blackberry broken

just FYI to anyone trying to get in touch with me. hopefully be replaced this week.

BREAKING: tribeca film festival

A young man came to our office the other week - friend of Sparkly Spanker's! - who wanted to know if my agency could help him attend the Tribeca Film Festival. They have panels of speakers and he wanted to know if we could help advocate for interpreters. A friend of mine contacted them and got a list of events at which terps could be provided. One catch - people need to contact them ASAP to get tickets so they know whether or not they need to get the terps and because they WILL be sold out soon! The panels are cheap to attend - $20 bucks a pop. Here's the schedule, kindly typed by Peep:

fri, apr 28 @ 7:00pm. tribeca talks: t bone burnett.

sun, apr 30 @ 10:00am. truly embedded: candid cameras & the secret lives
of soldiers.

sun, apr 30 @ noon. tribeca talks: morgan freeman.

mon, may 1 @ 7:00pm. downloading at a screen near you.

tue, may 2 @ 1:00pm. what would jesus... direct?

thu, may 4 @ 7:00pm. adelante mujeres: latinas at the helms.

all events are 90 minutes long and cost $20.

You can order tickets by calling 1.866.941.3378 or by going to their home page and buying tickets. Please comment if you plan to go! I would love to go to adelante mujeres and downloading at a screen near you if possible and money permits...

ecklebert's eccentric ends-and-odds

advice for those who seek it

don't trust anyone who points only to how far we've come
instead of, also, how far we have to go:
not only in the world at large, but in ourselves
to understand our past, our present
and what could be the future.

when I was 12 I dreamed often
vividly, of other worlds
in which my friends and I lived
but were subtly different
different choices
difference, existence.

At 21, a student
I learned these worlds were made. By we
who dream awake and asleep;
tomorrow is shaped by our dreaming
and the hard work we put in today.
Those in power today
always seek the cloaking of tomorrow.
Somehow, we must find a more accurate balance
between the needs of today and wants
of tomorrow.

sometimes i just go poof

but I always come back.

wal's birthday quite a successful party, but very... active role in setting up etc. he looked so bloody happy. nice to see. many friends came, and one of the coolest things was seeing all our friends interacting interestingly with each other because many of the hearing people were just naturally very curious or perhaps drunk and once some ice was crushed everyone just sort of started talking in their own sort of combination. It was like many of the communication barriers were on vacation at the same time. chest-fluffing cool.

Other evening activities abound, resulting in increased length of absence.

Spent last night with my friend Guth, currently performing with Honi Harlow. The show was at Mo Pitkin's last night, but will be moving uptown later next month. Anyways, he asked if I could use my camera on him (god, that sounds so... nah, I'm not changing it. Tee hee.) Of course once I started I ended up shooting the whole thing.

Understand something. I'm obsessive when I shoot video. But... no tripod. So I was using hydraulic strength to hold the dam' camera up and steady for what turned out to be something like 42 minutes of footage... really, really cool footage. Because they were on last night.

And they knew it, and left a certain perfumed smugness in the air. I rushed home, to snuggle. I snuck a puck (which is a peek with only one i) and Guth and Sparky look cute. (I don't know. He just LOOKS like a Sparky sometimes.)

ugh

Sorry. I can't stop reading news stories about this.

2

I WANT SOME GALLAUDET HYSTERIA

I'm REALLY not happy with what I'm seeing about the selection of the next President of Gallaudet University.

Commented David Evans on Adam Stone's blog:

No other university that I’ve attended or heard of would shut down for an entire day just for a presentation by a presidential candidate. Still, I’m sure that whoever went first would have to sacrifice something in the short-term. Short of having a debate/longer forum, I don’t think there’s any easy way to resolve this.

I've heard of plenty who have all three presidents give speeches and involve as many of their students as possible. And a little work on Google found this. I went to a hearing college, and it seemed a perfectly reasonable idea to pick a time which would allow all students to attend these introductions. Another commenter on that blog also suggested all three speeches be at the same time; this is another good idea. Please don't fall into the trap Deaf people have of trying not to be "uppity" and not asking for what you deserve. This is an important position we're talking about, having effects worldwide. The words I. King Jordan spoke when he was first confirmed as President are still rung round the world. And who is the Deaf community? We are.

