The Floodgates have been opened-- HOORAY!

A friend emailed me via sidekick to say: "Good news!!!!! Bot decided to resign jk!!!!!!" and I immediately checked Deafread.com... nada. Hmm. Is this a bout of gossip?

So I emailed back to him: "How do you find out?" And as I clicked on the reload-- there were four new posts regarding to this resignation already.
The floodgates have been opened. You will see cheers, relief, tears of joy, and many more.




Good bye Jane--
There are SO few that we have learned from you...one of those is that we, the Deaf people of various background, can unite through a hard time. You taught us that we love each other despite the background. You taught us that we do have rights and that we haven't forgetten how to fight back. You helped us all to unite.
Thank you Jane... now get outta of my way. Don't come back.



***NOW****
The new question! Who will be our next president????
Will we keep the same candidates or reopen the whole process to invite MORE candidate to be nominated????
Glenn seems to be the most popular choice.

Black Friday Pictures (from Eyeth Studios)

I am not sure if it has been already submitted to Deafread.com but this link at Eyeth Studios has a wonderful ablum of Black Friday.

I wish I can show you some pictures that I feel that are profound but the ablum is "locked" but I want you to take a look through those pictures with several pictures I want you to pay attention:

One picture of policeman smiling, maybe laughing.... why? Maybe because he thinks this whole arresting 135 people is ridiculous.

One picture of a young man in a wheelchair-- I did read somewhere else that he was upset that DPS didn't touch him just because he was in a wheelchair. They avoided him and he demanded them to arrest him too because he was a protestor as well (he was in the front row as well but they just went around him!) so eventually the DPS finally picked him up from his wheelchair to be arrested. I found this touching because it is evident that people do discriminate-- even in arrests. I applaud for this young man. Hope somebody can tell me his name so he can be honored as well. :-)

It has been a struggle to stay updated and at same time post my comments/opinions (not necessarily only about Unity-For-Gallaudet).
So I am letting you know that I do have my youtube account where I uploaded several videos. I have been meant to post them here as well but... NO TIME to embed it AND make transcripts for those non-signers so my apologies for leaving the hearing people out of this. Someday, I promise you, someday.

Meanwhile, enjoy those videos I made in the past month.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpSwMhQx6WM Deaf and English (06:20)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9HP0huaHrM Talkative Cashiers (04:21)
My youtube channel

Updated: Pictures from Tent-Beach

http://web.mac.com/darfrazier/iWeb/San_Diego/Live%20From%20San%20Diego!.html

Enjoy the pictures. :-) Those pictures were taken by Darren Frazier who drove all way from Flordia (he was just stopping in San Diego as he continues his way to Oregon/Washington, his final destination).

From the group picture Darren took, I attempted to count how many people showed up for the Tent-Beach-- it was well over 30 people (included kiddies and excluded furkiddies which there were four) unless I miscounted-- since mathematics is not my bailiwick.
More people did show up well after the photo op. There was confusion as whether this was an all-day event or not. I did think it was an all-day but I was corrected the night before and had to readjust my plans so I can be there when it started.

So far none of my Gally friends were arrested as they partook in the protest. I was relieved to find out about that.

San Diego's Tent-Beach

To get more information, go to: http://sddeafcommunity.blogspot.com/ (San Diego CommUNITY for Gallaudet),
They should upload a video of the dialogue taken place at the gathering-- and several photos too.
I have been pretty neutral throughout this Gally protest because one-- I am not a Gallaudet Student; two-- I am not a DC resident. But I feel that I should be part of it by being aware of all sides of this protest BECAUSE I will become a DC resident and Gallaudet will be part of my daily life (due to my husband's enrollment in their linguistic MA/Ph.D program). But I do share the same thought with many protestants (students, alumni, faculty)-- that JaneKF needs to resign. Who in their right mind will want to work in a such hostile enviornment for many years to come?
She needs to spare herself the trouble (and at same time, save her face and dignity) and let the process of choosing the presidental candidate reopening for Gallaudet University.

Liza Minneli Does ASL

(She starts to sign after a minute and half or so)

I wonder who coaches her ASL?? She mustn't have practiced much because some signs are incoherent. And why is she using ASL on a British tv show??? Ridiculous. Anyway I just thought that it is interested that Liza used ASL while singing... which must be difficult for somebody who is not fluent in ASL!!!

