar with it, albinism results in little or no pigment, and greatly reduced visual acuity (often legal blindness). I think I have an interesting story to tell as a girl growing up in America with a disability and looking different, and experiencing the world in all its anguish and beauty in a very deep way. I want to hold up the experiences to the light and let the reader peer at them very closely, the way I peer closely at everything.

Of the first major draft of the project, my first reader says:

“This is a book about vision (literally and metaphorically), about extreme courage, seeking to make your way and not settling for less, with a musical soundtrack that serves as its own journey providing clarity and perception along the way.” ~Stargazer

~Chrys

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