As you all know, Maine is a very tight-knit community with close connections everywhere you turn. If you don’t know someone lost in the tragedy, someone you know does. It is unfathomable that such a nightmare happened right in our own backyards. Many people in the community thought that something like this couldn’t happen to “us.” There is so much pain in our hearts, in the state, and especially in the deaf community; the loss of love and light is palpable. Many folks are feeling ripple effects from this tragedy that can’t be ignored. We are all coping with this great loss in our own way. If you feel like you could use an extra bit of support, we have put together this list of resources that may be helpful to you: National Deaf Therapists Directory: https://nationaldeaftherapy.com/therapists/ A useful directory of deaf therapists currently taking clients. Maine Crisis Hotline: 888-568-1112 “If you or someone you know is in crisis, call to speak with a trained crisis clinician 24/7. Our Mobile Crisis Team operates 24/7 & can respond to meet the need wherever individuals or families are.” NAMI Maine Help Line: 1-800-464-5767 Call or text for general mental health support and resources. Intentional Warm Line: 1-866-771-9276 “Our 24/7 mental health support line for adults (aged 18 and older) offers free mutual conversations with a trained peer specialist who has lived experiences with mental health recovery.” Teen Text Support Line: 207-515-8398 Available from NAMI Maine every day from 12-10pm for youth 13-24 years old.

Good afternoon friends, I'm writing with some sad news to break: Chris Kuell, our Editor-in-Chief for ROSC's disability themed literary magazine Breath & Shadow has passed away at 60 years old, surrounded by people who loved him. As the person who interacted with Chris directly on a regular basis to keep the quarterly issues coming out for Breath & Shadow, I can say from my heart that he will be terribly missed. Chris was just an enormously wonderful, warm human being, and his loss will be felt deeply throughout our community. After reading his obituary, I wanted to share it with you all because it was written with the utmost love and care, and I couldn't imagine a better way to honor the spirit of all he brought into the world than share these beautiful words: https://www.hullfuneralservice.com/obituary/Christopher-Kuell Christopher Kuell passed away on Tuesday, February 21st, 2023, at 60 years of age. He died in his home, surrounded by family members and love. Chris led such a unique and interesting life that it is impossible to represent him in a few short paragraphs. He was born in 1962 in Salem, Massachusetts to Paul and Diana Kuell, one of six children. He was a brilliant and hardworking man, earning his Ph. D. in Chemistry from the University of Vermont in 1990 and working as a research scientist with Ciba Geigy before losing his sight at the age of 35. Although becoming blind due to diabetes completely changed his life, Chris applied his brilliant mind, iron will, and open heart to building a new, beautiful, and independent life. He learned to cook, to travel, to play guitar, to shop, to play board games, and anything else a sighted person could do. He became involved with the National Federation of the Blind, attending and leading events, and collaborating with other blind and visually impaired people to make the world a better place for people with disabilities. He also began writing, publishing articles about life as a newly blind person and blind father, which ignited a passion for the written word that motivated him for the rest of his life. Five years after losing his sight, another major health complication threatened this newly built life. However, his brother David’s decision to donate a kidney to Chris in 2002 saved him. Sadly, David passed away in 2013, but his gift allowed Chris to live another 21 years. When his children were young, Chris dedicated himself to his family - cooking dinner, quizzing his children Nicholas and Grace on multiplication tables while they were in the bathtub, and listening to bedtime books-on-tape at night. As the kids went off to college, Chris pursued a host of other passions. He applied his Chemistry degree to brewing delicious “Blind Wino” brand wine. He began editing Breath and Shadow, a literary magazine dedicated to publishing authors with disabilities. He helped run a monthly book club for friends and members of his community. With his fellow parishioners at Saint James’ Episcopal Church, he prepared food and washed dishes for Dorothy Day, our local soup kitchen. His most recent labor of love was publishing his book, Morris, just a few short months ago. If you want to know something about who Chris was, what he valued, or how he saw the world, you’re in luck - he put his heart and soul into Morris and left it for us to read and re-read whenever we need to be close to him. Chris was an exceptional man who will be remembered as the blind guy who walked his kids back and forth to elementary school, a faithful and dedicated member of St. James’ Church, a fierce advocate for the disabled, marginalized, and disenfranchised. He will be remembered for his quick wit, his passion, his sense of humor. Those who survive him will miss him immensely: his wife, Christine DiMeglio; his children, Grace Kuell, Nicholas Kuell, and daughter-in-law Alexis Willoughby; his siblings: Cathy and Kenny Halchak, Sandra Kuell, Michael Kuell and Jenn Cobb, Jon Kuell and Maureen Buckley; his soul siblings: Tammy Kuell, Lisa Patey, Mike DiMeglio, Scott Keim; his gang of admiring nieces and nephews. To know him was to laugh with him, think with him, lean on him knowing he would always be there, to cry with him, ask his advice, pray with him, talk books or sports or - if you were brave - politics with him. Chris radiated love - love for life, and love for those lucky enough to know him. He will be missed by countless people and in a myriad of ways. We are forever grateful for the gift of knowing Chris Kuell, and for knowing that this wonderful man is now at peace. A service celebrating the life of Chris Kuell was held on March 11, at 11 am, at Saint James’ Episcopal Church, 25 West Street in Danbury CT 06810, with a short reception to follow in the Parish Hall. In lieu gifts of any kind, consider a tax-deductible contribution to Resources for Organizing Social Change (ROSC, PO Box 2444, Augusta, ME 04338-2444), the parent organization for Breath & Shadow (https://www.abilitymaine.org/breath) a quarterly journal of disability culture and literature, where Chris served as editor-in-chief. Include a note with the check that your donation is for Breath & Shadow in memory of Chris Kuell. ROSC is a public 501(c)3 charity. And if you would like to purchase a copy of Morris for yourself or to pass along to a friend - Link to get a copy of Morris: https://www.amazon.com/Morris-Chris-Kuell/dp/163988677X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2HMPMOGD0INCN&keywords=chris+kuell&qid=1677091848&sprefix=chris+kuell%2Caps%2C76&sr=8-1&ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=521c36e2-fb05-4f72-aecb-aca572f9d0b7 In deep gratitude for all Chris brought to our community and to the world, Sass & Ability Maine

