by Susan Glass

To speak with Teddie-joy is to know a voice that sparkles with creativity and spunk. She was born in Los Angeles in 1933, and according to her memoir that
she's currently writing, her beginnings were anything but auspicious.

"First I had to survive my childhood." This is the opening sentence of Teddie-joy's book. She and her baby sister were left alone by their mother in an
apartment for 3 days before Teddie-joy was 3 years old. By the time Teddie-joy was 4, she'd gotten rickets from malnutrition. At one point she was nearly
killed in a car accident. Finally she was rescued by her grandmother and life started improving. She's spent much of her life in Southern California, including
two years in San Diego and two in Fresno. She'd always had a visual impairment, but at the age of 35, she completely lost her central vision.

Encouraged by a rehab counselor who was also a friend, Teddie-Joy attended an NFB convention in Chicago.

"I walked in, and there were all these blind people, everywhere! Canes! Braille! I burst into tears. I thought, this isn't me; this can't be my life now;
I don't belong here."

Her friend comforted her, and she stayed for the duration of the convention, and even joined NFB, but quit after two years "due to its controlling, only
one way to be blind philosophy."

At around this same time in her life, Teddie-Joy met Mitch Pomerantz who told her about CCB. She joined the organization in 1991, and has never left.

Her life's accomplishments are many: At age 54, she earned a degree in Gerontology from USC. In addition to working full-time, she served on the CCB board,
started the ACB Alliance on Aging, and co-founded the ACB Multicultural Concerns Affiliate. She regularly attends ACB conventions, and for a number of
years, hosted the Friends In Art Annual Prose and Poetry Reading. She's currently legislative chair for the Glendale Burbank chapter as well as its Vice
President, and she also works on the Governmental Affairs Committee. Just recently, she was appointed as a board member to the Public Authority For In
Home Supportive Services for Los Angeles County. Years earlier, she'd worked for this same organization as a paid employee. An acronym for the organization
is PASC, standing for Personal Assistance Services Council.

"I don't know what people mean when they say they've retired," she quips. "I can't imagine not working."

I ask her to talk more about her memoir. "Because of my life span, 1933 to now, it's about a lot more than me. In the sixties when women's lib evolved
and Betty Friedan wrote her Feminine Mystique, I said 'She's talking to me'."

Teddie-Joy participates in a writing workshop that meets regularly in Pasadena. It's taught by a woman from Serbia who has published 39 books.

"If I wanted to, I could enroll in writing workshops taught at the Braille Institute. But for some people there, well, the Braille Institute is their whole
life. I sometimes feel that I don't fit into any one niche. I have some peripheral vision now, albeit marginal. I'm not sighted; I'm not blind. I shouldn't
have to be either of these things; I'm me; I'm both. That in and of itself is an experience worth articulating, worth writing about."

Since all good writers read, I ask what books and topics intrigue her. "I'm a big fan of American history and American biographies. Just now I'm in the
middle of reading The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I like her writing. She lets you get to know her biographical subjects as human
beings. Her writing is never dry. I like mysteries also. Just now I'm reading the latest John Grisham book which is about coal miners, set in Appalachia."

I ask Teddie-Joy what advice she'd give to other writers.
"Write what matters to you in life. Be personal. Don't gloss over life's realities."

And what advice does she offer young women, both blind and sighted? "Get in touch with your real self and be who you are. Don't be who you think other
people want you to be."

CCB and ACB mean a lot to Teddie-Joy. "I came to these communities after enduring many losses. I like the work I can do here. I like my friends here. And
when I go to conventions, I attend as many mixers as I can. I want to get to know people."

Teddie-Joy is planning to be in Dallas this year, and I for one, am looking forward to hanging out with her.