Inaudible Nonsense

Tomorrow is midterms. Eek! right? These compressed summer schedules everything is faster. I just had a spring break, it lasted 20 minutes. Anyway, since I really should be studying. A quick few thoughts.

Maybe it was my last post, or maybe it was several hours watching myself sign on a web cam or watching the documentary Through Deaf Eyes, but somehow yesterday the stage fright (mostly) went away. It was like everything just clicked. Or that I wasn’t embarrassed by my own mistakes (or myself). That all made for a pretty good Wednesday. And once I am able to relax, I learn a lot easier.

Being here at Gally is a really nice experience. In cultural theory there is something referred to as a “liminal” — a space that exists at the boundaries between two starkly defined opposites. (At least culturally starkly defined.) For example, LGBT people are often considered liminal, existing between defined male and female gender norms and expectations. College is also liminal, it exists between childhood and adulthood. In liminal periods, rules are often opposite or otherwise different than the before and afterward.

This is all a very rough definition. And a way to say that Gally right now for me, at least in this small summer context, a interesting safe space between wherever I’ve been on my hearing loss journey and wherever I am going. A place where I am surrounded by a variety of hearing abilities. And perhaps, I don’t feel quite so unusual. And don’t have to worry about expectations.

Through that liminal period, if only for a couple weeks. Despite the school work and the pace of learning, it has been incredibly relaxing. At the core, I just feel better about things.

We’ll see how long this positive attitude lasts, I may start enjoying it. I’ll let you know how I feel after a written midterm and an on-camera conversational midterm.