DeafRead, I Love You Guys!

I could never express how thankful I am to these three media geniuses, Tayler, Jared and Carrie. They made it possible for me to meet such sincere people through their website bestseller DeafRead. I took liberty to include two emails I received from two individuals which meant a lot to me. Here they are.

Date: Tue 03 Oct 2006 12:00:07 PM EDT
Subject: Hello from Rochester NY

Hi, Carl,

It has been many years since I last saw you as a senior graduating from MSSD and I was a teacher about to leave to pursue a master's degree in counseling. Our good friend Sarah Val threw a party to celebrate, and did we celebrate! It was good to discover your blog and learn about your pathways and that you have a family now.

To update you on me: I got the Master's and spent the next 15 years counseling first in Washington, DC with the inner city Deaf and then in Toronto with the international deaf community. I married and had three children, who are now 24, 18 and 18. One of the twins, a boy, is deaf and will soon go to NTID. The others, girls, are either attending college or working in Boston. My husband, a Colombian, and I were married for 28 years before divorcing. Now I am a publisher of legal books and newsletters, and thinking what to do with the rest of my life (travel, writing, anything goes!) In my spare time I do photography and printing of large photos as a home business; the biggest was a 24 inch by 6 foot panorama of the School for the Deaf here.

Whatever you do, keep on writing your blog and telling about your cultural experiences, especially in Hawai'i where there is such a wonderful mix of cultures! Best wishes to you and your family, and all the best to Meriam. It was wonderful to hear about old times again!

Yours,
Diane



Date:
Sun 08 Oct 2006 07:58:21 PM EDT

Subject: Allison Fanara Here

Greetings, Carl!I apologize for the long delay in responding back to you, and this is actually my real email address - alibgt@earthlink.net, not the other one which was cafanara@aol.com. I have had troubles with my computer, and hopefully they will be solved soon. I wanted to touch bases with you and let you know how much I truly appreciate and enjoy your blog - you are brilliant! Why don't you write a book?!!!!! I'm not kidding!!!

I was so excited to read what you wrote about Michael Foucault, because I just learned all about him last semester for my course in "Rhetoric of Terrorism". The professor who taught that course is an old hippie, of course - hee - but a terrific fellow! Professor Attias, for this course, was referring to Foucault's argument that one of the reasons for war is eugenics - perfect biology, if you will call it - think Hitler (cleaning up Jews), think Rwanda (genocide). I found that to be so fascinating, and guess what I said to Professor Attias? I raised my hand and said, "Wow. Don't you think this applies to us Deaf people? Think hearing people, who are constantly trying to fix us and "clean up" the ear?" The poor fellow was taken aback and paused...and then said, "Ummm, I'll have to think about that!" I was so excited to see that the wheels were turning in his head, because by the time the first Gallaudet protests took place in May - he told the class that I was right! Allright!

I have to tell you one more story - in another course I butted heads with a professor who drove me nuts. One of his all-time favorite philosophers is Jacques Derrida, who wrote "Of Grammatology". Well, at the Deaf library where I work, I came across Ben Bahan - Dirksen Bauman's article, "The Metaphysics of Oppression" (great article, let me tell you!) - they mentioned Jacques Derrida and what he said. I got so excited and thought I'd get even with that professor because he so loves Derrida. Derrida, in discussing the rhetorical animal that uses speech, stated that we can be convinced by reading, not just speech. Not only that, we can be convinced by other linguistic modes. That's where I got so excited - meaning "sign language", right?

Well, in my paper, I claimed that we are basically the world's oldest rhetorical animal: the signing animal, rather than the speaking animal or the reading animal. Think gestures. A professor, Professor Ivani Fuselli-Souza, of University of Paris, proved that gestures formed in a group can become sign language when no other mode is used. Interesting, umm? When I got my paper, I got a bright red F. Yikes, I thought....three days later I had a meeting with the department chairman, who is a Nigerian and wears Nigerian clothing - cool guy - and thank God he helped me in changing the grade from F to B. He actually laughed when I told him the real reason why I wrote this paper, to rub that professor's nose in it. He said, "Don't tell him I laughed! He has a very arrogant attitude, and you are not the only student he offended. Unfortuntely, he has tenure. Don't worry, I'll help you." Yikes, right? This time I am more careful...

Thanks again for writing such brilliant entries - we're having a Los Angeles Gallaudet rally tomorrow - pah, eh?! I am going to try attending this from work, which fortunately is a 2 minute drive away! Wink...Take care!!!

Hugs, Allison!

DeafRead Folks, please join me in thanking Tayler, Jared and Carrie for making such outstanding contributions to our community. I love you guys!

Carl