This is where I have to stop, with Adam. I was an MSSD student and I was proud of being connected to Gallaudet that way and still am, but that's the only way I'm connected. Maybe it's enough to give me the right to comment, though. The President of Gallaudet College is a representative of the Deaf Community-THE representative. In some ways, he's very much in the role of a diplomat to a foreign power. We should be sitting there with our children. "Kids, this could be the next Gallaudet President. This is going to determine who leads us in the coming world." And we're going to need a leader - it doesn't look like it's going to be an easy world. And we need someone who can think about this world. I mean, look at the class ramifications of cochlear implants, for god's sake. We need someone with excellence in language to lead the University also in ideas, and especially ideas about Deaf people, Deaf culture, etc. We need someone who can reach out and give people reasons to attend Gallaudet so we continue to have a center of Deaf culture like this (and it's not just Deaf people - look at Howard University, for example which is also suffering student attrition as access and discrimination decrease.

But today, with our wonderful technology, we really don't have to worry about shutting down a university. 20-minute speech, at the same time, different stages for each candidate, each speech to be filmed by separate film crews, and play it on the campus television thingy for the entire day. Subtitle as possible and replay the subtitled version when it becomes available. This way fairness is achieved and we provide respect to the importance of the position of Gallaudet University. Put the speeches on the internet. "Spying" wouldn't matter. Let the Deaf bloggers talk about it - all over the world. You can tell the Search Committee to ignore the buzz if you want - but people's words should be out there. But don't any students have video cameras? Is the Buff and Blue reaching out into AV yet? GallyPost.com looks like an interesting resource; I don't see any posts on Presidential selection yet. gally-l seems to be hopping about this "secrecy" and the choice to have the selection happen over the summer when the students won't be around to see. Fine, get some students to stay there. AND BRING THE DAMN CAMERAS. Got to be hosting somewhere. (General Jen would remind me: keep the mic on.)

And by the way - did anyone go to Bernice Johnson Reagon's speech? She is an amazing, amazing woman, a great writer who has worked for feminism and equality for a long time. She also happens to have strong ties to the Deaf community. I'm hoping her speech was packed, and hoping someone has a link to the text of her speech.

Gallaudet: the future

Adam Stone reviewed a presentation by Steven Weiner today in which the latter tried to make his case for the Presidency of Gallaudet University. Adam was less than impressed, but one thing he said struck me:

Okay, isn’t that already what we all want? I wanted to hear something new. Something bold.

He threw in some great gems, though. “Working at Gallaudet is not a job; it is a mission.” “We are past capital-D deaf.” “We must serve all deaf with mutual respect for all.”

Oh, and he quoted my most favorite Talmud quote ever, “He who saves one person saves the world.”

But still - I didn’t feel his vision. I’m still not sure what it was.

Yep. What's gonna happen down on Florida Ave.? What should the future contain for Gallaudet? What challenges is it going to face as an institution? As a Deaf institution? I commented as below:

Well, what do you think needs reform at Gallaudet? I’d like to see:
*A commitment to recruiting teachers in departments which have suffered from lack of people such as physics and other science depts.
*A commitment to encouraging the development of Deaf-centered technology
*A strategy for dealing with the coming generation of Deaf individuals most of whom will have cochlear implants - we need to find ways to continue to make Gallaudet attractive to all Deaf people.
*A commitment to exploring that “the Deaf nation may have many tribes” (if I can quote myself)

The Deaf community is changing. The direction the University will take in the next few years is crucial. We need leadership and unity. We need respect and recognition of difference while at the same time noting similarity.

