Deaf Dish - ASL vLog / Blog

As promised, here is a beautiful photo of Fab Eight! Thanks to Chris Hamilton for doing such an excellent job capturing the right moment and the amount of light falling on each individual. Everyone looks so glowing! It is a pleasure getting to know him. He appears to be a new promising deaf photographer! Kudos, Chris.

 Front: Julie Rems-Smario. Second Row: Teri Sentelle, Amy Cohen-Efron, & LaRonda Zupp. Back Row: Barb Digiovanni, Aidan Mack, Kristi Merriweather, & Anne Marie Baer

Let's check out his work at www.hamiltonphotographer.com.

More photos of DeafHope Tea Party, "Alice in the Cyberland" (click here)

This is belated post  . . .  should I have it posted right after my latest vlog on Zen story in ASL (7/2) before going to camping with the deaf folks in Oceanside, CA last week.

It is not too late!

Anyway . . .

Dear Deaf Dish readers,

I have decided to take a short break from v/blogging especially when it comes to helping someone launch her new v/blog site. I also have been really busy dealing with the children being home full time (they stay up late than its usual bedtime, no school), visiting certain places, camping, AND going back to work to teaching CAHSEE (CA HS Exit Exam) at CSDR summer school.

Remember, I am not a superwoman! :) 

I am certainly getting burnt out on everything, especially when it comes to web development, v/blogging, and commenting.

Not to mention, the blown out omni bulbs!

Do not worry, yes, I intend to post sporadically, even in the dark at best before hitting the road for East — our annual Cape Cod family vacation after completing the teaching assignment.

Yup. it's 3K miles each way (every year since we moved here in CA from MD, five years). My family and I will be celebrating Skye's graduation with our Right Coast folks in the metro DC area sometime in early Aug before being out to the Cape.

Okay! It's time to get going . . .

Be back soon! Dunno how long!? If someone throws in something controversial, I may be prompted to react to — sooner than planned. Who knows!

Until then, have a splendid HOT summer!  

Did not I mention two-way respect?

I never said we must OBEY elders.

I suggest we ought to respect elders by understanding their perspective — taking in theirs. It is really hard for them to feel us ( young people), because they are not “living” in our time. We do not have to learn and practice what they do. We just need to learn to listen and UNDERSTAND.

That way we can either agree or disagree.

Simply put, understanding does not mean we must follow or obey.

Young people and elders … it means the whole population! Duh!

Funny thing . . .

Every time I express my high level thoughts justifying something in ASL , I end up not being well received. A lot of misunderstandings. I notice whenever I share my deep thoughts, I tend to use ASL with its English grammar, and spell some certain big words. That makes me sign clumsily a little bit , AND many of you perceive them wrong.

Whenever I want to think beyond societal norms and ask simple questions, I must pause and think how do I express them — what audience, what language, and how should I deliver — to prevent great misunderstandings.

Often, I tell them however I feel like.

As I said on my previous blog, many of you either understand or misunderstand — of those who misunderstand, they often contribute toward the ambiance of misunderstanding. Sometimes they become deliberately antagonistic, however, they also can be unwitting at times.

Note: Look out for a new video post on a Zen Story in ASL!  

My Bill, who is also a blogger. He has an entry discussing deaf dolphin and her calf on his blog.

He became friggin' angry after reading the article on CNN.com. He wrote a response on his daybook. I thought you would be interested to read his blog entry.

Bill's entry, "Deaf Dolphin Kills Baby":

You must have read it. No? Between all the masturbatory blogging about Galluadet and Audism this and hearing people that . . .You must have seen it. No? Use your brain. Exchange the word "deaf" for "black, muslim or poor"

Translation. "Deaf people are poor parents"

So while you are blame blasting hearing people for your problems or sitting in a small circles watching your world come to an end, you should open your eyes and see the truth. Deaf people are no different from Jews, Tibetans or Native Indians.

Your culture is not appreciated by mainstream culture. If you do not defend it, you will perish. You sleep amongst the enemy. You dine with the devil.

