Martin Luther King Jr.

This guy was awesome. He died on a picket line, fighting with Union members to protect the rights of workers. Everyone remembers he had a dream; let's also remember the lengths to which he went to make that dream real.

I've been working my ass off the last couple days. Finished EB, and my preferred team is contacted - hope to hear from them over the next couple of days. (Guys? Check your g-mail.) I am so stoked about that. Also, started working on a new screenplay - very funny stuff - I'm enjoying the ride on this one, as like my first full-length screenplay it just came to me in the middle of the night on top of the Corona Wave. I had been up late talking to Brillohead, and made an offhand comment to him. BAM! Screenplay. Lovely how that works.

Had a long talk with Sparkly Spanker yesterday about having relationships with hearing people, especially those who don't sign at first. General Jen agrees: THE most important thing for a successful relationship is to lay out the boundaries of what you need and what space you need as a Deaf person. I made the mistake of not doing that and being "nice" (What my wonderful Professor Paddy Ladd calls "trying not to offend hearing people") too often. Result, frustration - and crazy-actingness on my part. Yes, when I am too frustrated I start to act like a crazy man.

I guess this boundary stuff seems obvious to some of you, but for me it was a revelation. Not just because Sparkly and the General said it, but because of the way they said it, like it was a right for me to have my own space as a Deaf person. Some examples?

1. I don't have to sit at the damn kitchen table just to be polite.
   
2. I don't have to try and lipread and play the whole stupid guessing game if I don't want to.
   
3. I do have the right to demand hearing friends focus on me.
   

Sometimes, especially these days working in a certain environment, it's easy to forget that. It was nice to have it back again. And having it, I think, is what has jumpstarted my writing.

Thanks roomie. And thanks, General. Back to the keyboard.