Issue 1 of Volume 20 is now available to read here!

Issue 3 of Volume 19 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"Nevermore" by Paula Hammond -"Dordogne" by Christian Ward -"Suicidality: Neither Solution nor Sin" by Lindsey Morrison Grant -"Weeds" and "Empty" by Sharmon Gazaway -"Ida and Richard Forever" by Renee Cronley -"Kerfuffle: A Novel That Speaks Spoof to Power" reviewed by Denise Noe -"Posey" by Anastasia Jill -"Unlost" by Shannon Connor Winward -"2020: The Year Gluten and Covid Became My Enemies" by Eleni Stephanides -"My Love Is Pure" and "Space Junk" by Virginia Betts -"Reverential Notes from a Late Summer in Socorro, New Mexico, 1945" by Nick Hilbourn -"Shopping Hell" by Judy Lunsford -"Hermit" by Megan Denese Mealor -"Lost in Space" by Ginger Gannaway -"My MS Journey: Recalculating" by Judith Krum -"I Take This to The Grave" by Emily Kurc We also have three fresh publications by our contributors in our New on The Bookshelf!

Issue 1 of Volume 19 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"I Am the Tornado" by Kate Meyer-Currey -"Goblin Economics" by Dawn Vogel -"Mailtime" By Kyle E. Miller -"The Body As Disposable" by Hannah Soyer -"After" by Katie Kent -"Abolition of Touch" by Cali Linfor -"Sunset" by Susan Eve Haar -"Wishes" by Frances Koziar -"My Weakness is Breathing" by Natascha Graham -"The Tulips Come Back" by Ann Chiappetta -"FutureFest 2024" by Erika Jahneke -"Stirring Memories" by Kathleen Grieger -"Through The Dark" by Stella Peg Carruthers -"A Ward Against the Graeae" and "From The Drowned" by Lorraine Schein We also have three fresh publications by our contributors in our New on The Bookshelf!

