Mishka Zena

Endless Pondering

Diary of A Hunger Striker, Christine R “Coco”

From a friend who was one of the student leaders last May.Over the years Christine R, known as Coco to her Canadian friends, has been very active in promoting the civil rights of deaf-blind students and frequently tried to get the administrators to improve the accessibility of the facilities and programs for the multi-handicapped students. Since she suffers from Ushers’ Syndrome, she knows too well what it feels like to find some parts of Gallaudet inaccessible and was frustrated to see the lack of progress in accessibility. She graduated from Gallaudet last May. I got to know her over the summer time, reading her eloquent posts. Since the protest broke out, she became one of my contacts. I had the pleasure in meeting her finally Saturday morning before the march. For me, it was very difficult to see my friend in the condition she was last Saturday. I was glad to hear she revived enough to be able to go to the homecoming ball and to parties. I will definitely see her when I go back on campus tmw or friday.

Let me clarify one thing: As a Canadian, she couldn’t participate in the sit in protest and be arrested because that may endanger her visa status. So this is her way to show support for the protest, just like the other three international students.  elizabeth

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Day 8

Despite not having eaten anything for eight days, I had plenty of energy to attend the 2006 Homecoming Ball last night at ESPN Zone, mingled til 2am then went to two house parties and mingled some more til 7am!! Didn’t drink booze, but plenty of H20!

Today was relatively quiet with alumni going back home. Yesterday it was an incredibly inspiring day… go to www.deafread.com to catch up on Saturday’s march of 4,000 Gallaudet loyalists!

I feel great altough i miss food. My first meal? Cudda be Chipotle, Quizno’s, Thai, Indian, Japanese cuisine or Armand’s pizzeria? Decisions, decisions!

The Board of Trustees is rumored to meet on Sunday, Oct 29. Wha? 8 more days to go?

*sigh* that is… if all agree to kick Jane’s anarchist ass out of here.

Tactile love and keep up the spirit, I can feel it over here.

11:10 PM - 16 eprops - 8 comments - email it

Friday, October 20, 2006

Day 6 of My Hunger Strike.

Fernie, resign, dammit. I want my Chipotle!

 and Punpkin Spice Latte!

unity for gallaudet

3:22 PM - 18 eprops - 9 comments - email it

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

hunger strike.

amid the chaos and confusion here at gallaudet, i hereby sacrifice my health and wellbeing for gallaudet’s future.

as of today, right at this moment, i am 66 hours without food. my friend, david simmons, the ringleader, is now without food for 102 hours.

we were just told by jeff rosen that the ‘board of trustees is deeply anguished’ over our decision to give up food and starve until jane resigns.

we starve for social justice, jane to resign, search process to reopen, real leadership, inclusion and for gallaudet’s future.

amazingly… i am doing just fine. drinking a lot of liquids. 6 lbs lost so far in 3 days.

la vie coup d’universite. tactile love & check blogs. even better, come on down to dc.

from    tactilejunkie’s Xanga Site

October 25, 2006 - Posted by Mishka Zena | Uncategorized | | 2 Comments

2 Comments »

  1. she doesn’t SUFFER from usher’s syndrome. she just HAS usher’s syndrome. i never thought of myself SUFFERING from usher’s syndrome… just thought of myself as a person who has to learn to adapt to another way of living once i become blind.

    please be more sensitive with your words. think of it this way- would you like to “suffer” from hearing loss?

    thanks :)

    Comment by Another person with Usher | October 25, 2006

  2. Thank you for pointing that out. I have never thought of this before and you are right. I won’t make that mistake again :)

    Comment by Mishka Zena | October 25, 2006

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