Here's my question - what bold things would you like to see happen at Gally? What would make you want to be a student there?

monday tuesday morning news and coffee roundup

Sick of hearing aids? I am. I had this cute design for a hearing aid which was basically a mold like we have now, but instead of going behind the ear the processor and microphone dangled in a cool spike, like an earring. Wonder what happened to it? If I find it I will post the sketch - I think Deaf people should take a little more hand in adding style to our usually disgusting "accessories." Pink wax molds just aren't enough, you know?

Anyways, the UK seems to be coming out with glasses that have hearing aids built in and cost around $3,500 USD. Ack!

Remember those folks from Malaysia? They seem to be continuing their work:

The deaf community in Sabah have finally got their own club. Located at the YMCA KK premises in Damai here, it was officially opened on Sunday by Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, who was represented by his assistant Jahid Jahim.

Masidi, in his speech, said the deaf possess the strength and capabilities and have a big task towards the development of many areas, including sports and various sectors, if only they are willing to use and share their talents.

In more personal news - I've been working with MICA on setting up the Sarah Marie Pack Writing award as part of a tribute to my dear and departed friend. She was a writer and we shared our writing in school together back in our MSSD days and this is one of the ways I am trying to ensure her memory lasts. CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION. The deadline for entries right now is May 5th - do you know young people who could enter this contest? Pass it on! The award right now is $500 - that could help an aspiring college student buy a computer, books, or help pay for their tuition.
I'd also like to set up an account somewhere where I could show some of my short videos. Ridor spoke to me about youtube - anyone have suggestions for free video hosting?

AAAGH! DEAF MEN TAKE NOTE ASAP!

Just read this study in Pharyngula. It states that men who keep pagers/cell phones/pdas on hip or in pocket have reduced sperm count, fertility, and possible general sexiness. FIND ANOTHER PLACE.

It also says men who look at explicit porn have higher sperm count too, so there's an excuse.

Back at work today. Accomplished everything I wanted on my vacation. Feeling smug.

news from Sparkly

Got this article from Sparkly, now it's on Deaf in the City:

The Department of Education was responsible for distributing about $2 million in grants annually for deaf cultural programs -- but the money has suddenly dried up, The New York Times reported. Ed. - "suddenly dried up", no. Somebody actively had to cut this. This is what you call "neutral" language where they try to find ways to talk about something without blaming people. Just FYI.

No one seems to know who pulled the plug on the funding or why it was done.

Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, have been trying to restore the funding, which was part of a program to provide equal education opportunities for people with disabilities, the newspaper said.

Among the endangered programs across the country is the Washington-based National Theater of the Deaf, which has not seen any federal funds since mid-2005.

Well - as I told Sparkly, this is what it means to live under a Republican administration. They'll give charity to corporate giants, but not to the arts.

In other news - congrats Ahmed for your engagement!

And one more thing - congrats to Grant Laird, jr for being in this WIRED article - kudos!

must... edit... video...

and write screenplay and edit other video and cook delicious food...

Breakfast: egg sandwich with soy cheddar, chopped red pepper and garlic on top of multigrain toast.

Lunch: Noodle soup with sauteed sweet potato, chopped garlic, and chopped spinach, complete with sesame seeds.

Also, this has coolness potential, but also horror. Imagine me, Erfo, Chameleon, Bianca, Ridor, Stone, Cox, Berke and all the other deaf bloggers nattering in the cafeteria in between stealing each other's pills.

Reggie's baby shower vid is editing along quite nicely. The new screenplay I vill write for the Sparkly Spanker. Yes, she vill be my vext victim....

Question - anyone have cool Deaf websites not on my blogroll? Please share! When I takes my breaks I'll need something new to read!

More on Screenplays, some Thoughts on Deaf Education, and a linkbarrage for fun

I woke at 6 a.m. today, for no particular reason, and I wasn't comfortable until I'd grabbed my laptop, swung around until my body was in a ball, and begun revising.

Which means: I like this script much better than the other I was working on, and for a variety of reasons. This is going to be MUCH more flexible for the actors, and that's gold in comedy: too specific direction, and the character won't work for any actor; make the direction too loose, and you have every character going off in different directions. Give them the bone, though, and they become the meat. Or so I hope.

