Deaf Tranquil Life

About Patti Durr...

Moving on to... Patti Durr. 

http://handeyes.wordpress.com/

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that her blog is not on DeafRead's blog list; she's boycotting DeafRead over the disagreement with the owner of DeafRead.  So you'd have to find her blog outside of DeafRead.  Nevertheless, I want to put a spotlight on her blog.

Yes, her blog was and is still a puzzle for me sometimes.  When Patti first showed up, ending her comments with  "peace"... I wrongly thought she was avoiding any confrontation so she used the placating word to install some sort of calm in us.  Over time, I realized that to her, peace meant love, nothing more.  She has a unique writing style, using small case letters and at the same time she never violates the rules of English grammar... it's interesting.

I enjoyed her blog posting about the degrees of the acceptance of the Deaf community.  I learned that she was hard of hearing, growing up in a normal hearing family, etc... just like one of the majority (majority = deaf children of hearing families, as opposed to the minority = deaf children of deaf families.)  Anyway, check our this particular posting:

http://handeyes.wordpress.com/2008/01/05/finding-my-home-where-do-i-fit/

Also, she explored the meaning of Deaf Culture, what makes it a culture, etc. :

http://handeyes.wordpress.com/2008/01/02/what-the-heck-is-deaf-culture/

She has written some postings about social activism, using her favorite role models who are Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. as the examples of how to fight what she perceives as social injustices.  She'd engage the dialogues with people who might not see eye to eye with her; she'd explain her side thoroughly, using many examples.)  She'd ask questions and she'd acknowledge she has flaws and that she does stumble, just like us folks.

Oh, she and I do not always see eye to eye, but we respect each other and listen to each other.  I had seen her around in Rochester (she was newly hired at NTID when I graduated from there, 2 decades ago or thereabouts.)  Last month, a few bloggers and a few vloggers agreed to meet for lunch and that was the first time I met her in person ;-)  She is a gutsy, giggling, cheerful RED-haired lady.  And she does hug!  Heh.

Patti... you are a human being and you have an ability to apologize and to forgive, which makes you unique.  You can have conversations with some people who are not well-liked in the Deaf cyberspace and making some of us feel we are accepted.

Peace.

About Amy Cohen Efron...

Ahhhh... YES!

AMY COHEN EFRON!!  The owner of DEAF WORLD AS EYE SEE IT blog (http://www.deafeyeseeit.com/)...  She shot to the category of the well-known, well-respected v/bloggers with her famous vlog called "The Greatest Irony" in which she explained how the hearing community would use American Sign Language (ASL) to the hearing babies, encouraging the early development of language and cognition while ASL was not encouraged to be used on the deaf babies.  Luckily, I viewed her vlog before she decided to market it...

http://www.deafeyeseeit.com/2007/03/17/the-greatest-irony/

This video was a catalyst for Deafhood and Deaf Bilingual Coalition, to name a few, to become more visible to us.  What she did was to make us aware of the benefits of ASL... the benefits are so great with hearing babies, the deaf babies also benefit from it, which is something we forget.  From it, the arguments over which is best for deaf babies arose and to this day, we still argue over it.  I have to admit I was a little suspicious of her, whether she had a motive, etc., but as she continued blogging, I came to realize that she was a honest, courteous, caring, wise person who had an ability to understand where we came from and she encouraged us to keep expressing our opinions.  She listens to us, making us feel we are heard.

Over the time, she had observed, with a sense of dismay at how mudslinging rose in DeafRead and DVTV, and she attempted to blog about it.  She explained the meaning of respect and boundary, trying to install in us how to v/blog in a more respectful way...  at the end, it quickly clear to us that respect was relative and that everyone had his/her definition of boundaries.

http://www.deafeyeseeit.com/2009/10/

She campaigned for the better accessibility to the technological means for deaf people.  She questioned Sorenson Video Relay's way of handing finances; she challenged Netflix to add closed captioning to streaming movies; she discussed her thrill with iPad; etc.  She has covered a WIDE range of Deaf-related subjects with a thoughtful, questioning, positive, curious attitude, with her wide grin and her alert eyes.

May you continue blogging...

About Jay Krieger...

I have always enjoyed Jay Krieger's "See what you say; Say what you see" blog in which he combined Zen into his life experiences, with a somewhat detached sense of humor, using the "here, I see what I say; I say what I see" philosophical approach.  Before I continue, I want to say that he has not kept with his blog since the year of 2008.  His blog is:

http://seesay-jay.blogspot.com/

In the vlogs, he had stressed again and again that we were just human beings with opinions, nothing more.  For an example, he discussed the human beings' tendency to label:

http://seesay-jay.blogspot.com/2007/03/philosophy-behind-labeling.html

Other times, he shared his quirky sense of humor, which I have enjoyed, such as:

http://seesay-jay.blogspot.com/2007/03/nature-calls.html

and...

http://seesay-jay.blogspot.com/2007/03/nature-calls-female-version.html

He shared his love of motorcycles, sports, Deaf education (he has made several good vlogs about Deaf education, due to his career being in Deaf schools), controversial issues such as cochlear implantation, designer babies,  to name several.  He had an ability to step outside of any controversial issues, just to observe and to mull over in his mind, not getting too emotionally involved, so he never really got "flamed".  One time he emailed to me to remind me not to get too involved in the "issues", to respect other people's perspectives and I took it to my heart and to this day, I try to remember his advice.

Overalls, he showed his ability to understand what made Deaf community click and an ability to explain Deaf Community in a common sense way, that made us to understand and to say "Ah, I see what you say."  I am sure, today he's just riding on his Harley Davidson, just enjoying watching the landscape passing by.  I hope he's doing well.

