Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #269

WHAT I ENJOYED THIS WEEK . . .

  • My new professional headshot looks nice.
  • In May, Nick is coming to a large Deaf event in the capital to help cook food, so I took him to a Deaf event on Friday to practice communicating with folks. The number of times I said, “Don’t look at me, look at her/him!” was off the charts, and this is why we practiced.
  • One of the authors of Learning to Be Deaf Without Losing Your Hearing contacted me about doing an interview.
  • My plants and the things I’ve hung on the shelf that create rainbows in my home office.
The plastic bag is me trying to propagate an African violet.
  • I attended an online interpreting workshop and later reached out to the owner of the agency because they have a cool mission that aligns with the Deaf community’s. I don’t think they’ve done an internship before, so we’ll talk and see if there is a possibility. I wanted to come up with more than one place to apply for internship in case the Dallas agency chooses someone else. This second agency is in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • On Friday I volunteered at the Friends of the Library book sale again. It was so busy because one volunteer started advertising our books on Facebook marketplace, and now people are coming from hours away.
  • This space in the library called the smART box where they had an installation playing classical music with lights that moved in time.

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK

  • In ASL, one sign may be used for many different meanings. What changes is the paralinguistic features, which is produced with the face (eyebrows, eyes, mouth, etc.) and body language. I took a workshop in which we discussed how a sign like EXCITED may be interpreted into English without just saying “excited.” Is someone thrilled, pumped, elated, over the moon, etc. It’s a great way to practice a range of meaning without just saying “very excited” or “really excited.”

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK

  • Imaginary (2024) — too much like a Chucky-Freddy mashup
  • Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) — fun, and good villain character design
  • The Caller (2022) — I spent two hours observing at an interpreting call center, so watching a horror movie about a call center rep who has to work from home due to COVID was just right!

REACTIONS TO MY REVIEW

I’m glad folks learned from my review of Learning to Be Deaf Without Losing Your Hearing by S. Lea and Kim Harrell. As mentioned, one author, S. Lea, and I have been in contact. I believe she’s going to do an interview and likely will offer free copies of the book when that happens.

FORTHCOMING REVIEW

I’m continuing to celebrate National Deaf History Month by going back in time to the American Civil War era when a deaf woman traveled the states interviewing soldiers and writing poetry.

SHOPPING AT THE LIBRARY IN MY TBR BOX PHOTO

I went shopping in my own stash again, and here is what I pulled out that caught my eye:

21 comments

  1. Your headshot looks great! Very professional! Love your window shelf with all the plants and things. Also, super cool you might be interviewing one of the book authors from Learning to be Deaf. I didn’t realize there was more than one author, I thought it was a single author memoir. I must not have been paying very good attention.

    So the Ghostbusters movie is fun? I was worried it was going to be a tired, hey let’s make more money from this once popular movie even though it’s going to suck.

    Interested in your thoughts on P&P and Zombies if you read it. I tried, but, well. just let me know. But also, your earthquake book. Did you dig that one out because of the New York earthquake this week? If you ever want to know what being in a major earthquake is like, let me know. I was living in an apartment 2 miles from the epicenter of the 1994 6.7 Northridge earthquake.

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    • About the headshot: he kept messing with my hair and putting it up and down, which was funny, but I also know this photographer’s work, and it’s always marvelous, so I was like, hey, whatever. I’m happy with it. There are others, but this was my favorite.

      Yes, the Deaf memoir did have two authors, but after S. Lea contacted me, I realized I MAY have confused which author is deaf…or if they’re both deaf? Or one is deaf and the other is Deaf?? We’ll find out! I hope.

      I liked the Ghostbusters movie. I think the mom and Paul Rudd are written well, and I like that the daughter is into science. I really liked the design for the main villain. The only think I didn’t like was there were a couple of characters who, in the previous movie, were intellectually you’re average person, and now in this movie they sound like Egon.

      I saw the movie PP&Z and enjoyed myself (surprisingly), so I’m hoping the book is just as fun. I pulled out the earthquake book because I delivered a presentation on the basics of earthquakes in ASL a week r two ago. Okay, I definitely want to know what it was like in the 1994 quake, if you’ve got the time.

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  2. I love the way you set up your space, it’s very green and absolutely lovely! I am also enjoying following along your interpreting journey!
    A couple of years back I took a BSL course at uni, and I purchased an online one that i should definitely be more consistent in doing!

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    • The best way to learn is to get your foot in the door with an online Deaf teacher and then get yourself out there to Deaf events. You don’t want to show up with only the alphabet (in my opinion). Eventually, if you show up enough and have the right attitude, you’ll get sucked into the fold, and folks will slow down and explain more so you can be involved.

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  3. Beautiful headshot Melanie. I love green and it suits you so well with your hair. And your smile is lovely. I also enjoyed reading your words beneath it. Of course I knew quite a bit of it, but it makes great reading and rounds out my understanding of who you are and where you’ve come from. Nicely done.

    “Don’t look at me, look at her/him! ” This made me smile. So often people don’t look at the person they’re speaking to for one reason or another. Sometimes it’s because of lack of confidence, so they look at the person they trust. I completely get this. Sometimes it’s power related, like men talking to another man, though the woman is the person involved (the purchaser, the patient, etc). I hate this! (This is not Nick I know.) Sometimes it’s in a group and so you try to look at everyone but there might be someone with poor hearing who needs you to look at them. I’ve experienced this one many times in work groups, and family and social groups. So much for us to consider in communications eh? I can see how this course you are doing has such wider application than “just” learning ASL, in terms of life skills.

    Finally, that smART box … I’d love to experience that!

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    • That’s a great point about how men often look to other men in a group even if the woman is speaking.

      Thank you for the compliments about my headshot. The photographer is known for excellent work and making everyone look their best.

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      • My mum and I experienced a version of it when we checked out a retirement village for her and Dad. The administrator didn’t know how to handle talking serious business to two women, but chose me to focus on most of the time presumably because at least I was younger, though Mum was the potential client. Needless to say, they didn’t end up there.

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  4. I love your head shot!

    And your plant shelf!

    The book in your TBR pile Quality Snacks – makes me want some quality snacks! I have no idea what the book is about, but fun title.

    People coming from hours away to the FOL sale – wow! That’s some good advertising. I think when I’m retired I will volunteer for the FOL in my county.

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    • I’m pretty pleased with my head shot AND my plant shelf! I love all the tchotchkes hanging from the plant shelf, too. Around dinner time, one makes a rainbow in the carpet from the angle of the sun.

      Our FOL is a while building on its own. I know some sales are one small area of one library. This is not that. Most of the volunteers are retirees, though it’s challenging because I think a couple are developing dementia but love volunteering.

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  6. Your headshot looks great and I am jealous of your very cool plant collection. Also – I want to see that ghostbusters movie!!! Good villain design has piqued my interest 🙂

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  7. Ow ow! What a lovely headshot, Lady! ❤
    And how exciting about the author that reached out to you for an interview. That's so exciting! 😀
    Your plant stand/all your gorgeous plants looks awesome. Your plants look really happy there. ^_^
    Glad to hear the new Ghostbusters movie was good! And glad to hear we didn't waste our money on Imaginary from the sounds of it. 😛

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