Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #260

WHAT I ENJOYED THIS WEEK . . .

  • I sublet Toadman’s apartment two hibernating wooly bears.
  • Leading the snack committee for the upcoming Valentine’s Day Party by the ASL/interpreting department.
  • Starting a new puzzle, even though we don’t know what the final image is. This is a mystery puzzle about a murder with three suspects, each obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock.
  • Started talking about where I may go on internship. So far, #1 is Dallas, Texas.

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK

  • How the University of Notre Dame is handling their historic Christopher Columbus murals: “The Columbus Murals on the second floor of the Main Building will be uncovered from Monday, Jan. 29, through noon Friday, Feb. 2, to allow instructors and their students to engage with and discuss the murals.” If you click the link, you go to a brief article about why the murals are there and why they are covered.
  • I completed a video test for interpreting class that we were told was all about urban planning. The goal was to use consecutive interpreting, which means someone talks and then I interpret it into ASL during a very brief pause. Lesson learned: if you read about urban development now, that doesn’t help you understand why during WW2 people left the city in droves. 🫠
  • Practicing how to hold chunks of information in my brain for 20, 15, 10, 5, and then 0 seconds before interpreting.
  • In the 1800’s it was fancy to refer to yourself as “one.” In the late 1900’s, you’re friends will call you a pretentious ass if you call yourself “one.”
  • I love of Deaf people hate the I-LOVE-YOU sign because hearing people do it all the time but never learn sign, and also hearing people make I-LOVE-YOU things to sell, which is cultural appropriation.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK

  • Frenzy (1972) — one of the Hitchcock movies featured in the puzzle mentioned above.
  • Finished the entire series of Cake Boss, which is 16 seasons.

GROUP ACTIVITIES THIS WEEK

  • During music bingo date night, I won the first category: songs from the 50s and 60s. It’s so weird to hear Elvis and Credence Clearwater Revival in the same round.
  • Local Deaf event where the Deaf community invites anyone who knows ASL to come out for a night of camaraderie. I ate something called “crab Rangoon” on the menu that was actually a deconstructed nightmare.

REACTIONS TO MY REVIEW

Reactions to my review of The Woman in Me by Britney Spears were largely #FreeBritney.

FORTHCOMING WEDNESDAY REVIEW

SHOPPING AT THE LIBRARY PHOTO

24 comments

  1. I am slowly watching my way through all of Hitchcock’s films (except perhaps Psycho, which sounds like it edges too much into horror for me) – so I find the idea of a puzzle with characters who are really into his films intriguing! Is it a puzzle as in a jigsaw or a paper & pencil puzzle?

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    • It’s a jigsaw puzzle. On the front of the box is Hitchcock, but once you start looking through the pieces, you learn that once the puzzle is solved, you will find out who the murderer is.

      I’m not sure Psycho edges that far into Psycho. You really don’t see anything due to what could be legally shown on film back then. In fact, you see more in Frenzy (Hitch finally got his nude scenes).

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  2. The covering tapestries in the photos look really beautiful. Are people generally satisfied with this compromise, do you think? Or is there a push for the murals complete removal?

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    • I’m not sure…When I was a student and when I was teaching at Notre Dame, the campus was highly conservative. In fact, I remember a student submitting a paper to me titled “Why Obama is the Bringer of Death.” This was in 2008 and Obama was coming to do the commencement speech. He had not openly condemned abortion, if I remember correctly. However, 14 years later and the campus as an LGBTQ club called Prism, they do not monitor birth control anymore, and it seems they are doing more work to reach out to different cultures and leaders who describe treating other people with the love that Christ did. They’ve gotten a slight bit “hippy” compared to the Evangelicals who worship America over their God.

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      • I feel like with the raise of right wing Christian extremism in recent years, Catholics have seemed a lot more reasonable and middle-ground than they used to be. Maybe that’s just my perception or maybe it’s the influence of Pope Francis but it used to seem like the Catholic Church was way stricter and more extreme and now they seem pretty chill compared to the crazy Trump-worshipping evangelicals that are so vocal in the US.