Issue 4 of Volume 18 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"Rubble" by C. A. Francis -"We Need To Talk About Mental Health" by Liz Argall -"Cheering For the Dinosaurs" by Jennifer Lee Rossman -"Fatigue" by Tricia Johnson -"Dancing Along Fence Lines" by Terry Sanville -"After Watching the Skeleton Twins Together" by Zach Semel -"Children of the Sixth Mass Extinction" by Elizabeth Devine -"The Meaning of Silence" by Margaret McDonald -"Surgery" and "Two Memorable Dawns" by Wesley D. Sims -"On Her Disability" by Jordyn Taylor -"On Golden Sands" by K.G. Delmare -"Leo’s Bite" and "Roar" by Veronica Ashenhurst -"How The Witches Affected People with Limb Differences" by Denise Noe We also have three fresh publications by our contributors in our New on The Bookshelf!

Issue 3 of Volume 18 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"Cage-Free" by Sharmon Gazaway -"Average Jane" by Morgan Krueger -"Don’t Listen to Me" by Juliet Corwin -"The Tsunami" by Cat Morgan -"Reunion 100" by Shawn Jacobson -"A Thousand Alarming Presentiments of Evil" by Farah Rose Smith -"Lost and Found" by Wendy Kennar -"Westminster Bridge 2020" by Virginia Betts -"The Medical MonSter" by Joanne Mark -"Christmas 2020" and "In the Caribbean" by Sergio A. Ortiz -"A Song of Quartz and Queens" by Starlight Matis -"Biography" by Colleen Anderson -"Life Lines" by Stella Peg Carruthers We also have two fresh publications by our contributors in our New on The Bookshelf! Note from the Web Manager: I want to extend my sincerest apologies to our readers, contributors, and the Ability Maine team. This issue was supposed to be uploaded days ago, but my personal health has been in such a poor state that I was unable to address it until today. I'm dealing with multiple post-covid problems on top of my normal disabilities, and I am... struggling right now in many regards. But I will continue do my best making sure that Breath and Shadow is available when expected in the future. Again, I can't apologize enough, and I hope that this hasn't caused any problems for anyone.

Issue 2 of Volume 18 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"Echo" by Virginia Betts -"A Time of Poppies" by Sharmon Gazaway -"Salvage" by Mark A. Murphy -"Presenting Well: The Mental Health Catch-22" by Lindsey Morrison Grant -"Requiem" by Susan M. Silver -"Sideswipe" by Susan Eve Haar -"This Fading Flower" by J. Elliott Toren -"On Falling" by Despy Boutris -"Sometime Between Breakfast and Lunch" by Erica Mones -"Fireworks" by Caitlin Cacciatore -"Restraint" by Lisa Reynolds -"Hand Signals" by Carol Farnsworth -"Necessary Discomfort: A Review of ‘Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories From The 21st Century’" by Chris Kuell We also have three fresh publications by our contributors in our New on The Bookshelf!

Please enjoy Mike Reynolds' article originally published in the Maine Campus 2/2/98! Talking with Travis Roy is a weird experience, not that he is a a strange guy or anything, but the reality that he's a college student, not a media monolith sunk in as I conversed with him about a multitude of topics, from remembering when he used to play against my high school's team to accessibility problems in Boston. The conversation came on a late Sunday night after playing phone tag with him, and to some extent, various members of his family though the Ice Storm. Over the past two and a half years, the scope of interest in his injury has brought in the media, especially in Maine, has been overwhelming, and as a person with a disability, I'd wanted to meet him, but probably not at one . Roy adds a whole new perspective, his own, with the publication of his book "Eleven Seconds", released January 14th by Warner Books. Read the full article here!

