The Creative Pensieve

VisionWalk 2016: Order of the JedEYE
The Creative Pensieve Image: Star Wars logo with "Force for Change" underneath A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... EYE  WARS *cue dramatic music* It is a period of civil unrest.  Jedi Knights will gather at the VisionWalk  to rally together towards the victory  against a consortium of blinding eye diseases. Over the years, the  Foundation Fighting...
Sun, Apr 17 2016

Christmas at Marshall Fields: A PLAYMOBIL Holiday Creation
The Creative Pensieve Every year I do a Christmas Display. Click here for the 2014 theme. This year, I decided to honor Chicago and its famous department store, Marshall Fields. Circa 1900, the display takes elements from the Victorian, Medieval, and some modern themes of PLAYMOBIL to create this display.  The recreation is not an accurate replica, but rather, an inspired buildin...
Thu, Dec 31 2015

Where'd I Park the TARDIS? The Pop Culture Savvy Terp
The Creative Pensieve To interpret effectively for Deaf and Hard of Hearing consumers in the K-12 and postsecondary education systems, educational sign language interpreters should be savvy on popular culture issues and trends.Think of the eighth grader proclaiming their love for vampires who sparkle inthe sun. What about the high school student sketching picture after picture of a TARDIS?...
Tue, Nov 24 2015

Call for Teams and Players to Join NAD Deaf College Bowl...
The Creative Pensieve Photo: University of Minnesota College Bowl Team.Three players sitting at a table chatting during a break between game roundswhile a fourth player stands behind watching. Are you currently a Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deafblind student at a college or university? If so, do consider joining a Deaf college bowl team and join the Deaf College Bowl Championships during t...
Tue, Nov 10 2015

Grand European Tour for Deaf / ASL Travelers
The Creative Pensieve Photo: Eiffel Tower in Paris at SunsetCredit: Hands on Travel In a blog post shared several months ago, I outlined the challenge of finding a tour group that would meet one's requests for ASL interpreters and/or fellow Deaf travelers. After scouring the Internet and various travel agencies, tour agencies, and countless blog / vlog posts, we now have a tour set up thr...
Fri, Oct 30 2015

The Dangers (But Fun!) of Creating Signs for STEM
The Creative Pensieve The Education Interpreting Committee of the Minnesota Registry of Interpreters has created a new community page on their website dedicated to sharing vlogs and articles by interpreters and Deaf consumers in the area of educational interpreting.In the first installment, Johanna Lucht, a Deaf University of Minnesota alumni who currently works at NASA as an electronic en...
Fri, Sep 04 2015

The Women of Harry Potter
The Creative Pensieve As a booknerd, I'm expected to have answers to questions frequently asked - one's favorite book, one's favorite authors, one's favorite characters and so on. The last one doesn't get asked often, thus I don't always get a chance to share insight into why particular characters in certain novels stand out to me. There's Scout Finch, Huckleberry Finn, Peter Pan, Mary Pop...
Fri, Aug 28 2015

New Addition to Theatre Listings
The Creative Pensieve AUSLAN STAGE LEFT has now been added to the Theatre Listings of accessible sign language interpreted and/or captioned shows in Australia. (Check the listings here or click on the tab above).To read more about what Auslan Stage Left has to offer, and see what upcoming shows will be interpreted in Australian Sign Language, check out their website here.Many thanks for le...
Wed, Aug 05 2015

Meet Deaf Wow: Cultural Exposure to the Deaf Community
The Creative Pensieve My moment of MEET DEAF WOW occurred when I was 11 years old and about to go off to summer camp for d/Deaf children in the mountains of Utah.It was my first time away from the family for an extended period of time. Despite attending a mainstream program for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students from preschool to halfway through third grade, I'd been mainstreamed long enoug...
Fri, Jul 10 2015

What's On Your Bookshelf?
The Creative Pensieve I'm known among my family, friends and acquaintances to be a book hoarder. I collect and keep books on multiple shelves in multiple rooms around the house. Baby books, children's books, middle grade books, YA books, "grown-up" books, fiction books, nonfiction books, homemade books - you name it, I add it to my collection. With that in mind, they often turn to me to re...
Thu, Jun 18 2015

"La Vie Deafie": A Song Parody
The Creative Pensieve In going through old college papers and essays, I came across this song parody that I co-authored with other Deaf students and interpreting majors. We took the song "La vie Boheme" (the first part) from the 1996 Broadway musical Rent and rewrote the lyrics, adding a Deaf culture twist to them. We did this purely for fun (and probably to avoid studying for tests and fi...
Fri, May 29 2015

Perspectives of a Fellow Deaf Writer: A Response to...
The Creative Pensieve I came across this article, showcasing the viewpoints of a writer who happens to be Deaf. She shares the issues and frustrations as a writer who does not have access to everyday dialogue, and how it reflects in her writings.As an writer myself, I can relate to several of those. I've been asked upon more than one occasion whether or not I think or dream in sign or Engl...
Wed, May 27 2015

How Many Sign Language Interpreters Does It Take....
The Creative Pensieve ... to screw in a light bulb? (Or, 'How to Explain Interpreting for the Theatre or Concerts in a Nutshell'). Imagine a stage where the spotlight has burned out. Someone needs to replace the light bulb in the spotlight. Now, there are several sign language interpreters standing by. How many interpreter(s) does it require to replace the light bulb so that the show mig...
Thu, May 21 2015

ASL Deconstruction: "No Day But Today" From the...
The Creative Pensieve Recently, I was asked about the well-known phrase "No day but today" from the 1996 Broadway musical Rent and how to translate it into ASL and still retain the concept of the original lyrics. Here is a prime example of how captioning and interpreting can both affect the meaning of a line of lyric and twist the intent of the words being sung onstage (or onscreen, as in ...
Thu, Apr 30 2015

Writing about Deaf Characters
The Creative Pensieve I'm a writer in the midst of drafting multiple projects: a middle grade novel, a YA novel, and a coming of age story for new adults. Yet I see myself getting stuck frequently with two issues that seem to arise every time I start a project that contains a d/Deaf character and uses American Sign Language (ASL).What's holding me back?  While my goal is to write a story ...
Mon, Apr 27 2015

The Grand Tour of Europe: A Deaf Traveler and Nonexistent...
The Creative Pensieve Travelers in centuries past have partook in a classic tradition - the Grand Tour of Europe. In the beginning this consisted of several months trekking across the countries on the Continent. In later years, the British Isles joined the itineraries of many taking the Grand Tour. It serves as an educational rite of passage, exposing the traveler to the cultural riches a...
Wed, Apr 22 2015

A Deaf-Friendly U: University of Minnesota Twin Cities
The Creative Pensieve Image Description: University of Minnesota 2014 Deaf College Bowl Team. Are you starting the college search? Are you Deaf or Hard of Hearing or Deafblind? Know someone who is? Perhaps you or they are considering one of the three traditional schools with a sizable number of Deaf students - Gallaudet University, Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Inst...
Wed, Apr 22 2015

Thank You, GLEE: An Open Letter to the Cast & Crew
The Creative Pensieve Image Description: "Glee" logo with ASL ILY sign in place of L. Tonight, the last episode of Glee will air, thus ending six seasons of the lovable underdog singing group. In the past weeks or so, Twitter was aflame with the hashtag, #GleeToMe where fans could express what the show meant to them. I would like to join and share my Glee memories and thank the cast and...
Wed, Apr 22 2015