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        • I get the feeling Pope Francis is attracting new membership, which is, overall, making Catholics more forgiving. I saw a post on Reddit recently that claimed when a person calls himself Christian, it’s a safe bet to add on racist, sexist, MAGA, etc. in your mind. I wish that weren’t true, but in the U.S., I can see why the poster felt that way.

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          • I hate that but I’m afraid it’s becoming more and more true. I know personally, I don’t use the word evangelical to describe myself anymore because it has such a negative connotation.

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  3. I’m sure Toadman wouldn’t mind the fuzzy bear sublet. Though hopefully they vacate the premises before he comes back, otherwise they could become lunch.

    Dallas is a long way for an internship. Would you go alone and then come back for a visit now and then until you are done? How long would that be?

    Super interesting regarding the murals at Notre Dame. I like how they have decided to handle it. The tapestries covering them are gorgeous.

    Have you read any of your library shopping books? The piles have become quite impressive!

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    • Well, first there were 3 wooly bears, but one kept moving away from the group. I considered that one the grumpy old man shouting at clouds wooly bear. One day, he mad it right into the path of danger (i.e., where Nick pulls into the garage) and is no more.

      Dallas IS far, and it would be 15 weeks, I believe. Likely, Nick would take a vacation from work and come visit me, because I can’t drive back and forth. I would go alone. Lots of people have suggested Nick go with me, forgetting he has a job here, and our house and cat are in Indiana, too.

      I do like the Notre Dame persevered their history so they can have a conversation about it. I think tearing down murals doesn’t give us the chance to talk about why people are upset.

      I do read some of the books in my pile, plus I am more apt to give one a try, decide it’s not for me, and take it back. What’s funny is I noticed later that I have the same book twice! You can see it in the picture. Also, having that pile encourages me to read even more, instead of looking at my phone at night. I see them there, and they make me happy, so I pick one up.

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      • Oh that poor third wooly bear! Clearly they lived life a bit too on the edge.

        15 weeks, is a long time, but at least Nick will be able to come visit you. But I expect the time will go fast because you will be busy in a new place learning all sorts of things and exploring a new city.

        Ha! I didn’t even notice you had two of the same book on your pile. That’s hilarious. I’d take it as a sign that it is on I really needed to read!

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        • Maybe that wooly bear had the heart of Oscar the Grouch and didn’t play well with others.

          15 weeks out of the 18 years we’ve been together is a small blip, and I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m trying to embrace it and not think of all the ways I may feel sad, bad, etc. without him.

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  4. I love crab rangoons so I am very curious about this deconstructed nightmare, lol. Was it just visually terrible or did it taste bad too?
    Your wooly tenants are super cute. ❤
    I honestly don't know if I could handle a puzzle not knowing what it is supposed to look like at the end. Yikes! Please keep us updated on the progress.

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    • The crab rangoon was like a tortilla of sorts cut into wedges and a giant pile of cream cheese that apparent had crab in it, but I could not taste it.

      We’ve just started sorting the pieces of the puzzle, and it seems like there are enough that go together that we have a start. Thankfully, it’s not a puzzle that is 80% blue sky, or something.

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  5. I often choose library books (audiobooks) by the cover then find out I’ve listened to them before. Proves it’s a good cover I suppose.

    I’m always impressed by the way translators listen a little bit ahead of where they’re speaking/signing.

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    • Ha, I think Biscuit has a similar issue. She starts listening to an audiobook only to realize it’s terribly familiar. If she’s forgotten to mark it as read on The StoryGraph, she totally doubts her memory.

      We’re always behind a speaker and signer because the grammar is so different. You have to get all the info, understand it, put it in the correct order, and then produce the message.

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  6. Dallas! Wooee that sounds like an adventure. Can’t wait to see where you end up, and read your blogs about it 😉

    I watched a video of an arts event here in Calgary that had ASL interpretation (yay!) and it was about 70 minutes long, so they had two interpreters switch off during it (they went back and forth, did about 10 minute chunks at a time), which got me curious to ask you, is there a time requirement that determines when two interpreters are required? i.e. if they have to interpret more than 30 minutes straight, you have to have two separate people doing it?

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    • What can I say, sometimes I live life with the wonder of a toddler before reeling it back in to be a ball of anxiety on par with The Muppets Telly.

      Internship will start January 2025, so next year, but you have to apply, send in videos, etc. long before that.

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