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COTTON
CANDY FOR THE SPIRIT: ANNIE EDWARDS, GOLDEN HOURS VOLUNTEER
COORDINATOR
Tom Lichty
OPB Volunteer Times
Winter, 2003
Girl
Friday. No, she's not a girl. She would be the first to admit
that. She's fond of who she is, and who she is, is not a girl.
Mother
hen. We're getting closer. The image seems about right, but
"hen" is all wrong. She's more the rooster type.
Fairy
Godmother. That's better, but she's definitely not a fairy
-- not in the Tinker Belle sense of the word. But Godmother
works. She's a Golden Hours volunteer. Maybe we could call
her the Golden Godmother. Her name is Annie Edwards, OPB's
Golden Godmother.
We're
struggling with semantics here because nobody -- including
Annie herself -- knows what she does at Golden Hours. She's
a volunteer, of course, like the rest of us, but she's a volunteer
the way Garrison Keillor is a radio announcer. It's universally
agreed that without her, the place would collapse. "Technically,
my moniker is Annie Edwards, Proprietor of The Underground
Abraxas, Creator of Body and Environmental Ornamentation,"
she writes, but there's no documentation to support the claim.
No business card. No plaque on the desk -- no desk, for that
matter, at least none that I could see.
But
I'm ahead of myself. Golden Hours is a service for the sight
impaired, seniors, shut-ins, and anyone else who wants to
listen. It broadcasts over two media: SAP and the Internet.
It's the only area at OPB's Macadam headquarters where you're
greeted by dogs (guide dogs, very friendly) when you open
the door.
Dogs
aside, you'd think that Golden Hours would be a bit stuffy
... but in describing the people at Golden Hours, Annie is
quick to dispel the assumption: "Such wonderful humor.
A combination of sardonic, goofy, open, frank, a bit bawdy
at times, corny, black, Monty Python, both understated and
overstated."
It's
true. The Golden Hours staff and volunteers are helping people,
and when you're helping people, good humor is almost second
nature. An hour in the Golden Hours studios is like eating
cotton candy for the first time: a little trepidation at first,
but the fun soon takes over, and when you're done you can't
help but smile.
Amidst
it all -- good humor, dogs, electronics -- sits Annie Edwards,
glasses perched on the tip of her nose, writing a note that
overlooks the "book library," where electronic readings
of books are stored. The note says, "Annie has control
issues, so don't touch, please."
I
asked Annie for an anecdote to include in this story. "I
will relate one 'vision' I saw that so impressed me: this
last summer we had a young gal named Kimee Bennett doing some
sort of part time work in Golden Hours. She and I gabbed and
laughed back and forth. One day, I happened to glance through
the head-high window of the middle studio. Kimee is making
a recording of something, probably a children's book. She
is reading/seeing using a large Braille printed text. The
picture is Kimee, running her fingers over the text, speaking
the words, all with one of the biggest, most lovely smiles
I've ever seen."
Cotton
candy for the spirit.
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