Deaf Tranquil Life

Susanna Hutchinson--Important Person in US History

                                                       

My daughter read a book titled Trouble's Daughter, written by Katherine Kirkpatrick,  about Susanna Hutchinson and she loved it.  She insisted... no, DEMANDED that I read it, after learning that I did not know her, never heard of her in my life.

http://www.katherinekirkpatrick.com/book_2.html

To humor her, I picked it up and read it.  Wow.  I learned many new things, like what happened after the first Thanksgiving dinner, the relations between Native Americans and the Europeans (mostly the Dutch), and the supposedly first American women's first movement.  I first learned of Susanna's notable mother, Anne Hutchinson, who was one of the earliest America's feminists.  More information on Anne, check out this link:

http://www.johnpratt.com/gen/0/4/7/1.a_marbury.html

To read the transcript of what happened in the court that had her family banished from the community:

http://www.piney-2.com/ColAnnHutchTrial.html

All because she spoke truth and stood up for women, believing that women were capable as men.

Anyway, back to her daughter, Susanna.  During the Native Americans' raid on the family due to the war between them--the Lenape tribe-- and the Dutch who was responsible for the massacre of the Lenapes in the first place,  the Hutchinson family, being from England and not of Dutch nationality, happening  to live on the Dutch-owned land, Susanna, then 9 years old, was taken captive.  The family had the misfortune of being killed (yes, Anne was killed as well.)  The book explained on the kind of captivity that Susanna must have had and that she could have learned the ways of the tribe.  I suspect that the captivity was harsh.  After a few years, she was traded back to the Dutch community with the promise of peace from the Dutch.

Susanna went on to marry John Cole and to have eleven children. Anyway, I discovered that we have four US presidents tracing their family lines to Anne and Susanna Hutchinson...James Garfield, Frederick D. Roosevelt, George Bush, and William Bush.  Just an interesting historical tidbit, hm.

Actually, not much information on her... there appears to be more information on her mother, Anne. Looks like Susanna decided to keep low profile, not wanting to follow her mother's footsteps.  For anyone who want to know more about Susanna, check this link out:

http://www.esthersscrapbook.com/Susanna.html

Out of curiosity, I checked the Native American tribe, the Lenape, and it sounds like it was one of the more peaceful tribes with an emphasis on matrimonial lineage in the early US history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenape

Movie Time! Now... Iron Jawed Angels

                                             

Patti Durr in her blog talked about this movie (http://handeyes.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/noble-hunger-women-and-the-vote/) so I quickly looked for it in my Netflix and finding it, put it on the top of my queue.  I watched it in two days when my migraine was bearable nuff for me to watch...

It ROCKED.  I really RECOMMEND it to anyone who wants to know how women got Congress to agree to add a 19th admentment to the US Constitution, for them to have a right to vote, in 1910's.  I was a bit taken back by President Wilson, because prior to this movie, I was under an impression that he was a scholarly caring gentleman who strongly advocated for women.   He actually allowed the ladies to be arrested and to be abused at the jail for demanding that the women were given the right to vote.   Shows how little I knew about women's history, huh? :-/ 

At the beginning of the movie, my curiousity was right away piquied when Alice Paul mentioned Helen Keller a few times, having a lunch with her, etc.  I wonder what they talked about... and any influences Helen Keller might have had on Alice Paul...

I watched with interest that Alice Paul talking with a black lady, apologizing that the black people had to walk in the back, and at the same time, she implied it was the way it should be.  In the middle of the movie, we saw the black lady proudly walking in front with Alice Paul, making a statement :-)  I guess it was seen as the norm that black people were inferior during the early 19th century... 1960's Civil Rights Movement changed that, thank goodness.

Overalls, the movie was very educational and very interesting.  I learned a lot from it, and I have more appreciation for women.  Also, it made me wonder more about my grandmother from New Jersey.  She was born in 1897 and she regaled me with her stories of her growing up, especially her teen years.  She was expelled from Catholic girls' school for lifting her long skirt to show her ankle... too bad that I did not have a chance to ask her about the politics, women's movement, etc.... she passed away at the age of 92 years old, with her sharp wit intact.  I will ask my father if he remembered his mother talking about it... heck, to be honest, I don't know if she ever voted!

Anyway, here are the clips from the movie to give you an idea:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvqnjwKW7gA&feature=player_embedded

~fist raised~ thanks to early American women who ensured that we 21st century's American women  have equal rights.

 

A Short Movie Review--"Brotherhood of the Wolf"

                                                     

One commenter suggested in my recent blog posting about vampires and zombies that I checked the movie "Brotherhood of the Wolf" out.  I found and put it on the top of my Netflix queue.  I got it yesterday morning and after raking leaves, I settled down to watch it before heading out to the Nightmare Manor.  It was not what I expected; I actually thought it would be a gory, scary, fast-paced monster foreign flix.  It was produced in France and the story took place there, as well, during the pre-French Revolution (in which many aristocrats met their fates with the guillotine.)  Let me say that I am not very familiar with French Revolution...I do know that Napoleon Bonaparte came into power after the war.

I am not going to give out spoilers, so let's say it's a political, psychological, religious, sad, scary, frustrating, thought-provoking movie.  It gives a meaning to the beast... that we have beasts within ourselves and we have a choice to make friends or enemies with them.  The story focuses on chasing after the beast to stop it killing people...