(Thanks to Jordon who forwarded me this...!) here is the transcript below:

You see, my lover makes no sound
His language is his hands
I watch his fingers dance and try to understand
I try to understand his elegant ballet
In my heart I can hear the words he longs to say

And so I've learned to speak a language he can hear
To tell him how I feel whenever he his near
He lives around the block, it's just a little walk
We'll meet tonight at eight
At eight tonight, we'll talk



Oh my love, oh my love
Quiet love, quiet love
I am calm whenever you are near
And somehow I can hear what your heart wants to say



(Singing while Signing in ASL)
I have a small surprise
To spring on you tonight
I'm learning how to sign
Please God I get it right
It's something that you do
With confidence and ease
I'm clumsier than you
This might come out Chinese
But come and fill my heart
Its never danced this way
I'm nervous and it's hard
I have so much to say
I've always been afraid
My dream seemed so unreal

But now I bless this world
For how you make me feel

Oh, my love
Oh, my love
You are shy
So am I
But if you would tell me that it's true
You feel the way I do
Then tomorrow can start
As we are, together we'll grow old
For wise men always say
That in silence
There's gold

Tent-Beach, San Diego-Style

One blog shows a nation-wide map of Tent-City sites and I realized there is one in San Diego! Disappointed that I was left out of this "information-chain", I hunted for the information and naturally I went to Jared's blog which I am reposting:

Do you support Gallaudet FSSA? Or do you want to stomp out oppression and audism?

This rally is for you! TENT BEACH...in true San Diegan style!

Meet on Saturday at 10am at Pacific Beach on the end of Law st.
From I-5...westbound on Garnet, Right on Mission Blvd, then Left on Law.

Bring your tents! Make signs!

We will explain what events has happened at Gallaudet that prompted some of us to take action.

Spread word! If anyone gets this three times, it's all good!

I think it is quirky that they list this as Tent-Beach rather than a Tent-City. :-) So I might go and check it out to obtain more information since all of allegations are spreading out and it is hard to get one whole circle of information and incidents to understand what's happening at Gallaudet.
I was already planning on to go surf this Saturday one beach south from PB anyway ;-)

Yes, I am still here

I have been swallowed up by classes-- to attend as a student and to teach. For several nights in a row, I didn't have a good night of sleeping. I usually go to bed at 12am to 1am then wake up at 8am. Not enough sleep for me...remember-- I am not a fully-fledged adult that has adjusted to coffee and early sunrise just yet.

Right now, I only have three classes (as student)-- two art classes and a surfing class. I have to pass all of them to maintain my graduation this December. I have submitted in my paperwork so the reality of me obtaining a BA degree is settling in... As a teacher, I teach two classes. Not bad, as long I don't assign them a lot of essays ! They are really eager so it does help me a lot to appreciate to teach them ASL.

I have a lot of discussions about "pure ASL" recently. What is exactly it and where is it being used? I have been attacked by interpreters (and hearing signers) about my PSE slips... but I realized that they are the only people I use PSE with. Is it a psychological block I have wedged between myself and the hearing people? If they are attacking me, then how could I be comfortable to use ASL around them? It is a vicious cycle-- as I continue to distance myself from the hearing people as they attempt to learn ASL. (Fortunatly, I haven't applied any of those defense mechanisms in my teaching classes. I put on a different mentality for those students because I am looking to give them a POSITIVE outlook on ASL and the Deaf community). I don't think anybody should attack anybody based on how they sign (the fluency, the accuracy, or whatever). I found it irony that the hearies are usually attacking me for using PSE yet those hearing people were the very ones who drilled PSE into my young virginal linguistic encephalon. Hmm... I suppose I cannot make them happy all times.

For me, "pure ASL" is a language that has NO manual handshapes in any of signs. I am not a Deaf Studies/ASL studies major so my definition could be wrong, but that is how I see it based on my history of people (mainly hearies) criticizing me...
I wonder if it is SO wrong to use few PSE signs throughout your conversation just to clarify what you are saying... it is like Tex-Mex-- a group of Spanish-speaking Tejanos that occassionaly use some English words in their dialogue. What is your definition of PURE ASL?