Part of my continuing excitement is the slowly-increasing number of blogs I find related to screenwriting. It's awesome-just as I found with politics, there's a number of talented screenwriters out there who blog! (I'm finding this in other fields too, and it's become a bit of a game to me, finding blogs on the economy, education, and a ton of other fields.

Why are blogs so fascinating? I suspect because human beings are learning creatures, and learning occurs best through metalearning. We like to learn things, but we also like to learn how to learn things. I used to love science a lot, but when I went to college, that love disappeared; I chose to go to a hearing college, one of the best, and they had severe problems finding an interpreter for my chem class. So I spoke to Mary Ellsworth, who'd been my Earth Systems Science teacher in MSSD. I'd been frustrated by the problem of getting interpreters for my science class and berating myself for not doing better in that course than I had. She said that students need a model for learning, and that you can't get this through an interpreter properly. You could get it somewhat from books, if the books were written by intelligent, teaching authors, but as James Loewen has shown many textbooks aren't written in an honest way, and without honesty how can there be the connection you need for education?

Anyways, blogs provide a model for thinking about things. It's dangerous as well as seductive; people who haven't developed critical thinking and reading skills will be attracted to the most entertaining. So I'm cautious about who I read, but I like learning how to think about different things. Especially stuff I can't get head or tails around, like economics.

life is soooo busyfun

Worked a lot this weekend. Finished the new screenplay! YAY! It has roles for everyone and is STILL the short project that will let me get experience... and have fun...

Helped out General Jen's mom yesterday after a long weekend of work and writing and was totally smushed. But totally unable to go to sleep until around 9pm... body clock rules all I guess. Some news:

trees attack deaf people: yep, trees. The Herald reports:

A tree fell on a group of deaf tourists in the central Italian town of L'Aquila yesterday, killing a 47-year-old man and injuring seven people who could not hear a bus driver's cry of alarm.

Unless the bus driver didn't *give* a cry of alarm. And anyway, he was driving the damn bus for a tour. How stupid can the man be? He doesn't see the people on the bus at all? Well, very stupid - I've met stupider. But it's a silly way to go. At least the tree was antique.
Deaf Expo in Texas: the new Miss Deaf Texas was very quickly crowned - took less than a month! Check out the Deaf Expo here - have no coffee this morning so I haven't decided if any of this makes sense or not. Readers?
Chandramouli!: Kind of reminds me of Convictions. A hearing man with his deaf wife and son are talking to the world about sign language. In this case, he's supporting it:

Sign language expert K S Chandramouli, who is in city along with his hearing impaired wife and 10-year-old son to deliver a lecture organised by the Mook Badhir Mandal, intends to fuel some enthusiasm among the hearing impaired to make efforts to popularise the Sign language and wants people handling public services to understand the language to help the deaf.

‘‘Audiologist, medical researchers, speech therapists do not always encourage deaf to express in Sign language freely. But they try their best to make deaf behave like hearing people whereas Sign language is our natural language,’’ said Chandramouli.

Chandramouli believes that even though all human emotions could be conveyed through Sign language. He has trained his son to understand English and Kannada along with Sign language. ‘‘We want corporates bodies as well as people handling public services to understand our special needs. We need at least one interpreter to help deaf people in railway stations, airports, RTO and VMC offices,’’ said Chandramouli.

I would love corporate bodies to understand my special needs. Any takers?

fri news coff roundup

Won't be making dphh in DC tonight - sorry to day. Have a lot of things to complete here in NYC. Might make it down Sunday to visit friends for a couple days. See how much I get done.

Ridor seems to have been first in announcing changes happening at CSD. This large corporation established by Ben Soukup has become extremely successful in both Deaf and hearing communities. I've noticed a lot of Deaf people seem ready to tear CSD down - not so sure that's a good idea. But this leads to a dichotomy... do we support Deaf companies just because they're Deaf? Do we attack them - just because they're Deaf? What's constructive criticism and what isn't? I suspect many other communities experience the same sort of inner struggle - witness Bill Cosby's tirade on black youth. But this kind of insight and self-looking is very important to those of us involved with Deaf Studies - and similar to the works of many feminist and black authors, some of our greatest insight and work can come from the process of self-analysis where we learn to discern the boundaries between what's us, what's our reaction to these experiences here or those over there, what's learned and what's ingrained. What in us is oppression, and what's suppression.

