Silent Weekend
I went the Silent Weekend in Orlando this past weekend. It was fascinating! I wish I could have gone with a friend who knows ASL cause the only down fall is that I am not a people person so found myself alone in a crowd of 600 people. Six HUNDRED people! Varying skills from novice (affectionately known as "the babies"), beginner, intermediate to advanced. It was too awesome. We're at this really nice hotel near the airport and from Thursday night at 9 til Saturday evening at 5, there was no talking. The hotel was so quiet! I wonder what the staff must have felt like working that weekend. They were so accommodating, giving us paper to write notes when we needed things. The poor people at the coffee stand! I hope they got a bonus.
Juggling! An Art Form to Improve Your ASL -- Cathu Bouton
Hospital Interpreting: You Want to be Helpful? -- Molly Preato
Setting Boundaries: Reality for the Emerging Interpreter -- Mike Ernest
Demystifying Prosody in ASL -- Mike Ernest
ASL Semantics: Precision of Expresion Series -- Trix Bruce
Fingerspelling Warp -- Bill Rennie
Poetry Development in ASL -- Bill Rennie
How to Oppress Deaf People -- Mike Ernest
Amazing Grace: Revisiting a Classing -- Maureen Ann Longo Tuccelli
The juggling was too funny. Nothing like giving half awake people balls to throw around first thing in the morning (this workshop started at 6:45 am. I honestly couldn't believe I was conscious for it). I'm determined to learn how to do this. I even bought the hacky-sack-esque balls from her to keep practicing. The hospital workshop was good too. I could see myself doing this in the future and she had some good guide lines for boundaries. The first day in fact seemed to have the theme of boundaries. Apparently I felt I needed this topic reinforced. Especially working in schools, I think keeping your role is tough.
The presenters were all awesome though I steered away from some of the "stars". Too many people or evening shows (which I did not attend). One presenter, MIke Ernest, was a teacher of mine back at HCC. Very cool to see him. He always has off the mainstream topics and challenges. Bill Rennie is a Deaf man who is just too cool for words. He looks like Sean Connery (if Sean were American and not so stiffly proper British). Awesome performer!!
Two of the most emotional moments of the conference were the last two classes I took. First I must explain the set up. We were in a large meeting hall. Four presenters were in this room, one in each corner with chairs set up to face them. Since no one was talking, it wasn't bothersome... though on ocassion, a present would do something to crack up his audience so you would hear this group of people behind you burst into laughter sometimes making it difficult to concentrate. So. Here I am sitting with this very intense presenter who is discussing oppression. And I do mean intense. He had some pictures of Abu Ghraib Prison, showing these people being tortured and humiliated while explaining how some Deaf people had related to these horrors having been locked in dark closets for using sign or hit or having their hands tied up.. etc... As I'm watching this, behind me is another presenter who has his audience in stitches. It was such a surreal moment. And very symbolic of the real world, I thought. Horrors happening in one place while so many others are blissfully unaware. It really hit me hard.
That was going to be my last class, too, but at the last moment I decided to attend the Sunday morning class focusing on Amazing Grace. Wow. Just wow. Many people who came to this were "church interpreters" (in fact, they offered a whole track for this specialty over the weekend which I thought was cool). Anyway, we sat there for an hour watching and teaching each other different ways to sign this song and at the end, we all "sang" the song while the Deaf people who attended stood on the stage to watch us. It was just soooooo inspirational (and this from an avowed Pagan, heh)!
I ended up with 1.1 CEU's and a somewhat hefty bill on my Visa but I'm glad I went. :)
Juggling! An Art Form to Improve Your ASL -- Cathu Bouton
Hospital Interpreting: You Want to be Helpful? -- Molly Preato
Setting Boundaries: Reality for the Emerging Interpreter -- Mike Ernest
Demystifying Prosody in ASL -- Mike Ernest
ASL Semantics: Precision of Expresion Series -- Trix Bruce
Fingerspelling Warp -- Bill Rennie
Poetry Development in ASL -- Bill Rennie
How to Oppress Deaf People -- Mike Ernest
Amazing Grace: Revisiting a Classing -- Maureen Ann Longo Tuccelli
The juggling was too funny. Nothing like giving half awake people balls to throw around first thing in the morning (this workshop started at 6:45 am. I honestly couldn't believe I was conscious for it). I'm determined to learn how to do this. I even bought the hacky-sack-esque balls from her to keep practicing. The hospital workshop was good too. I could see myself doing this in the future and she had some good guide lines for boundaries. The first day in fact seemed to have the theme of boundaries. Apparently I felt I needed this topic reinforced. Especially working in schools, I think keeping your role is tough.
The presenters were all awesome though I steered away from some of the "stars". Too many people or evening shows (which I did not attend). One presenter, MIke Ernest, was a teacher of mine back at HCC. Very cool to see him. He always has off the mainstream topics and challenges. Bill Rennie is a Deaf man who is just too cool for words. He looks like Sean Connery (if Sean were American and not so stiffly proper British). Awesome performer!!
Two of the most emotional moments of the conference were the last two classes I took. First I must explain the set up. We were in a large meeting hall. Four presenters were in this room, one in each corner with chairs set up to face them. Since no one was talking, it wasn't bothersome... though on ocassion, a present would do something to crack up his audience so you would hear this group of people behind you burst into laughter sometimes making it difficult to concentrate. So. Here I am sitting with this very intense presenter who is discussing oppression. And I do mean intense. He had some pictures of Abu Ghraib Prison, showing these people being tortured and humiliated while explaining how some Deaf people had related to these horrors having been locked in dark closets for using sign or hit or having their hands tied up.. etc... As I'm watching this, behind me is another presenter who has his audience in stitches. It was such a surreal moment. And very symbolic of the real world, I thought. Horrors happening in one place while so many others are blissfully unaware. It really hit me hard.
That was going to be my last class, too, but at the last moment I decided to attend the Sunday morning class focusing on Amazing Grace. Wow. Just wow. Many people who came to this were "church interpreters" (in fact, they offered a whole track for this specialty over the weekend which I thought was cool). Anyway, we sat there for an hour watching and teaching each other different ways to sign this song and at the end, we all "sang" the song while the Deaf people who attended stood on the stage to watch us. It was just soooooo inspirational (and this from an avowed Pagan, heh)!
I ended up with 1.1 CEU's and a somewhat hefty bill on my Visa but I'm glad I went. :)