tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-312803822024-03-13T05:04:44.666-07:00Random Thoughts and Musings by moiMusings by a feisty, opinionated Deaf gal who wants nothing but the best for her community and her peoplemoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.comBlogger88125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-39666722223590021742010-07-11T10:43:00.000-07:002010-07-11T11:22:19.588-07:00NAD On the Right Track - Now Us Do-Do?Wow. NAD has chosen its CEO designate, and that person is Howard Rosenblum! Aidan Mack has eloquently expressed why I feel so hopeful about NAD with his selection. Warmest congratulations to Mr. Rosenblum! I, for one, happily look forward to when you take the reins next spring.This is a positive step in the right direction, the latest in a string of good choices that NAD has made lately. Thank moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-87763810274045822372010-07-09T21:05:00.001-07:002010-07-11T11:58:18.964-07:00Challenge the Status Quo - It's OK!It's an exciting time in the Deaf community. The National Association for the Deaf is poised to announce the replacement for outgoing Executive Director Nancy Bloch any day now. Naturally the finalists for the position are a subject of interest and lively discussion in the community. NAD has held a special place in our hearts since 1880, when it was founded to fight for Deaf people's civil moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-26377449442342240722010-07-09T20:47:00.000-07:002010-07-09T20:52:17.408-07:00Yes, Virginia, Deaf People Congregate!This may seem like a small thing, but recently someone shared with me what happened during the NAD conference now taking place in Philadelphia, and it bothers me. Two Deaf people who have a Deaf child have made the choice to put the child in a very small educational program where s/he doesn't see many other Deaf people... even though they live pretty close to one of the top schools for the Deaf moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-20489752554273421502010-06-19T18:48:00.000-07:002010-06-20T11:10:18.812-07:00Colonialism In ActionI'm watching the first season of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a TV series from HBO, on DVD this week. It is a heartwarming, sweet series and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. It has a neat premise and I'm enjoying the glimpse of life in Botswana it affords me. But as I watch, it becomes more and more obvious to me that I'm seeing a country (and TV series) soaked in colonialism, even though moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-10033883498239313022010-06-19T12:53:00.000-07:002010-06-19T13:46:06.608-07:00More on Support IssuesThis is a follow-up to two separate posts, the one I posted last night and the one about Eben Kostbar playing Matt Hamill in a movie. First, two years makes a difference. The movie, Hamill, is now in post-production and it stars a Deaf actor, Russell Harvard. I do not know what happened in the intervening period to make Hamill and Kostbar truly hear the community. But we were heard. Kostbar gave moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-21394475228102276082010-06-19T00:37:00.000-07:002010-06-19T01:14:39.378-07:00To What Extent? Where is the Happy Middle?My mind is just jumping around here and there, with several thoughts percolating, each vying for domination... yet remaining half-formed. It's frustrating because I want to develop each of them and do a post worthy of each thought. Some are very positive and affirming, while others may seem more like I'm sitting here with my arms folded and chin jutting out (even though that's *far* from the casemoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-41546941299083032372010-06-06T09:23:00.000-07:002010-06-09T00:29:41.808-07:00Yes, Deaf People Understand Sound!This is something I've been thinking about for a long time. I had the good fortune to see Ben Bahan speak on the topic before Open Your Eyes came out. This is at the crux of why we Deaf people are fine and why so many hearing people seem terrified at the prospect of not hearing. Western civilization, ever since Aristotle proclaimed that speech equals language (and probably before that!), hasmoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-79441838108569132642010-06-02T22:18:00.000-07:002010-06-06T23:59:12.326-07:00If It Ain't Broke, FIX IT!I have had an epiphany.The auditory-industrial complex WANTS us to be broken hearing people. The last thing they want to happen is to have us be whole, complete, organic, and natural Deaf people. They thrive on breaking us and keeping us broken.Overreacting, you say? Really? Then how do you explain the current push to codify audiologists as the first point of contact in the entire state of moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-62545553970372954902009-03-23T17:30:00.000-07:002009-03-23T18:19:09.052-07:00Unexpected Audism & Au RevoirWow, it's been *ages* since I last blogged! Hi again... that is, if any of you are still around. *smile*Awhile ago, I went to my local drugstore and the clerk said something to me when I wasn't looking. When I realized what was happening, I signed, "I'm Deaf. What did you say?" with a smile on my face. This usually results in their repeating themselves or scrambling for a pen and paper. Not this moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-35418337060599127202008-10-07T07:55:00.000-07:002008-10-07T07:59:04.239-07:00Reclaiming The Deaf Term: HEARING, MOTHER FATHER DEAFI’ve resisted the term CODA from the beginning, which is unlike me. I’m big on allowing members of a group to define their own identity and not to define them when I am not a member of the group. But the term that Americans have gleefully adopted to define those who are hearing with Deaf parents has always been jarring and wrong on some fundamental level for me. The first thing that I was able tomoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-30384309247603802752008-08-07T13:35:00.000-07:002008-08-07T13:38:45.961-07:00A Metaphor for Life?My family was at the pool this morning, when someone nudged me, chuckling, and asked me to look at the guy in the next lane. The guy had two tufts of hair near his temples and they were standing up on end, with a slight curve to each, resembling devil's horns. She said, "Doesn't he look like the devil?" He DID! He had a very dark complexion, dark hair, and a very intense look on his face.A bit moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-14383948379815699482008-08-05T22:50:00.000-07:002008-08-06T22:13:09.528-07:00If You Hate Being Shaken Awake, This One Is For You! There's Hope!Raise your hand if you prefer being awakened by a light rather than being jarred awake by some shaky vibraty thingamajig. Me too, me too. I seem to be very hard on alarm clocks for some reason, and I suspect it's because I use the snooze button quite liberally. I am *not* a morning person, no matter how hard I try. This leads to replacement of alarm clocks every couple of/few years, unfortunatelymoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-10298424541115400832008-07-31T23:53:00.000-07:002008-08-01T03:58:45.235-07:00Beautiful 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 moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-23739638348537612262008-07-27T14:40:00.000-07:002008-07-27T14:52:02.536-07:00Who 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 moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-91919974984261132692008-07-17T10:28:00.000-07:002008-07-18T15:52:08.119-07:00Sample Attacks and RSS ReadersIrresponsible commentsHmm. 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 moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-65381795717884345552008-07-17T00:13:00.000-07:002008-07-17T00:25:53.485-07:00Call For Accountability For AllThis 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 moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-41135486621086884262008-06-09T19:53:00.000-07:002008-06-09T21:59:43.993-07:00Drama in DeafBlogLandThe saga du jour is the DeafRead-Cochlear Implant Online mêlée. Everybody and his brother has been blogging about this since the news broke midweek, with criticisms flying left and right.I’m saddened by the whole thing. There are hurt feelings everywhere and a lot of righteous indignation… some justified, some not. I can’t help but think that Tayler has been one of the staunchest defenders of moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-48865232958096050322008-05-12T19:12:00.000-07:002008-05-12T20:57:33.619-07:00Support Hamill? Yes and NoMany, many people have weighed in with their opinion on the controversy surrounding Matt Hamill's decision to have Eben Kostbar play him in Kostbar's movie, Hamill. However, there is one element that has yet to be blogged about that I'd like to touch upon.Hamill is a member of the Deaf community and does not deserve to be vilified for this decision. It is for this reason, and this reason alone, moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-9512926951543705252008-04-27T11:28:00.000-07:002008-04-27T21:59:01.833-07:00DeafSide: Home?The message at the DeafRead conference last winter, according to people who were there, was loud and clear - DeafRead was our home and now we don't have a safe harbor. Since then, DeafRead Custom has arrived. I see pros and cons to this approach, but I confess to having implemented it happily. And now we get DeafSide? Woo-hoo!!DeafRead Custom is an interesting creature. It's very difficult to moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-37709678115107895212008-04-05T18:43:00.000-07:002008-04-06T01:22:34.355-07:00Don't Give Up!I've had a really, really rough 6 weeks, and there have been times when I've been ready to completely throw in the towel and just do nothing but my job, my family and friends, and my personal interests. No more community involvement. No more caring. I've had to deal with people who do not value the Deaf community, who are willing to tear down leaders to further their own selfish agendas, and withmoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-82498145061520539462008-04-01T07:14:00.001-07:002008-04-04T20:26:58.055-07:00Michael Chorost on the rallyI realize Amy Cohen Efron already submitted this link, but it doesn'twork. Here it is again:http://www.michaelchorost.com/blog/2008/03/26/we-all-sleep-in-silence/I'm heartened to read about how peaceful the DBC California rally wasand about how people are working to build bridges. This is the answer.It doesn't mean giving up our principles nor our Deaf center, butreaching out and showing the moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-91343861231123490092008-02-26T22:36:00.000-08:002008-02-27T11:01:57.809-08:00Trials of being a passionate personWhat does it mean to live by your principles? Heartache and grief, I’ll tell ya. Seriously.Thanks to my principles, I’m in a fetal position more often than I care to be in.Thanks to my principles, I’m upset more often than I care to be feeling.Thanks to my principles, I’m aging myself more than I care to be due to stress.Thanks to my principles, I’m more stressed than I care to be feeling.Thanks moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-10391806757538298442008-02-10T01:04:00.000-08:002008-02-10T01:32:13.373-08:00DeafRead BROKEN. Do-do?What do we do about DeafRead? A simple blog aggregator has become the topic of so much controversy, people cannot even agree on whether or not DeafRead is broken. Those who agree that it’s broken can say what’s wrong, but they can’t agree on how to fix it. At the crux of the issue is: what exactly is DeafRead supposed to be?I’m a mere sporadic blogger, but I’ve been part of DeafRead, both as a moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-36598850242854083542008-01-31T22:17:00.000-08:002008-01-31T22:22:05.111-08:00Deaf People are Whole, Organic, and NaturalI’m a WHOLE person!The message out in DeafBlogLand the past several weeks has changed significantly. It is trying more and more to tell me that I am not a whole person. I am lacking in family relationships, in opportunities, and many other things simply because I sign, prefer to be with other Deaf people most of the time, and have all but stopped using my voice in many situations.I can anticipatemoihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31280382.post-48821769134519343062008-01-20T14:47:00.001-08:002008-01-20T14:47:41.365-08:00Inclusivity...At What Cost?I cannot remain silent any longer. I want to scream, "SHUT UP! STOP!!!," then in the shocked silence that follows, say my piece. I want to cry. I really do. It's painful for me to go to DeafRead now for so many reasons. As I write this, I am extremely mindful of the fact that current/future hearing parents of Deaf children may find this post and of the fact that my own people may find this post. moihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10817584645055759394noreply@blogger.com31