Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #266

WHAT I ENJOYED THIS WEEK . . .

  • I love learning new ways in which Deaf and hearing people are different. In Advanced Deaf Culture, we were watching a video with both sound and captions. It was about Child/ren of Deaf Adults (CODAs), so they were speaking. About ten minutes in, my Deaf professor signs, “Oh, I forgot to tell you, this is in Australia, not America.” I signed back, “We know.” He signed, “How??” I signed, “They have accents.” His response:
  • Finished a simple, 500-piece puzzle on Saturday to relax.
  • We decided to do Music Bingo Date Night every other week to switch things up. This week, we went on a gas-station-coffee date where we sat outside in their picnic area and enjoyed the weather.

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK

  • In 1997, National Deaf History Month was set for March 14th to April 15th because three key events happened in Deaf history:
    • The first public school for the Deaf was opened in 1817
    • Gallaudet University first opened in 1864
    • The first Deaf president of Gallaudet was announced in 1988
  • In 2022, National Deaf History Month was changed to April 1st-30th. The National Association of the Deaf announced this change was to be more inclusive of BIPOC Deaf community members. No more is stated, but I assume what they mean is neither the first public school nor Gallaudet were open to BIPOC people for many years.
  • I learned that I need to tuck away in my brain that it is only polite to respond to blog comments in a timely fashion. Weirdly, I kept up with your blogs, but not my comments. Totally slipped my mind.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK

  • Backcountry (2014) — loved it, and uses real bears.

REACTIONS TO MY REVIEW

Reactions to my review of Gator Country by Rebecca Renner: I was surprised so many people were excited to get this book for themselves! I think of myself as the lil alligator weirdo, not you guys, but then again, it is a true crime in that an undercover agent sets aside his life to protect the American Alligator, a species on the endangered list on 50 years ago.

FORTHCOMING REVIEW

SHOPPING AT THE LIBRARY PHOTO

Why I grabbed these new books from the shelf:

  • None this week; I was at a meeting on Saturday and didn’t have time to browse books.

Books returned:

  • Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? by Caitlin Doughty — finished, review forthcoming.
  • Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morim (trans. by Don Knotting) — DNF. Truly, he does nothing
  • Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War by Mary Roach — DNF because I couldn’t listen about post-explosion penile reconstruction surgery or using maggots on necrotic flesh anymore. Stopped halfway through chapter 9.
  • I Must Be Dreaming by Roz Chast — finished, no review. Chast’s work is always entertaining and thoughtful, and I especially love her memoir about her parents’ death.
  • Murder at Teal’s Pond: Hazel Drew and the Mystery That Inspired Twin Peaks by David Bushman and Mark T. Givens — DNF, I couldn’t keep the names and places straight in this audiobook.
  • Smashed by Junji Ito — came due, didn’t read.
  • Shook! A Black Horror Anthology by various authors/artists — the first story used a super blurry style, so I couldn’t tell what was going on. The second was about AIDS, and the third was zombies that ate a KKK leader. I just didn’t find them scary or tense.

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Published by Grab the Lapels

I'm a graduate of the MFA fiction writing program at the University of Notre Dame, which inspired me to follow along with trends in teaching, publishing, and reviewing. I also have an MA and BS from Central Michigan University. I used to teach composition, creative writing, and literature in higher education, then did a brief stint at a civic theater, followed by two years at a references desk at a public library. I'm now working toward my ASL Interpreter license.

21 comments

  2. What was the Australian program you saw? Was it a film or a TV show excerpt or what?
    Love the jigsaw puzzle very cute, and I like that you’re mixing up date nights. Good to not get stale.
    Regarding Gator country, it’s interesting how we often think that we are the only one interested in something, but really why should that be? I’m glad there were so many interesting comments on your review on that book because it really did sound interesting.

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    • The Australian documentary is called Passport Without a Country, which you can see here: https://vimeo.com/224250559

      In regards to date night, I felt a little uneasy about always going out for dinner. Sure, it’s once per week, but it’s still bar food.

      I think my readers largely enjoy classics and crime/detective novels, with some thriller thrown in. All the crime novels tend to be fiction, hence my surprise.

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      • See! Why is this comment of mine above posted as from anonymous? Anyhow, I will check out that program.

        I admire your unease – I’m never Uneasy about not having to cook, even though l don’t mind cooking. It’s the planning l dislike.

        Ah thanks for explaining what you meant about our showing interest in Gator Country. I understand.

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  3. Pretty funny regarding the accents.

    Super cute puzzle!

    So you didn’t get the hail storm that blew through? I saw someone on Bluesky in Indiana post photos of giant hail and thought, oh no, Melanie! Glad it missed you!

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    • We had what I call “sharp snow.” It’s not hail, but you can hear it popping off your coat hood or the roof, but it’s not really hail. In southern Indiana they had a destructive tornado. Today, I’m freezing my rear end off, which is making me sad for my chick and hens and daffodils, which have all come up.

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        • I didn’t call it sleet because there was no rain, so I guess I’m not sure what the heck it is! In fact, it was so cold it was like the snow was hard. You know how there’s a difference between snowball snow and powdery snow? It’s so cold that it’s just . . . . hard?

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  4. The accents anecdote is so funny! Definitely interesting to note the different experiences people can have with the same material.

    I got a mystery mini puzzle of Rosa Parks (same artwork as in yours) during Covid lockdowns and thought about collecting more from the series, but I never saw there was a full size puzzle with all the women! I might have to pick that one up, it looks great!

    Slow commenter here. I really hope it doesn’t come across as rude when it takes a few days to respond. The last few years have really taught me that there are a lot of valid reasons a response might not be immediate, none of which I’d judge anyone else for. Kudos to anyone really keeping up, but if it helps at all slow commenting is not something I’d ever get upset over and I’m sure I’m not alone on that 🙂

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    • How are things going with your blog? I haven’t seen any updates lately unless I somehow unsubscribed during your long hiatus?? I’ll go check on that now.

      I hope you get the full puzzle, as it is both cute and a nice way to spend an afternoon. This is not the first time I’ve completed it, so I feel like it’s a good one you can come back to.

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      • Thanks for checking in! 🙂 It feels like a long road back to where I was before hiatus lol, but I think I’m getting there, slowly but surely. I’ve been posting some Women’s Prize reviews the last few weeks, but if you’re not seeing my posts it could definitely be that I’ve got a post setting wrong, I know things have changed a little with wordpress while I was away; I will check on my end too and see if I can figure out if anything needs adjusting!

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    • Mice 1961, I should have mentioned, is a new release in March 2024. I was sent a reviewer’s copy. I learned of the author when I was in grad school in 2008. I’ve since introduced myself when she had a Zoom reading during COVID.

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  7. That’s a lovely photo of you and Nick. And you have blue sky! I’m quite jealous. This week is the first time since about November that we haven’t had torrential rain, and it’s warmed up, but the sky is still grey.

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    • Are people in England still surprised by the constant rain?! I tease, Lou, I tease. Sorry your sky is so soggy. Maybe it’s time for another hobbit adventure, but with a rain poncho, to cheer your spirits?

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      • Well, we are definitely used to rainfall – but the last time we had anything like this much rain was in 2014, when many people in the city were flooded out of their homes. Thankfully that doesn’t seem to have happened this year! But it has been so muddy that many of my normal walking routes have been impassable, including my walk to work, which is a pain. That said, we had a few hours of actual sunshine the morning, and I went for a walk and saw a tiny newborn fawn! I am hopeful that this means spring is finally on the way.

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