In other news, the Belfast Telegraph reports on the results of a meeting where Deaf people could air concerns about access in a variety of places:

Chief among the complaints presented to the panel was the continuing difficulty of communication experienced during hospital visits and we all agreed that more deaf awareness training was needed along with improved electronic displays on the lines of airport lounges. It's difficult to relax in a crowded waiting room, hoping a nurse will come at the right moment to tap us on the shoulder when our names are called.

Great things are expected of the classes being run for second year medical students at Queen's, where they learn basic sign language as well as instruction in deaf awareness and RNID director Brian Symington told us funds have been provided to increase the numbers from 20 to 40 each year.

Check it out for some things to mull over.

Much love and happy Friday to you all. I hope to get around to posting the porno drawings soon... possibly with bits cut out: this is a G-string blog. I mean, G-rated.

New Zealand recognizes NZSL

Another government officially recognizes their native sign language today. This one is a bit special because the sign language truly incorporates native elements, whereas other sign languages (like our ASL) were imports:

Christchurch City Council information technology staff and disability advisor Karen Rickerby have assisted the society in supplying and setting up equipment to process and show internet webcast coverage and interpretation of the NZSL Bill’s final stage before it goes to the Governor General to be signed into law.

According to the Office for Disability Issues, about 28,000 New Zealanders use NZSL and there are at least 210,000 deaf or hearing impaired people in the country. Sign languages are not universal and NZSL is unique to New Zealand. Among other things, it includes signs that express concepts from Maori culture.

Work has been under way for about 20 years to have the language officially recognised.

20 years is a long time for activism. Anyone out there know NZSL?

thanks for shoving your crotch in my face

I'm having one of those mornings. When my inner peace is continually disrupted by Outside Forces.

For example, today. On the train into downtown Manhattan I felt entirely peaceful. The walk to the station was pleasant, beautiful morning, children being well-behaved and cutely-dressed on the way to school. This is never a problem. Once on the train, I stood and began re-reading Forbidden Colors, by Mishima, and when a seat became available I took it.

However, immediately upon sitting, people invariably decide to stand in front of me. And I mean, really close in front of me. With their crotches at head level. They don't do the decency of standing sideways or at an angle, oh no. And invariably my discerning eye discerns other unpleasantness. Not to mention, unfortunately, my discerning nose. I try to bat their bodies aside politely with my book. I give them meaningful looks, especially to men in sweatpants who insist on jiggling and dancing whilst listening to their iPods (no, it's NOT attractive seeing whatever genitalia you've been blessed to possess doing the Hairy Mary in your sweats, guys.)

But then I get out of the subway and see the long and laboring lines struggling to get their sweat out onto the street... and I think, poor assholes. They've been trained to think this is normal, and the pay they get is something they've accepted as a fair compensation for this kind of treatment.

Then I think: well, I'm in pretty much the same position.

Then I think: it's going to be one of those days.

On another note, please do check out the Deaf Dogs Adoption Education Fund. Hat tip to the Sparkly Spanker who passed this my way.

There's a 'Cane a-coming

Jeff Masters at Weather Underground reports on the hurricane potential of this coming year:

The team from Colorado State University (CSU), led by Dr. Bill Gray and Philip Klotzbach, predict 17 named storms (average is 9.6), 9 hurricanes (6 is average), and 5 intense hurricanes (average is 2.3). The net activity for the season is expected to be 95% higher than normal. The entire Caribbean and U.S. coast is at above-normal risk for a strike by a major hurricane, with the U.S. East Coast (including the Florida Peninsula) at 64% risk, and the Gulf Coast at 47% risk. There is an 81% chance that at least one major hurricane will strike the U.S. coast. However, it is statistically unlikely that this coming season will have as many major hurricane U.S. landfall events as we saw in 2004-2005.

