WHAT I ENJOYED THIS WEEK . . .
- Finding all my summer textbooks at the library.
- Having a great final chapel for this semester. It was student led, a time to celebrate school awards and have fun. Many of you are curious about what I do, so here is a sample of me interpreting on stage on Monday. Above me is a projector screen playing a video in which different seniors answer questions about their time at the university. The main stage is to my left, so you see me walking over to the spotlight under the projector and then walking back to the stage.
- I read a 300+ page novel in less that 24 hours, something I have not done in a very, very long time. It was Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova — just to show you it wasn’t The Cowboy Always Rings Twice on Your Baby Door, or something like that. Then, I went to an online book club with some of the same folks in my horror group called Page Turners. It is not horror focused, so there were different members there, and it was nice to meet new people.
- Every single cookie I ate this week.
- Saying “how do you do?” to a one-year-old girl, who then gave me her foot to shake.
- Going to a minor league baseball game with the Deaf community and meeting a few new people. One woman, whom I cherish, signed the National Anthem. It was beautiful, but she was not convinced because she was so nervous.
WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK
- Bingo is expensive! We have signs in our neighborhood about bingo at the township hall, so we arrived and were told it was $20+ per person to play! I will say, I’ve never had so many folks with oxygen tubes staring at me like a space alien before. I could hear their thoughts: YOUNG BLOOD. Nick and I left without playing.
- In Nazi Germany, Deaf school children were required to draw family trees, which then allowed the school to identify deaf family members, who were reported for possible sterilization to the department of heath (essay titled “Do Deaf People Have a Disability?” by Harlan Lane, p. 287 in Deaf Studies Talking, ed. by H-Dirksen L. Bauman).
WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK
- The Puppetman (2023) — a Shudder original with some inventive death scenes.
- Abigail (2024) — I LOVED IT; the trailer does not sell it
- Rebecca (1940) — I was feeling blue, so I watched this perpetual favorite to distract me.
- A Creature Was Stirring (2023) — really weird with a sloppy ending, but I’ve never seen a porcupine creature feature, so…
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) — great writing, lots of fun, first time ever actual teenagers doing the voices.
REACTIONS TO MY REVIEW
Thank you everyone for celebrating National Deaf History Month with me. Women and Deafness, edited by Brueggemann and Burch, was a great way to end the month. Originally, I only wanted to read books that showcased pride in the Deaf community and the unique attributes of Deaf culture; however, when I chose each book I could not predict that some people would avoid Deaf spaces and live more in the hearing world. Overall, that demonstrates that there is no one way or right way to be deaf. Technically, Deaf History Month celebrates the accomplishments of the Deaf community, so next year I will choose my books more carefully.
FORTHCOMING REVIEW
I have a book from an Australian author, even though the novel is not set in Australia!
SHOPPING AT THE LIBRARY IN MY TBR BOX PHOTO
I’m currently reading up the last of the pile of library books I have and then switching back to reading more of my own books. That tote full of TBR novels is getting scary full.
Grab the Lapels 
If that tote gets any fuller, I’ll have to expand the basement so there is a nice space with a bookshelf waiting below it when it plunges through the floor. 😱
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That is just terrible! You! Well… I mean, just put a support beam in the basement, you know? And you haven’t even seen my tote lately….have you?? 👀
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Tupperware as far as the eye can see… Wood beams straining against entropy, inevitability, and the weight of the written word, both physical and metaphorical… Yeah, I’ve seen it. They based that final shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark on it. Stephen Hawking left behind an unfinished manuscript about it collapsing into a black hole. That manuscript is in the tote. You have a lot of books in there.
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………QUIT PEEKIN’ IN MY CLOSET! And I don’t have NEARLY as many boxes as the warehouse in Raiders of the Lost Ark, sir.
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First, laughing at the comments conversation between you and Nick.
Second, thanks for sharing the video of you interpreting! So awesome to watch!
Also, your bingo description made me laugh. I wouldn’t have stayed either for $20. Blimey, that’s expensive!
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He hasn’t installed that support beam yet, so I think I got away with it.
I’m glad you liked the video! I hope the audio is okay. Sometimes my mentor says she can’t hear it very well, but she also wears hearing aids.
Duuuuuude. I think those elderly bingo folks mean business rather than pleasure when it comes to Friday night daubing. You’d swear they were numbers runners.
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Loved seeing the video of you interpreting, you’re a pro! Absolutely look like a natural up there, despite, I’m sure, it not being easy. You’re doing amazing and inspiring work 🙂
Also impressed you read Monstrilio so fast! I’ve had my eye on that one, and now I know it must be good.
My mom’s sister has been trying to get her into Bingo, and I think it’s $20 each week for them too (apiece), but since they’re playing for cash they do, on the whole, tend to break even or close enough, which I think makes it worth it for most of the regulars. Not sure if it would be the same going just once or twice though.
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What a joy to enjoy all the cookies you ate in a week. And finding your summer textbooks at the library – what a lifesaver!
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Nick said the same thing about the cookies. 😊
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Whoa that video of you signing was SO COOL. I loved that. I forget how much tongue movement is required in signing until I see it in action LOL
I also love that girl gave you her foot to shake. Perfect.
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Okay, now I just need to go back and look at my tongue 🤣 You’re not wrong, though. The tongue is often part of the grammar. Moving it fast can mean things like far away, scads of, crazy-intense, etc.
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$20 for bingo???? Looks like a good week though!
I recently read a novel that addresses some issues of eugenics and there is a section with a Deaf child in Nazi Germany that’s pretty heartbreaking.
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One of my favorite books that covered eugenics and questions about birth control is an experimental fiction novel that has a lot of images, etc. called VAS: An Opera in Flatland by Steve Tomasula. Years after I read it, I went to his MFA program, and he was my thesis advisor.
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[…] books I have checked out from the library and work more on reading the books I own for reasons that may or may not involve Nick. Instead, I’ll share what I read, which often includes books that do not get reviewed here. […]
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