Issue 1 of Volume 18 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"Wait For Rain" by A. Whittenberg -"Entering the Age of Owning it" by Lindsey Morrison Grant -"Blade of Grief" by Annette Gagliardi -"Herd" by Laura Saint Martin -"Disability Dissonance" by Alex Blank -"The Crab in the Spindle" by Cary W. Tucker -"Argent Allergy" by Keily Blair -"Abandoned Dog Spreads Kindness and Compassion" by Debra J. White -"With Chests Full of Hope" by Avra Margariti -"Waltz" by Mehi Loveski -"The Bird and the Worm" by Adams Rapheal -"The Scratch of the Pen" by Clare Griffin -"On First Learning About Winslow Homer" by KD Taylor -"The Problem of Time" by G. D. McFetridge -"It’s Not Cancer—It’s Fibroids" by Marjory E. Leposky -"Rituals of Breath" by Eve Rifkah Unfortunately, we don’t have any fresh publications by our contributors to report for New on The Bookshelf. To discover more published works from our beloved authors, please check out our previous issues!

Issue 4 of Volume 17 is now available to read here! This issue features: -"Monster" by Colleen Anderson -"The Unwelcome Destiny of Virginia Monahan" by Jennifer Lee Rossman -"I Got'cha" by Roger Barbee -"Like Me" by Grace Burnham -"Big or Small" by Dona McCormack -"When You Stop Caring" by Mari-Carmen Marin -"Faux Face" by Susan M. Silver -"There’s No Special Ed at Hogwarts" by Jennifer Lee Rossman -"A Burning Sword" By Ann Chiappetta -"Akathesia" by Natalie Dale -"Of Anxiety" by Keily Blair -"Come This Way, He Said, And I Followed Him" by Judith Skillman -"The Beast Between Us" by Shiloh Simmons -"Writing to Be Free and Understood" A review of ‘The Resilient WriterWheels: Can't Is A Bad Word ‘ by Chris Kuell -"Forest" by Virginia Betts -"Ghost Nutrients" by Anatoly Belilovsky -"It’s Not All in The Family" by Wendy Kennar -"Ode to Oceans Symphony" and "Gentle Woman" by C.A. Francis -New on The Bookshelf, featuring two new works!

