Other worlds
As a child, my favorite holiday was Halloween. I loved the mystery and dark; the anticipation of being scared, of running through the streets collecting candy. Each year was a race see how much candy we could get. I remember this now only during Halloween as an adult, and only when I see kids clad [...]
Spleen Gone Blues
I met her in a bar. Her drink was almost done. Irony was hoping that I would be the one. So I slide upon the stool and I say my pick-up line. I say “Baby how ya doin’?”” She says “Baby, you’re fine!” Well wow, whoa, it was Halloween! Who would’ve thought she’d be [...]
November 2nd Showings for Oren Kaplan’s “The Hammer” in the Bay Area
Oren Kaplan’s “The Hammer” will make its next showing in theaters in the Bay Area on November 2nd, 2011! The movie is about Deaf Wrestler Matt Hamill and how he persevered to become the first Deaf NCAA champion in wrestling. The movie is in English and ASL and is completely open-captioned so that Deaf [...]
Your Child’s Best Advocate
“The best defense is a good offense.” These are words to live by for parents advocating for their deaf child. While the professionals—doctors, therapists, teachers, early intervention coordinators, school boards—may truly believe they have the child’s best interests in mind, it is up to the parents to digest all their recommendations and stand up [...]
Walking the wiggly red line
Anyone who has seen my Facebook page, Twitter feed, or blog knows that I teach college English and writing. Fewer know that the posts about my failures and triumphs would have looked like drunken freshman scribbling if not for cyberediting. Since the semester began, I have been checking and double checking the spelling and syntax [...]
Black
Crouching with you in the black as men tear each other apart and enter tents uninvited. But I will never really know. Around us, so many flapping mouths— Tongues flash and flounder, bear gleaming teeth while sounds tumble from their open pockets, scraping floors when there is nothing worth saying. As I show [...]
MTV Comes to Gallaudet!
A preview video clip of MTV’s upcoming “Quiet Campus” depicts quite a few Gallaudet University students showing immense pride in their campus and community. However it is unlikely that MTV is going to in fact find a “quiet campus.” Says Catherine Murphy, a spokeswoman for the university: Students here are just like students anywhere [...]
Announcing Deaf Echo’s Parents of Deaf Children Information Page
Deaf Echo has begun an ongoing project to make crucial yet balanced information about deafness available for parents of deaf children. We are attempting to do a few things here that, to the best of our knowledge, are either not being done or else are not being done to the extent needed. Deaf Echo’s [...]
Deaf and Hearing People in Conversation: The Differences
It’s interesting to observe how Deaf and hearing people converse with their peers. There are a few noticeable differences (Disclaimer—these are just general observations… there are of course numerous exceptions): 1. Deaf people tend to be more visual in their conversations. They use their hands to demonstrate something that they are describing. Hearing people rely [...]
The YouTube Video You Don’t See
It has been about a week now since the video of Sarah Churman was posted on YouTube. You know what happened next… it went viral, major news networks picked up on the story and reposted the video on their websites, and since then there has even been a television interview or two. Sarah Churman, if [...]