Issue 02
Header image shows a blue notebook and pen on top of an apple iPad. All objects are on top of a brown table.
Table of Contents (Links)
About Us
Behind the Name
ICY is an acronym for I-CREATE YOUTH! We wanted to deliver motivation, information, and advice for writers and visually impaired students in bite-sized and flavorful scoops. So here's your order, a delicacy of our own creations: ICY SCOOP. Enjoy!
What in the Newsletter?
Writing Prompts, a Featured Writer, and more. We won't give it all away; taste it for yourself!
About I-CREATE YOUTH
I-CREATE YOUTH is a youth-led nonprofit organization dedicated to spreading creative writing education, opportunities, and resources to K-12 students with visual impairments of all degrees.
Motivational Messages
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” -Helen Keller
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” -Scott Hamilton
“No disability or dictionary out there is capable of clearly defining who we are as a person.” -Robert M. Hensel
“Sometimes it takes dealing with a disability - the trauma, the relearning, the months of rehabilitation therapy - to uncover our true abilities and how we can put them to work for us in ways we may have never imagined.” -Tammy Duckworth
Featured Writer: James Thurber
James Thurber is an Author, Cartoonist, Journalist, and Playwright.
While most people who were writers were also incidentally blind at the same time, in the case of humourist James Thurber, it was his blindness that propelled him.
James Thurber (1894-1961) was blinded as a child when his brother shot him in the eye with an arrow while recreating the legend of William Tell. Unable to access sports and other activities in his childhood, he developed a creative mind which he used to express himself through writing. Thurber’s short story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" has twice been adapted for film. Other than that, his works "The Male Animal" (1942) and "The Battle of the Sexes" (1959) have also been adapted into films, given he was one of the most popular humorists of his time. Thurber celebrated the comic frustrations and eccentricities of ordinary people.
Thurber famously said “The kingdom of the partly blind is a little like Oz, a little like Wonderland… Anything you can think of, and a lot you would never think of, can happen there.” In such a world, described in The Admiral at the Wheel (1936), common objects “blur into fantasy” as Thurber, without his glasses, sees such remarkable sights as an electronic welder transformed into “a radiant fool setting off skyrockets by day.” People have since speculated that Thurber had Charles Bonnet Syndrome, which manifests itself in visual hallucinations caused by the brain’s adjustment to significant vision loss.
As Thurber’s vision worsened later in his life, he used a magnifier called a Zeiss loupe to continue drawing on large sheets of paper. Thurber was also able to keep writing with the help of a transcriber. He had a miraculous ability to create and edit up to 2,000 words in his head at a time, which he would then dictate to be recorded on paper.
James Thurber passed away in New York City, but his ashes are interred in Green Lawn Cemetery in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. The GPS/Google Maps coordinates for Thurber's grave are N 39° 56.323 W 083° 01.980. Humans and canines are always welcome to visit.
Published Works by James Thurber
The Night the Bed Fell (Short Story) Published July 1st 1933 by The New Worker
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Short Story) Published March 18th 1939 by The New Yorker
A Couple of Hamburgers (Short Story) Published November 9th 1935 by The New Yorker
The White Deer Novel Length Fairy Tale) Published 1945
Writing Prompts
#1: You and your team have just unlocked the secret to time travel. Unfortunately, the ability to travel through time comes at a price…
#2: Write about a day you’d like to spend with anyone in the world, dead or alive. Describe why you picked this person, what you’d do with him/her, what you would talk about, etc.
#3: You accidentally discover a magical sketchbook that brings anything you draw in it to life…
#4: Write a poem describing your best friend and a person you’d never want to see again.
#5: You’re the lead detective on a murder case. You’re extremely close to solving the case, but everything goes wrong the next day…
Initiatives
Letters for Disabled Students
Write for Our Blog
Email us to join HERE
Collaborative Collective
Start a chapter or join our general team
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