Beautiful English = Lousy Signing? NOT!

I happened to notice this comment in Teri Sentelle's latest entry. The commenter's point was not contained in the portion I'm about to quote and it was more of a toss-away additional thought, but it felt like a slap in the face:

I was shocked to see him on video signing beautifully. I thought he was not a fluent signer because he writes like Harvard scholars.

The implication of this statement is that good signers are not good writers. If one is a good writer, therefore, one is probably not a good signer. THIS is one reason why AG Bell, the Oberkotter Foundation, and the auditory-industrial complex are able to convince so many parents that signing is bad. And for our own community members to believe this too is scary. Have we not seen ample evidence of people with native-like competence in both languages to put this myth to rest yet? Ben Vess comes to mind. So do David Eberwein and Shelley Potma. There are scads more out there, and I'm naming many names in my mind right now.

I took this as a personal affront. Does this mean that people reading what I write automatically assume I sign like I just finished ASL Level 2, just because I happen to know my way around a sentence? I can assure you that is *far* from the case. (and no, I absolutely *refuse* to offer you, the Teeming Millions, proof, thanks to how toxic DeafBlogLand has become. I'm hanging onto my anonymity for my personal, professional, communal, mental, emotional, and spiritual safety. End of rant. Back to the topic at hand.) I find it indescribably sad that at least one of our own people believes that good writing skills and good signing skills are very unlikely to exist in the same person. 

Good writing ≠ good signing

True? (I say heck no!)

Thoughts?

Comments?

Who Are You? Look No Further Than Your Home.

Last Sunday I was wandering around, exploring open houses in my neighborhood - it's a fun way to spend an afternoon. One house I went in was still cluttered, and it was very clear that the owner had recently passed away. There was a note on the doors admonishing everyone not to let Duncan, the cat, in. Duncan had been adopted by the neighbors but still sneaks in whenever possible. There were a few notes in the living room about what the executor wants, and some boxes that were in the process of being packed up. All the furnishings and the appliances were from mid-century (which I love!). It was easy to imagine this little old lady living out her life there.

The whole thing made me very sad, yet I was very moved. Just by walking through this tiny 1930s-era house, I was able to glean glimpses of what this woman was like. She was a non-smoker (no scent of cigarettes or attempts to cover the smell up, nor any ashtrays or stains in sight), a highly literate person (books everywhere and bookshelves in almost every room), who traveled some (some tchotchkes and travel things were out, but not a lot), and who enjoyed her garden (it was maintained nicely). She enjoyed Sudoku and crossword puzzles (a stack of Dell and Penny Press books were in one bedroom). From looking at what she read, she enjoyed history (both local and national), mysteries, politics, novels, current popular fiction, landscaping, art, and a smattering of other things. There were also playing cards, a television, and a CD/cassette player. I got the feeling I would like this woman very much and that we had a lot in common.

I realize I probably will never know her name, what she died of, what her heirs are like, and what will become of her possessions. But I really feel like I know her in a sense. I'm sad she passed on and I hope it was an easy, peaceful death.

The experience is making me look around my house and wondering what people would learn about me. I have books everywhere and tons of bookshelves too, and my books definitely reflect many, but not all, of my interests. Travel is part of my house decor also. My furniture choices also make a statement in and of themselves. A brightly-colored iMac is prominent in my office. I'm seeing signs of my offbeat personality reflected throughout. Some of my values are obvious from what I've chosen to show and not show so much (only one small TV is visible, for example). I'm taking stock of my house and thinking about whether or not I want to tweak anything that my house is telling people about me.

What does your house say about you? What would you want your house to say about you? You're welcome to leave comments, but if you don't, I invite you to mull these questions over anyway. :)

Sample Attacks and RSS Readers

Irresponsible comments

Hmm. In my most recent post, I've received generally polite comments, even from those who didn't agree, and I thank my commenters for that. However, I received one comment that just could not be allowed through because he called individuals or groups names. In the past, I simply didn't let this type of comment through without saying a word about it. But because of the current situation in DeafBlogLand, I am publishing it in this post and dissecting it to show why I feel this is an example of what none of us should tolerate.

(at 9:14) Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Call For Accountability For All":

Responsibility? The deafhood goons has [sic] hijacked deafread since last May.

Deafhood's favorite modality is bullying others so the mess seen on the deafread sphere is very representative of deafhood.

Richard Roehm

Calling a group "goons" should never be acceptable. I'd say the same if someone called Rachel and Elizabeth of Cochlear Implant Online goons, and I'm saying it about this comment. And blaming the current mess solely on deafhood is unfair. There is plenty of blame to go around.