A Review of Breathing Lessons, an early film about The Sessions' Mark O'Brien by Mike Reynolds The first time I heard of Mark O’Brien was in February 1997, when I was in college. I was writing for my campus newspaper and trying to organize a disability-awareness week when I saw a press release about the film Breathing Lessons, a documentary about O’Brien's life by a young filmmaker named Jessica Yu. The film had been nominated for an Oscar for best short-form documentary. After watching this amazing movie, I contacted Yu (who was incredibly helpful) and arranged for a screening on campus. I was also lucky enough to speak directly with O’Brien by phone. In March of that year, Breathing Lessons won the Oscar. One of the most memorable sound bites from the Oscars of that year was Yu’s quip about which had cost more, the film or her dress for the Oscars. Below is an edited version of my review, which was originally published in The Maine Campus on February 26, 1997. Breathing Lessons can currently be watched free of charge at snagfilms.com***. ***Editor's Note: Regrettably, Snagfilms is no longer in operation, and I was unable to find anywhere to stream it freely. However, it is at least on Amazon, where it can be rented for $3.99 at the time of this writing. "Breathing Lessons Offers Insights into Independence" When the Academy Award nominations were announced at 4 four a.m. Pacific time on Februrary 11, the biggest story was that neither Madonna nor Courtney Love was nominated for Best Actress. The other story (that seemed to be covered endlessly) was the number of awards The English Patient had been nominated for, although the film only began showing relatively recently in Bangor (probably as a result of the many nominations). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has over 20 separate categories to recognize everything from cinematography to makeup. Some categories are less “popular” than others. As a result, many of the movies nominated in these categories are unknown in popular culture. The Academy Awards is the biggest event in Hollywood. People worry about things like “who will show up in what dress by what designer, and did it cost several thousand dollars”? The members of the Academy are all respected in the motion picture field, and their peers are the people nominated. The Academy Awards is also, to a lesser extent, a showcase for independent filmmakers, foreign films, and other non-mainstream films. While film festivals such as Sundance may showcase the cutting-edge ideas of young filmmakers, the Oscars gives these independent filmmakers a worldwide audience, so that they can see if their low-budget works will receive the kind of recognition an Oscar brings. One category that illustrates this is Best Documentary — Short Subject. This year, five films are nominated. One of them, Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien, was directed by Jessica Yu. “It is one of the best recognitions to be nominated,” said Yu in a phone interview, when asked about her nomination. Breathing Lessons is a half-hour documentary about the life of Mark O’Brien, a poet and journalist for the Pacific News Service who now lives in Berkeley, CA. O’Brien's writings are worthy of attention on their own, but the source of O’Brien’s work is a story in itself. Mark O’Brien is a 47-year-old writer who has used an iron lung to breathe since contracting polio at the age of six. O’Brien is one of an estimated 120 people in the world who is dependent on such a device. O’Brien’s life, experiences, and poetry are at the heart of Breathing Lessons. Answering the phone, O’Brien’s voice sounds like an answering machine — one can hear his breathing over his voice. When asked about his reaction to the Oscar nomination, O’Brien stated, “I did not think we were even eligible. I was very surprised.” The idea of a film came to light when Yu covered a film festival for Pacific News Service. “The editor told me I had to meet this reporter. I was hesitant because it seemed like a heavy, serious story.” Yu continues, “Yet when I first talked to Mark, I knew I could do this.” Yu’s described her previous films as “funny and kind of offbeat.” The film does live up to those adjectives. O’Brien’s own writing is described as brutally honest, funny, and as having a refreshing point of view. “I guess it’s an occupational hazard,” O’Brien joked when asked about his frank style of writing. In one of his essays, he candidly describes seeing a sexual surrogate. Breathing Lessons received much of its budget from grants Yu wrote. Additional money was provided by Pacific News. “A great deal of the money was pocket money,” Yu stated. The film took almost a year to complete, and premiered in December 1995. When asked what the most anticipated moment was, Yu immediately responded, “The two days after I sent it to Mark to see it. I was walking on eggshells hoping he liked it.” The film is an honest portrayal of O’Brien’s life. It opens with his poem, Breathing: Grasping for straws is easier You can see the straws This most canopy, the air, look you Presses down upon me At fifteen pounds per square inch. The film continues with O’Brien’s memories of his childhood before the onset of his polio. O’Brien’s parents decided to bring him home rather than place him in a nursing home, where the average life expectancy was only 18 months. O’Brien later did spend two years in a nursing home, years he frequently refers to as horrific and terrifying. He was tutored at home as a child, excluded from the public school system. As it would turn out, his way out of the life he deplored was to attend college in Berkeley, CA. In another poem about the loss of a younger sister to pneumonia, O'Brien wrote, “I was the one who was supposed to die,” which became one of the most memorable lines of the film. The film is a funny and emotionally moving tale. This is not a story about a hopeless person with a disability. It rather serves as a document of how one person has chosen to lead his life, despite various obstacles and difficulties. The film has already received numerous awards and selections, from such acclaimed film festivals and associations as the International Documentary Association, the South by Southwest film festival, and the Sundance Film Festival. Because of problems associated with his disability, O’Brien is only able to get in his wheelchair twice a month. Yu went to numerous screenings of the film all over the continent and brought a book in which viewers could write messages to O’Brien. She gave the completed book to him last Christmas. O’Brien will be watching the awards show at home. He probably will have a party with his friends. Yu will be at the awards, having a good time at the ceremonies. The film is also slated to be shown on the cable network Cinemax, tentatively scheduled for May 22, as part of their “Reel Life” series. O’Brien is currently working on an autobiography to be published in the fall. “I don’t care if it is sandwiched between Police Academy 1 and 2, as long as it is on,” Yu commented.