Anyway, at the end, I felt sorry for the beast.  It happened to be existing in a wrong place at a wrong time, against its will.  At least it got a degree of respect and sympathy at the end.  That's all I can say for now... check it out ;-)

Update... here's a trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7DTv2uBA7I&feature=player_embedded

The Movie "The Kite Runner"--The Meaning of A Bystander

                                                      

Last night my 10-year-old daughter and I watched the movie called "The Kite Runner" based on a novel written by Khaled Hosseini.  It was about the boys' friendship which was put into turmoil after one tragic event (bullying and sexual assault), taking place in Afghanistan.  It got me thinking about the parallels in everyone's lives, actually, and in the societies all over.  Mostly, the movie addresses the meaning of the bystander, being "neutral", and  being "independent".  I admit to viewing myself as "independent" and "neutral" a lot of times... meaning a bystander?  Yeah. Good or bad?  Depends.

Being the bystander usually brings fear, embarasment, a feeling of being stuck in muck, a feeling of helpless, a feeling of guiltiness (a LOT of it), to name a few.  We all have had experiences of being bystanders, not wanting to be involved out of fear of being targeted, out of fear of losing one's status in the society, out of fear of being caught on the crossfire, etc.  The disadvantage of being the bystander is that it ENABLES the emotional and physical pain of a victim or victims.  This leads to the bystander feeling guilty and responsible for the victim's pain.  So, the one would attempt to bury it under the rug, pretending it never happened, or one would turn on the victim to justify one's choice to be the bystander, placing blame on the victim, or one would "atone" by doing the acts of kindness, getting involved in some kind of the community activies.

Plus, the definition of "neutrality" is challenged... what does it really mean?  Okay, come up with Switzerland... it was a "neutral" country, not being involved in the World War II.  It knew about the concentration camps.  It helped with getting people out of troubled countries AND at the same time opening the bank accounts for people who were involved in advocating the Nazi movement, enabling the abuses in other countries.  It sure sent conflicting messages, all right...

One ASL vlogger discussed the meaning of neutrality in the Deaf community AND it applies to all the communites--it's captioned:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zi3H6FFJU0

The questions we often face...  WHEN should we become involved?  OR should we steer away from whatever is happening?  WHAT would happen if we choose to get involved?  WILL we gain something or lose something if we get involved?  The questions we often face when it comes to witnessing the questionable behaviors have us debating our sense of morality (what's right and what's wrong) and our desire to be involved in any degree.

Anyway, the movie delivers a powerful message... people do suffer because of the enablement by the bystanders.  And that it's never too late for the bystanders to become involved in preventing any further pain.  A warning... there's a sexual content in the movie, addressing pedophilia (the act of sexual abuse against male children), which might be disturbing... I had to explain to my daughter about it and she understands with dismay that it happens in the real world. 

For more information about the novel The Kite Runner , check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kite_Runner

Or buy or rent the movie... it does not follow the novel 100%, of course, but it's a really good movie and I highly recommend it.  There are a lot of parallels in real life which we see in this movie.

About Barb Digi...

Now, moving on to another blogger/vlogger...

The owner of the Deaf Progressivism, www.barbdigi.com/, devotes her spare time to blogging/vlogging about Deaf Education and Deaf History, which are close to her heart, since to her having spent almost two decades in it, first as a History teacher and recently, as a Bilingual ASL/English specialist.  She shows her specialty which is a thoroughness in gathering, organizing, and presenting data to us in a layman's terms so that nothing would go over our heads and would encourage us to raise our hands to ask questions and to share our responses, like students.

When she first appeared in DeafRead in the year of 2006,  she shared her love of Deaf history with us.  From her, I first learned of old films from Gallaudet U., especially the ones about the sign "Deaf-Close" and that was the first time I heard of  George Veditz. Here are the links below for viewing... they are interesting:

http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2007/03/which-is-first-ear-close-sign-or-ear.html

http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2007/03/me-hold-my-guns-let-me-show-you-my.html

http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2007/03/bite-your-bullets-cowboys-let-squaw.html

Then there is her blog/vlog about one of the Mississippi's colleges which had deaf education showing a lot of emphasis on oral methods and very little on bilingualism and she expressed her concern about it.  She got several strong reactions.  She held her ground very well... so well that she was invited to join a team to give a presentation on bilingualism in education at Mississippi School for the Deaf last month (August, 2010.)

http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2007/05/what-kind-of-deaf-ed-teacher-prep.html

http://deafprogressivism.blogspot.com/2010/09/jump-starting-bilingual-education-at.html

Yes, she has had many roles such as being involved in a few organizations, working to bring awareness of the need for language to Early Hearing Detection and Intervention, promoting Beethoven's Nightmare which is a music group consisted of Deaf musicians, to name a few.  Meanwhile she has been holding down a full time job, working at a Deaf school, raising her two Deaf children, traveling, and fighting keeping algae at bay in her swimming pool.

As in her vlogging and blogging, in real life with her twinkling eyes, she shares her quick wit, her warm personality, her thoroughness, and her empathy with us.  May she continue blogging and vlogging about what ever inspires her heart so much that she wants to share with us...

:-)