"Had that poor baby dolphin had a white, Christian, hearing mother, it would have lived." That is the caption.

Deaf dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Black dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Jew dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Muslim dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Poor dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Immigrant dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Terrorist dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Lesbian dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies
Gay dolphin's 5-day-old calf dies

Think about it.

__________________________________ 

Teri's comment: Whoa! I never have seen him being horribly angry over an article –that fricking ignorant writer (and readers)! Umm….  Your opinion? 

I wish some deaf readers would show greater understanding and compassion (no offense intended, read below before jumping into conclusion– sigh!).

However, it's an undeniable fact that the behavior of many v/bloggers, and readers/commentors contributes toward the ambiance of misunderstanding. Sometimes this behavior is deliberately antagonistic, however, it's also unwitting at times.

The information I share is not intended to insult or put down anyone and of those it criticizes. It's also not my intention to disparage anyone's efforts or ASL skills.  Please note that I did NOT name anyone who did I learn the Y-SYSTEM sign from, and say that the sign is wrong in the first place.

Instead, it is a sincere and well-intentioned effort to help those deaf readers including myself who are genuinely interested in improving relations between themselves and hearing, and learning more about ASL. I hope it will be taken as such –Think Different & SYSTEMICALLY.

Anyway, the video post on S-SYSTEM & Y-SYSTEM signs immediately set off a firestorm of debate, prompting the de facto king of v/blogland, Joey to post his.

I am quite surprised that Joey responded why he uses that sign. His explanation is pretty interesting.  It is obvious that he assumed that he started using the Y-SYSTEM sign in the v/blogland, and that he felt obliged to account for.

In fact, I never thought of his b/vlog as the original source, because I knew (know) him pretty well, growing up together at MD School for the Deaf. I even had a VP session with him a couple of nights before posting my video clip. I had grown accustomed to his face, reading his facial expressions and signs. I did not focus on his sign skills.  He as the “originator” had not occurred in my mind at all.

Truth to be told, he is a good friend of mine. If I first thought of him before sharing the perspective from my work fellow with readers, I would never strike a match.

Read the rest of this entry »

My post title is Eye2 (the "2" should be displayed as a mathematical symbol of squared similar to this image I created, ), but I do not know how to do it in wordpress.

Squared photography works I love! I remember I used to shoot medium format in the 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 or 6×6 square when I was at Gallaudet University under the wing of Donna MacLean. I love the square images and can't imagine photography without this type.

For me this format has been the most significant tool improving my photographic skills and basic understanding of composition. I try to see the world in square and compose in square. Images in square seem not natural to human vision.  That's what make them more interesting or striking. They force viewers to relate to images — looking at them rather than seeing them as scenes.

There are many different viewpoints about the square. Some people like it, some not.  There are millions of photographs done either in landscape or portrait. They are accustomed to see images that way — and see the world as a scene.  Also, many people are taught to "compose" parts into a rectangle such as prints, canvas (painter), letter or legal sized papers, television, and so on. It's all about the aspect ratio. (square - 1:1 . . . 35mm - 1:5 . . . I am not going to further this… maybe in another entry). It is very rare to see photography works in square except for some fine art galleries and thumbnails seen on several sites like flicker. 

I use 35 mm and digital equipment since I could not afford medium format equipment (2 1/4 x 2 1/4 or 6 x 6), and I use Photoshop or Aperture to crop my photographic images into its format of square, sometimes convert them into black and white to create double impact.

It is not an easy task, but I always keep in mind the principles of design and photography techniques such as rule of thirds, contrast, and so on. You have to aim for an image in its thirds and square before shooting – envision what will it look like in a square before capturing and cropping.

It is quite a challenge to aim for a perfect square, be it done by either with a camera or sophisticated software. It requires some intellectual efforts to put parts together into a whole equal sided quadrate.

Squared photography is considered more "fine art" than rectangular - landscape or portrait. It really grabs attention, even to some people who care less about photography.  I think the square, like black and white film, tends to have strong visual impact — less visual distractions, focusing more attention on the subject.

Signifying Squares! (B & W, too)