The World of C.A. Fanara

From The Unseen Supporters....
C.A. Fanara I am writing for those who are unable to participate in the Gallaudet protest or aid Gallaudet protestors: there are many, many more of us Deaf who support the protests wholeheartedly. We are the single parents, the health-afflicted, hard-working folks who cannot leave their jobs and so forth. I am a CSUN grad student and a single parent of two children. While I [...]
Mon, Oct 16 2006

The Magical Gala
C.A. Fanara  By the time I was ready for the Gala, I walked towards the Rotes Rathaus. There had been a terrible accident the night before, in which a crane toppled over and damaged four or five cars - this was next door to the hotel. I stopped by, fascinated by the work men were doing to get the crane off the [...]
Thu, Sep 14 2006

A Trip to the Israelitische Taubstummenanstalt
C.A. Fanara Soon after lunch it was time to board the double-decker bus, two of them in fact, for the trip to Israelitische Taubstummenanstalt, the Jewish school for the Deaf they had been talking about in the lectures - known as ITA - Berlin. Many of us excitedly boarded and chatted away on what seemed like a long trip towards the East [...]
Tue, Aug 22 2006

DHI Conference, Day 5
C.A. Fanara August 4th, 2006 - today was the last day of lectures at the DHI conference. I went down to the Heat cafe, deep in thought. I wondered what today's lectures would bring, and I was very excited about the upcoming tour to the ITA - Berlin (the Jewish school for the Deaf) which still stands today, and it would be [...]
Mon, Aug 21 2006

DHI Conference, Day Four continued....
C.A. Fanara After Zaurov's lecture on Deaf Holocaust, Zaurov proceeded to introduce to us four Deaf Holocaust survivors: Lea Huysmans Halpern, Anna Vos Van Dam, Abraham Neumann and Jacob Ehrenfeld. These four told stories that had the most emotional impact on us, the participants of the conference - as soon they were finished, we were all either sniffling or had tears pouring [...]
Sat, Aug 19 2006

DHI Conference, Day Four
C.A. Fanara As usual, we all went down to Heat cafe for breakfast. This time Flip Delmonte of the Netherlands joined me for breakfast. I told him how much he reminded me of his childhood friend, Gert-Jan de Kleer.  Gert-Jan de Kleer was a close friend of mine for many years, and he was a wonderful actor as well as a great [...]
Fri, Aug 18 2006

Clarification, Et Al...
C.A. Fanara I received an email from Mark Zaurov, who requested clarification on one of the lecture notes - specifically the opening speech of his. He explained that while Fritz Albreghs was indeed Deaf, but Albreghs was not Jewish. Albreghs was a Nazi member and was the president of Regede in 1933 (Regede is the German Union of the Deaf). In those [...]
Wed, Aug 16 2006

DHI Conference, Day Three Cont'd...
C.A. Fanara Day Three is continued, with the seventh speaker - Iris Groschek, a young hearing German woman, who discussed how the Deaf and the Disabled were torn between joining Hitler Youth OR the Race Court. She probed into how the Deaf in Hamburg were constantly making decisions that never suited them - if they joined the Deaf Hitler Youth, they were [...]
Fri, Aug 11 2006

DHI Conference, Day Three
C.A. Fanara By now going to the Heat cafe for breakfast was routine, and one could see many more Deaf in the cafe. I sat down with the Deaf Finnish group, to catch up talks with the lovely Kaisa of whom I had met in Finland. We all walked to Humboldt University, to the same auditorium where the speakers would be.   The first [...]
Thu, Aug 10 2006

DHI Conference, Day Two...
C.A. Fanara The next morning, August 1st, I went down to the Heat cafe where they were offering the buffet breakfast free to its hotel members. There were six rows of breakfast dishes: think a breakfast dish, it was probably there! It was a bit hard to decide, but pleasing to know I had many choices to choose from. I decided on [...]
Wed, Aug 09 2006

Back To The DHI Conference, Day One
C.A. Fanara This is where I'll start - back to Monday, July 31st - the first day of the Deaf History International Conference. The details that came through this conference are unbelievably important and definitely not trivial to begin with. Fortunately my notebook is full of these data, and I am going to give you what I've learned at the conference. Hopefully [...]
Tue, Aug 08 2006

It's Thursday Already!!!
C.A. Fanara The 6th DHI Conference continues...and it's already Thursday!!! We have been led by such swirls of lectures, workshops and social life that I hardly have time for my blog....so, my dears, I apologize for not writing anything yet...but I promise to fill you with rich information that I've learned from the conference. Many thought-provoking lectures, especially those by Carol Padden [...]
Wed, Aug 02 2006

The So-Called First Day of the 6th DHI Conference...
C.A. Fanara I awoke with excitement, knowing I was in Berlin and knowing yesterday was the first day of the 6th Deaf History International conference. Took a quick shower and had breakfast before I went to registration that was inside my hotel. There were already many Deaf folks in the registration area, and I got to meet some really nice folks. One such folk [...]
Mon, Jul 31 2006

A Bit Of A Gossip From Home...
C.A. Fanara After reading my emails from home, I was surprised at my mother's email. She is quite good at keeping me informed about news in the Los Angeles area, but I was delighted that she gave me information about one article that is related to the Deaf community. Apparently the article was about Deaf West Theatre, and she is right about [...]
Sun, Jul 30 2006