Help Stella Win & learn how Bob touched the Parthenon.

On my first visit to Greece some years ago, I stood on top of the Acropolis in Athens with my wife, Nancy.  I was disappointed to find ourselves at a fence in front of the Parthenon.  That marked the point as to how close tourists could get to the Parthenon.  You couldn't go into it, you could only look at it.  Which meant for me, someone blind, that I couldn't really experience the Parthenon at all. 

Several years later, Nancy and I again visited Greece.  This time, however, I had written to various authorities asking permission to be allowed to go beyond the fence and at least touch the Parthenon.  And believe it or not, permission was given, and it actually happened!  In fact, I was not only allowed to just touch the marble of that famous temple, but was given a tour inside it. 


I wrote an article describing that adventure, and it was published in the Braille Monitor, the magazine of The National Federation of the Blind.  My story, Another  Wonder, can be read at
https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm05/bm0501/bm050103.htm


I was contacted late last year by Stella Kyriakopoulos, a Greek-American graduate film major at New York University.  She wanted to create a short film for her University work, and also to enter in the Greek America Foundation Film and Photo Week short film contest.  Stella, who is not handicapped, decided to have as her theme for her short film ,of all things, a visually impaired tourist visiting Greece. 


By some very diligent searching on the web, or maybe by some miracle, she ran across my article published back in 2005.  After many E-mails, many phone calls, a visit by Stella to Athens, and a visit by her to my home, she produced her ten-minute video for the contest. 


Her short film entitle "Bob Goes to the Parthenon," is essentially a documentary of my story, "Another Wonder."  The video includes interviews Stella made with the Greek citizens I met and talked about in that story, those interviews done in Athens and even on top of the Acropolis.  In Stella's visit to my home, she videoed me giving my thoughts and views on blindness, on the need for those blind to aspire to independence, and also shows me doing everyday tasks around my home that some might think a blind person couldn't do. 


I invite you to watch the video at the website, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cAWTc5sSCE&list=PLVBcTpng8Az22T2VrOaPsp5AWQBrraEgj&index=1


An alternative way to watch the video and vote "like" for it is to go to the website www.youtube.com , then put in Bob goes to the Parthenon into the search box.  Once that opens, click on the link to 2013 GFFW short film contest. 


Stella put her heart and soul into her video, making trips from New York to Athens, and New York to Illinois.  Let's help her win the short film contest by voting "like" on the YouTube website.  And don't hesitate to forward this message to your friends and family. 


Note:  for those using a screen reader, you may have some difficulty on the YouTube website finding where to click on "like."  I know I did, using JAWS.  Unfortunately, I have no tips on how to facilitate that other than perhaps getting some sighted help. 


Bob Gardner

Blackhawk Chapter

NFB of Illinois

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