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...

:-)

About Mountain Mama...

Who is Mountain Mama?

http://mountainmama-jenny.blogspot.com/

I feel Mountain Mama, Jenny, from somewhere in West Virginia's woods,  represents the majority of Deaf people who go about their own lives, not preoccupied by the cultural identity politics.  I first came across her blog three years ago (or was it four years ago?) when she realized she was pregnant with her fourth child, a boy.  She shares her everyday life with us, opening the door to her backyard of woods, snakes, chickens (especially her roosters), her children's playful antics, her learning to be self-sufficient, her hunting for unique stuff in garage sales and flea markets, her creativity, etc. From her blog, I was inspired to take a risk to can fruits, to try out her egg roll recipe (my family LOVES the recipe), to name a few...  For people who want to know more about egg roll, here is the link:

http://mountainmama-jenny.blogspot.com/2008/08/day-3-meal-week-at-mountain-mama.html

I felt strongly for her when she explained her incident with the department of the children's services, just because of her baby's doctor who believed she was unfit to be a parent.  She must have felt frustratingly powerless, when she had to undergo the crap because her ability to parent was doubted by a doctor, due to her being deaf which was unvoiced, but it was there anyway.  She came out stronger at the end and she quickly switched doctors. You can read more about it... and she wrote a few postings of her experiences in the archive of 2008:

http://mountainmama-jenny.blogspot.com/2008/09/meddling-people.html

She also carries mother's common sense, dealing with different personalities of her four children and how she deals with them and also she admits to feeling inadequate at times, feeling overwhelmed, just like the majority of us mothers.  She is very down-to-earth, making sure that her family feel loved and provide a sense of stability.  She is a staunch supporter of her hard-working hearing husband who makes to do with working odd hours.  She does not go out and advocate for Deaf Culture... no, instead she just LIVES the way she wants and her focus appears to be her family mostly.

She takes wonderful photos, making us feel that we are part of her lives, tagging along after her as she goes about her life. I love her writing talent... it's a very natural, realistic, down-to-earth writing talent... making us feel we are OK.

So go and visit her and leave comments on her blog... she's just like us, normal people going about our normal lives.  In other words, she's an example of how we should let it be and live.

**UPDATE** I just learned she recently had her birthday, so go over there and leave her birthday wishes.  She also wrote a cute piece about her age, which you'd enjoy a lot.

http://mountainmama-jenny.blogspot.com/2010/09/27.html

About Paotie...

Yup, I am on the roll with blogging now... I want to create one more blog posting before my parents drive in around noon.  I decided to create a series of mini-tribute to several bloggers and vloggers that I have come across in the last few years.  All in good taste... :-)

Mike McConnell, known as Kokonut Pundit, wrote a blog about Paotie (it's more of how people react to Paotie's writing...) and it was an interesting read, explaining that there are different kinds of humor, especially in writing.

http://kokonutpundits.blogspot.com/2010/09/paotie-complex-response.html

When I first came across Paotie's blog in DeafRead, I was curious and I admit to not fully understanding his postings at the beginning.  I read the comments and from the comments, I learned to appreciate Paotie's sense of humor and learned that he was just..poking fun.  Paotie was courteous to explain to me what he meant, in the comments, so that I'd not lose the track of it.  His style of writing... is awesome, he likes playing with the words, bending the rules of the phonetics.  For an instance... his "Go NAD" posting, put "Go" and "NAD" together and you come up with....?  It's funny.  Check it out:

http://www.paotie.tv/2008/02/08/lets-protest-lets-boycott-go-nad-go-nad/

His writing is just what Mike McConnell explained... getting knee-jerk reactions often, from the readers.  When I read one of his postings, I'd think I get him and then I realized that I thought WAY OFF... revealing my "true" (or Freudian?) psyche and I'd giggle it away, out of embarrassment and appreciation that Paotie still accepted me as a human being nevertheless.  That's something that appears to unnerve some readers, fleeing the green couch like a hot potato.

And I came across one of his doodling recently and I copied and pasted, with his permission of course, on my FB a while ago.  I am hoping that he'd not mind that I am doing the same thing here:

‎"Klipitiklop!" went the clock and a bee squawked outside. I got out of bed and noticed the sun hissing through blinds. Another sizzling, hot day lies ahead, I decide. I knick knack to the kitchen and open a box of cereal, which greets me with a snort. The fridge hums hymnals everytime I walk by; I get milk out and WHOO...SH it into a bowl. My spoon barks at milk and cereal. I eat. I smile. "Klipitiklop!" goes the clock.

He's Deaf, but has a good grasp of making the words become alive with their inner sounds... that I appreciate.  He admits he likes PSE more than ASL... that's his privilege, as long as it helps him master English in an unique way.

Yes, he does not care for a few things, like the deficit thinker label, so he spoke up for us.  He disagreed with the way Deaf Bilingual Coalition was run, and he spoke up about it, making no bones about it.  I am not going to say anymore, except that he has his own opinions and demands a degree of respect from his readers and he gets it.

One time, I was engaged in the commenting on his blog, I left a frying pan with oil... which caught fire.  My kids ran to me, screaming "Fire, fire!"  I looked to the kitchen and saw the flickering orange-red lights on the ceiling and oh crap.  I took care of it, no damages, whew.  After than, I realized I was badly addicted to DeafRead back then.  Ha.

Well... that's it.  Paotie, I miss your blog and I hope that you still write... somewhere in Colorado, on your green couch, with your pink snowboard already waxed, ready for the season. :-)

For readers, if you want to know more about his now inactive blog, here it is:

http://www.paotie.tv/