I'm oddly fascinated by these monsters... Dr. Masters also reports on the tornado outbreak of this past weekend which killed over 23 people and may have had a powerful F4 tornado!

All this crazy weather is happening just when FEMA is in even worse shape than it used to be:

Bullock said the fault wouldn't be at the local level: "Some of our state and local governments have made great strides, and we have excellent state and local emergency managers. But, if we have a major hurricane, their assets are going to be overwhelmed, as we saw in Katrina, and they're going to look to FEMA and the federal government. The question is, will the federal government be there? And who will be in charge? We currently don't even have a (permanent) head for FEMA."

She added: "I don't think there's a prospect of (the system) being fixed until the administration and the Department of Homeland Security make a commitment to helping people in disasters. During the '90s, FEMA worked. FEMA was there to help people. They knew they could count on the government. I don't think anybody, now, can count on the government being there for them during times of disaster.

I'm not sure I agree with Ridor that we should just give up on New Orleans, but it is true that I expected SOMEONE to do SOMETHING to prepare for this year - looks like nothing has been changed, nothing's been improved - and Americans are in even more danger this coming year. Of course, this means there will be no help for Deaf people too - so we should be prepared to help our own this coming year as we did last year when Katrina struck. And it is certainly true that under Bush I and Clinton we had speedy responses to hurricane strikes.

deaf culture & poetry tuesdays

I learned from a friend that many hearing people in American schools (mainstreaming programs mostly, I think, but also job counselling centers and other locations) still tell Deaf children stereotypical assholism like "deaf people - (ineffective attempt at bad acting) - can't write poetry."

Still. And people like to tell us how good we have it.

I remember when I was 12 the infamous Mrs. Peel incident. Mrs. Peel was the math teacher for advanced math classes at IS24 where I went to junior high school. Took them a while to get a terp and when they did, they first hired me an italian translator who translated English to spoken italian. Then they hired me a woman who was not I think certified but was good enough. I kept her. Anything was better than that moustache.

The year after I got her I was assigned to Mrs. Peel's class. Denise, my interpreter, walked with me upstairs; I loved walking through the hallways with her. She always dressed excellently and she had amazing bleached spiked hair. I think my love of the punk stems from my love of the attention we got as I trailed along behind her. People would frequently ask me if she was a movie star.

Anyways, Mrs. Peel didn't see me when I came into the class and sat with my textbook at my desk; she saw my interpreter come in, and went to ask her why she was there. I can lipread only a little. I saw Denise explaining and pointing at me. I saw Mrs. Peel snarl, and reply. My interpreter went cold. She stood, asked me to come with her without speaking.

We stood in the hallway. She put me up against the wall. She explained that the woman had told her snottily that she "didn't want a deaf child in her class." She explained that she, personally, did not want to work with this woman. It was totally unprofessional. It was also totally understandable, to me, and at the time I instantly agreed. Why bother? What could I learn from someone with such negative energy turned towards me? Later only I thought: maybe I should have fought. But what was I back then - a ten-year-old?... that was mainstreaming. Anyways, I was transferred to another math class, where I earned pretty much A's and B's for the rest of the year, while reading and rereading all my goofy sci-fi stuff.

Anyway, here's some poetry. This is part of a much larger series I'm working on... it'll probably get cut from the final version. But I like it. Yep, copyright me, 2005, retain all rights to usage etc.

9.5 (somewhere in november)
i am learning to guess
the words in stories my father tells
(there is a system to good mornings, too.) it itches.
never take it off. never
take it off (and everyone
at school outside seems determined to, to
look at the little miracle) i was guessing
already without it (off take it) even
this young i am looking forward
to night and the sounds of my own skull

what republicans did

Every time I read this kind of stuff I shudder. I know people complain about welfare queens, but it's pretty much myth. Most of the people on Medicare really need it. Hat tip to the folks at Afarensis.