And please note that how I talked about the comment focused solely on what was said, not on the individual involved. This is an important point.

RSS Readers

On to another topic, RSS feeds. Some people have been asking for subscription lists on blogs, but there's a far better way to be notified when your favorite blogs have new posts. That's to use a RSS reader. I'd like to encourage all of you who want another way to read your favorite blogs to look into using a RSS reader.

There are many options out there, both computer-based and web-based. I love RSS Menu for the Mac, because it puts my RSS feeds right into the menu bar. But I'd hafta install it... and update it on all the computers I use, which gets unwieldy. So I use Bloglines instead, since it's web-based and I can use it on any computer that has Internet access. There are other programs and Web-based readers out there that you can use. Check Version Tracker for computer-based RSS programs to try out. There are other web-based readers that I've heard of, like NewsGator, Google Reader, and others. If you know of any others, please do leave a comment so all of us can learn more.

For me, Bloglines is very, very easy to use. You sign up for an account, and it walks you through the steps easily. The DeafRead team posted a step-by-step tutorial on how to use Bloglines in the early days of DeafRead. There was also a video showing how, but it's no longer there. You do need to scroll down to How to read DeafRead in a RSS Reader, and the instructions are the same for any website. If there is no RSS link on the blog, you can just click on "Add" in the top lefthand corner, type in or copy and paste the blog address itself and Bloglines will look for the RSS feed for you.

A nifty perk is that Bloglines is offered in 9 languages, including French, but c'est moi... *grin*

I'm not here to advertise Bloglines, but to encourage y'all to use RSS feeds to directly access your favorite blogs and vlogs. I personally go to both DeafRead and my Bloglines home page. Which I do first depends on a lot of things at that moment. Experiment. Play. Find out what works best for you. Some of you may want to just stay with DeafRead, which is fine! Some of you may want to move exclusively to a RSS reader, which is fine! Whatever works for you. :)

*I know the person who commented above is a controversial figure in the community, but I will not tolerate any comments that attack him as a person. Any such comments will be rejected.

Call For Accountability For All

This is a comment I left on Joey Baer's blogsite in his follow-up post to leaving DeafRead.

Joey,

I have to concur with the premise that DeafRead is unsafe. I've all but stopped blogging publicly because the atmosphere is just too toxic.

So yes, in a way, I'm one of those bloggers who left DeafRead too, even though I haven't asked for my feed to be removed from their roster.

I've read Tayler's statement about how all of us need to take responsibility. I agree, and I try to do my part by remaining firm in the belief that people can say what they want - they can agree with me, they can disagree with me, whatever, but they need to remain respectful toward everyone if they want their thoughts to appear on my blog. I wish all bloggers took this responsibility seriously and insisted on respectful dialogue, even when there is a lot of dissent.

However, I do not feel that the DeafRead editorial team has lived up to its responsibility to create a safe environment. Their inconsistency and bending of their own guidelines has contributed to this situation, as well as certain bloggers, vloggers, and commenters. I still cannot believe they have let posts attacking individuals through.

I feel bad for Tayler and the team, though. No matter what they do, they get criticized. I can understand that. I admire Tayler and Jared for establishing DeafRead - that is just awesome. However, I seriously believe the team needs to re-evaluate everything, revamp their guidelines, and ensure that all editors are on the same page - no, the same LINE - when it comes to what is OK and isn't for the front page.

One thing that bugs me about Tayler's announcement is that it is almost impossible to respond to his post. You have to be logged in to comment. Log in to what, I still haven't figured out. This has the unfortunate effect of shutting down a lot of the dialogue that Tayler could be having with members of the online community he created. If he wants to disallow anonymous comments (which has pros and cons), he could use OpenID, which allows people to use their blog accounts from any platform, their AIM screen names, and other online identities. I would have commented there if not for that, and it's unfortunate that we can't talk directly to him on this forum. Tayler, if you're reading this, I hope you consider this. I know it must be so hard to deal with what is happening, but we need to be able to talk to you directly.

Kudos to you for standing up for your principles. We need to support each other, the DeafRead team, and people in our community - while demanding positive changes and accountability from the DeafRead team and from every one of us who blogs and/or comments in DeafBlogLand, while respecting diverse viewpoints - even if we disagree. I'm all for freedom of speech and freedom to have diverse opinions, but with that freedom comes responsibility.

*Comments will be moderated, as always, and all opinions that are respectful will be let through. Attacks against anyone or any entity, as always, will not be tolerated.