The Author Guy Blog by Larry B. Gildersleeve

 31st May 2024

Hello out there,

Welcome back. Gonna diverge quiet a bit from focusing on my author journey to share another journey I’m on.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma brain tumor. Benign (meaning it’s non-cancerous), but it can grow. Thankfully, it hasn’t changed size or shape since diagnosis, and I’m monitored at Vanderbilt University Hospital once/year.

But, one of the symptoms of an A/N is the complete loss, over time, of all hearing in just one ear. I’m almost there. Since it’s my left ear, my son suggests I refer to it as “Vince” in a nod to Vincent Van Gogh. Good to see I’m getting a great return on funding six years and two degrees at prestigious universities 

I mention this not to elicit sympathy, rather to speak to a whole new world that has opened up to me via what’s known as “Closed Captioning” – the spoken words on television and movies broadcast on streaming services that are converted to printed words at the bottom of the screen. Takes some getting used to, but you’d be amazed at how much more you’ll know and understand, especially if any of the actors have an accent. The James Bond movies are a great example, as is Downtown Abbey.

The Close Captioning function is easy to find, including with DVDs, so I heartily encourage you to give it a try even if your hearing is perfectly fine. You may even find “perfect” is no longer applicable to your sense of hearing, after all.

Until next week … Vaya con Dios

Larry B. Gildersleeve