In the eyes of his mother, Timmy Kitrel is a "typical little 7-year-old." Using a touch-screen device to communicate, the first-grader in the Fort Zumwalt School District can identify animals and spell his name.

Timmy, who has cerebral palsy, has made great progress, partly because of the occupational, physical and speech-language therapy he receives through Medicaid, said his mother, Kathy Kitrel of St. Peters.

But she's not sure how she and her husband will keep the services going. Timmy and his two siblings are among about 800 children a month in Missouri who are being dropped from Medicaid because of a new, little-noticed law.

This is moderately interesting. Also, this is eerily accurate:

I am 34% White Trash.

The white trash in my blood will not keep me from becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but it will keep me from a good haircut and any sort of fashion sense.

Take the
White Trash Test
@ FualiDotCom

will we have a war with iran?

This is what our leaders are saying abroad:

CONDOLEEZZA Rice yesterday refused to rule out an Iraq-style invasion of Iran.

The US Secretary of State said America was "committed" to pursuing a diplomatic solution to the clash with Iran over its nuclear programme.

But she made clear: "The president of the United States doesn't take his options off the table."

With whose money are we going to storm Iraq, Con? (more appropriate than Condi.) Last I checked the government was refusing to help Katrina survivors because they were broke.

Monday morning coffee and craziness

Anyone have an interesting April Fools'? New York seemed so over it this year - but childish me is not (although I don't think I've ever gone as far as my roommate seems to have, in the past - ask her for a list of Things She's Done To Her Brother and it becomes apparent that Deaf people can do anything - to hearing people.)

But some people online have a weird sense of humor.

In more interesting Deaf news, Malaysian Deaf people have begun their own Deaf newspaper. This follows on the heels of my noting a couple weeks ago that Ugandan Deaf people are crying out for signed news on television. It's great to see voices rising all over the world trying to take control of their own media. Deaf media in the UK is successful. I always thought because they hired Deaf people to sign the news at night... so Deafies had a chance to get in on the media and learn the ropes. Then people like Ramon Woolfe use their experience to start companies. I spoke about this with my friend Typhoon yesterday - he stopped by (such a sweetie!) on a short visit. Erfo came over and made smoothies. Sparkly Spanker of course took the time to describe every incident of teasing she's put me through (why, oh why do I love strong independent women who tease and torture me?)

So - I will be at NYC DPHH this friday UNLESS I go to DC to visit Curly Sue (which I call her based on a photo I have of her with long and luxurious hair....) If I go to DC, are you DC deafies doing anything interesting this weekend? Would love to hang with more Deaf bloggers!

too tired to sleep

Woke up at half past seven almost exactly (I remember it was 7:23; I'm friendly enough with Wal's vcr clock these days to know what numbers are there. I still need confirmation though.) Wal didn't want to wake up; he turned over and held me. I let him; who wouldn't?

We had to get up soon though; we had to head uptown to meet General Jen and the rest of the gang for the third day of filming. I'd left my camera at home so planned to rush up after setting up the scene (Jen made me set designer, which was fun and new, but more on that later.) And I did rush, but for another reason: the camera Jen'd reserved, wasn't there. She needed to borrow mine to work on the project. Which means: no filming for Joe. Boo-hoo!

I've got a few others to focus on now, so maybe it's time to do that instead. One of my big goals for the summer is to make a documentary trailing some of the stories of my father's life. If I can pin him down on it: initially taken by the concept, it wasn't long before eagerness went limp. Reality's like cold water on the testicles of the imagination, I suppose, and a camera can be cold, hard water.

The morning went smoothly, chinese for lunch, got to know Eddie a bit better than before. Drew a picture of sweet Ann-Rae as she printed parrots; got to speak more to another friend, Dan. Met quite a few people I really like today. And it's fascinating watching people act, although that part of my life? Over, and happily.

Home late, with Jen tempting me over for a short while to watch footage, and me walking back in the wide city night. I never really got the whole prohibition against deaf screaming, and the city was windy, so I cussed the wind out, and it cussed me back.