The protest climaxed... now for the denouement

WOW!!! This has been an incredible day. I didn't expect Pandora, my pager, to survive the barrage of e-mails trading information, reactions, and the like from all over the nation, but she managed. She's now taking a breather.

I had decided to declare a moratorium on protest-related news and messages for most of the weekend. I spent yesterday curled up in bed with my laptop, watching Netflix'd DVDs and managed to write one blog post on this blog. I did the same for most of this morning, but knowing that the Board of Trustees was meeting, I grudgingly reached for Pandora and logged on to the 'Net. I spent the next few hours in tense anticipation, reading messages relayed from DC and from other friends who were passing on messages from DC. Then finally the news that the Board of Trustees meeting was over, but no announcement yet... White-knuckled, I scanned and refreshed a few websites so often, I'm surprised my trackpad didn't declare itself finished with me.

Then...

Pandora vibrated. I hastily scooped 'er up, opened Mail, and read a brief message saying good news, BoT terminated Jane. *doink* Wha'? What the...?? True biz? Pandora then went off every 5 seconds for the next ten minutes with various people confirming the news. Yup, the Board of Trustees had decided to think independently of the Kendall Monarchy and seen that the only hope for resolution was to give Fernandes her walking papers. Frantic pages of celebrations sped through the airwaves. I hastily dressed and dashed to a friend's place, where we took pictures, laughed together, and processed the enormity of this event. It was wonderful!

But...

Y'know, this isn't over. This is Gettysburg in the Civil War. This is a turning point, indeed. But we haven't won the war. We cannot stop being involved now. Fernandes' selection and the stand-off that lasted for the better part of a year were simply symptomatic of a larger problem at Gallaudet and in the larger community. I, personally, am saddened that things had to get to this point. I believe this could have been prevented at so many points along the past year, the major problem being perception, as Mark Drolsbaugh so eloquently describes. Hindsight, as the saying goes, is 20/20. We're here now, and there's nowhere to go but forward. Resolving these problems is going to demand our continued involvement. The good news is that we can relax and get our lives back, but we still need to support our compatriots on Kendall Green. How, you ask? Good question. Allow me to refer you to two excellent posts written by Surdus and by Mr. Sandman. In a nutshell, we need to focus on the problems on campus and on healing the rifts in our community. Let's all do that together, both in DeafBlogLand and in person.

*lifting champagne glass*

To us, the community. May we win the war... all of us, so there are no losers (except for those who would perpetuate colonialism and divide us even further). May we all become united, no matter where we are from and what our backgrounds contain. May we all blend together to become a stronger, diverse, accepting community. May Gallaudet become an institution that we revere, because of its historic place in our community, because it pushes us to excel academically, and because it is a place where everyone is accepted yet ASL and Deafhood flourish.

*lifting glass even higher, with a nod*
*sip*