Allison Polk
Surviving Obamania
An out-of-town friend was visiting DC last night, and she rolled her eyes and said, “This whole pop-culture phenomenon around Obama is so overrated.” I could have jumped out of my chair and proposed to her on bended knee right then and there. Our peeves are a little bit different, though. She’s amazed that people [...]
Holiday Visit Survival Tips (or, How to Avoid Family Dog Syndrome)
I know many of you are in the same boat as me and Chris right now — we’re in the midst of playing musical family houses, each of us following the partner into their respective family’s houses and waiting until it’s FINALLY time to go home. Whether you’re exasperated by playing house-pong like I am [...]
The Blogosphere Reacts to Redskins Decision
So I’m about two weeks slow on the uptake, but I’ve been watching the reaction to a federal judge’s decision that the powers that be over at the Redskins’ home stadium must caption all “aural content.” (I’m obsessed with that phrase and am gonna abuse it as much as earthly possible. Be warned.) Find more [...]
Lights Down on Deaf Athlete's Paralympic debut
Teigan Van Roosmalen, a deaf Australian swimmer, missed the start of a final race in Beijing on Tuesday at the Paralympic Games after the light on the block that was supposed to coincide with the starter gun malfunctioned. They immediately re-ran the race, so she was still able to participate. She came in eighth. Still, [...]
Deaf Redskin? Nah, Just Semantics.
Well, who knew? Turns out, according to the Washington Times, Reed Doughty, Redskins safety, has a hearing loss. Don’t get too excited. He’s definitely not deaf. Just has a hearing loss. Gotta give up a simultaneous eye-roll and kiss-fist for the headline of that story: “Redskins’ Doughty tackles hearing loss.” Get it? He’s a football [...]
Summer Reading Picks
Note: These are just the books I’ve deemed worthy of mention in the last two weeks or so. I know there’s more worth reading this summer on the beach, and I know you’re itching to add your own pick. Comment away! The Waverley women in Sarah Addison Allen‘s debut novel, set in Bascombe, North Carolina, [...]
"The zeitgeist of academic possibility is a great inverted pyramid…"
It was a breath of fresh air to read the anonymous Professor X’s essay in the June edition of Atlantic Monthly entitled “In the Basement of the Ivory Tower.” In a nutshell, Prof. X debunks the notion that a college education is attainable for everyone, using his own experience teaching at both a community and [...]
"Sweet Nothing" Portrays Ongoing Struggle for Recognition
There’s a plethora of things to praise about Hallmark’s Sweet Nothing in My Ear, the film centering on a deaf mother and hearing father’s custody hearing, which aired last night on CBS. And at first glance, it seems as if the pervasive controversy over whether the deaf child, Adam, played capably by the charming Noah [...]
Pushing the line between style and function
As members of Costco, we’re constantly receiving “junk mail,” our favorite of which are the seasonal coupon books. Amidst bargains on toothpaste and cereal, we’ll see things we really really reeeeally want at really really reeeeally good prices. It’s porn for our checkbook’s salivary glands. He’ll want a flat-screen TV; I’ll want the leather armchairs [...]
Deafness Trumps Rape in New Jersey Newspaper
In rape cases in close-knit communities, it often seems best to leave judgment to those charged with that task. This story out of New Jersey in which a 19-year-old deaf male is charged with the rape of a 16-year-old deaf female classmate at Mountain Lakes High School is probably no exception. Still, it’s hard not [...]