Week 14- Train Go Sorry

"I am a hearing student (or deaf student) assigned the book Train Go Sorry in my Introduction to Humanities Class. Other readings assigned in this class include several essays from the book My California. In both books and film, we examined the cultures of California that form a microcosm of the U.S.; and the U.S. forms a microcosm of the world. In this essay, I will incorporate 4 required questions."


I will be starting off this essay by addressing what “Train Go Sorry” means. In ASL this means missing the boat. This is a phrase that Cohen uses to explain and demonstrate the missed connections between the deaf and the hearing. The person that she is referring to in this story is James Taylor in chapter 12. She tells how James goes to visit his brother who is jail, who he has not visited for more than seven months since he got arrested. When James arrives and follows the process one goes through to visit an inmate, he winds up waiting hours before he is told that he is unable to visit his brother because he was in court and they redirects him back to the bus so he can leave. As mentioned on page 188, James understands what has happened in a single phrase: train go sorry. Some may also say train gone sorry or train go zoom, in any case it is the ASL equivalent of “you missed the boat.” Also mentioned on the same page, James life is a story of missed connections, the boat has set sail without him. She says this because he was unable to successfully visit his brother until the third try. James is a boy who comes from poverty and winds up in Lexington referred by his former school, St. Joseph School for the Deaf in the Bronx. He started at Lexington when he was fourteen years old and pre-freshmen. As she says in chapter 3, page 33, James missed 148 days his first year and when he did show he would be hungry, wore the same clothes and unable to concentrate. This worried the staff and they made a home visit only to see the situation that his mother was in and offered housing for him at Lexington, where he has progresses and will graduate.



The main person in the book is Leah Hager Cohen. She is a hearing person but was raised in a deaf culture due to her grandparents who were deaf. Her grandparents raised her father Oscar Cohen, who also is a hearing person, in a deaf setting at Lexington and he followed it. Leah Cohen longed deeply for a place among the deaf people. When she was born she was taken straight from the hospital to Lexington School for the Deaf, so as far as she was concerned her birthright was sealed, she thought she was bound to the deaf community. As she grew older she realized that this was not true, even though she rose in a deaf community she could never be considered as one of them and was restricted from belonging to that community. Leah Cohen walked in a deaf person shoes through many people her grandfather, her father, James, and Sofia. She did not feel privileged because she could hear; she felt this paled in comparison the privilege of being close and of sharing that common experience with the other children. This made her feel left out and seemed to her at the age of five that it was a mean gift. Like Leah mentions on page 11, the time that she felt most alienated as a student at Lexington was at story time. Kids pulling chairs up to the table, plugging in their hearing aids, receivers strapped around their chests and heads crowned with blue ear phones, the children leaned together, tightly connected, all joined to the same circuit. Leah felt that her ability to hear was not the only factor that set her apart from the deaf; she felt it was the fact that she spoke the teacher’s language. She even posed pebbles as hearing aids and put them in her ears and even learned ASL but this just made her realize how different she really was from them. For the deaf people their main thing at school was to learn English and this she already knew.



The image that I won’t ever forget was when James went to go visit his brother in jail, in chapter 12. How he had to take the bus to get to Rikers Island and once there waited for hours and then goes through this ridiculous process before they let you in. First you wait in this long line before you get to the counter to see if the inmate can receive a visitor. Then you sign in and after you wait some more before you are able to visit. After you go through metal detectors and going through all that, just so that they will let you through and let you visit an inmate they turn you away. I remember the first I went to a jail to visit a family member I felt scared and confused. I went through this long process to see if I was able to visit the person then to be told after all that, that this person can not have a visit due to who knows what reasons. Also like James the actual first time that I was able to accomplish the actual visit I was asked my age and given the cold shoulder by the guards. I was lead into a room where they seated you at a table and while I was waiting I took in the atmosphere. Everyone was watched by guards and if they got to close to each other the guard would walk over and separate them. At the end of the visit I was also glade not to be the one left there or the one who missed the boat.



Five things that everyone should know about ASL or deaf culture is 1) the states recommends that students be tested once every three years, but Lexington conducts hearing exams annually for students under the age of eight or every two years for older students. 2) There are implants that deaf people can get if they qualify approved by the FDA in 1990 for children between the ages of 2 and 7. During the implantation, the tiny hairs of the inner ear that normally activate the auditory nerve get torn and crushed. Once this happens the effects are irreversible, even if the device is removed. What ever little hearing might have existed will have been obliterated. So if the implant is unsuccessful than the child won’t ever be able to benefit from a regular hearing aid. 3) When linguist validated ASL as an authentic language 25 years ago, many schools for the deaf made efforts to incorporate signing into their curricula. They borrowed ASL signs and wind up inventing clumsy hybrids such as MCE, SEE, and PSE. 5) Lexington was founded by Hannah and Isaac Rosenfeld, a German Jewish couple. I also found interesting how big of a culture deaf people have and due to how fluent they can sign is how they get divide into their groups just like hearing people do. There are deaf people who can hear, not speak or sign but can lip read really well, some can speak, sign and hear, some can read lips well, not hear or speak but can sign, some can sign but not read lips or hear, there is a few I do not know them all but I found that interesting because I thought they were all people who could not hear and there way of communication was by signing. I guess like they say in the book the deaf can do anything that a hearing person does but hear.




Class Review:
1) Erin- would like to attend Gallaudet University if she had the opportunity.
2) Alex- thinks that Matlin is a remodel for a lot of deaf people.
3) Stephen- has a cousin who taught their daughter sign language when she was baby.
4) Catherine- wants to learn sign language by 2010.
5) Megan –thought the Indiana Visual Arts clip was inspiring.
6) Alexa- thought it was impressive that a one year old knew 30 signs and 20 words.
7) Daniel- thought the baby is an amazingly talented child.
8) Jessica-thought that the boys were very confident and in sync on stage in the clip sign language singers.
9) Mario-thought video 2 of dancing with the stars was interesting.
10) Kimmie- I learned that in video 3 Tyler West is an ISD student who won the t-shirt design contest.

Week 13

1) Deaf West Theatre
This video was of deaf people doing a musical art performance of the “Big River Montage”. It is interesting how they are able to communicate with the world through hand gestures.


2) Marlene Matlin
This interview was about a dance competition and they interviewed a dancing couple that was in the competition that made it to the next competition and Marlene who is one of the stars is deaf. It was confusing for me I really did not understand it to much.


3) Indiana Visual Arts Day
This video was about the activities that happen at the VSAI and ISD Day. This was a bi-lingual, bi-cultural themed arts activity through a community, based on the celebration of arts.


4) Waiting for the Arts to Change
The video was a musical about the deaf and how they had a hard to getting people to accept them due to their differences. They have deaf people doing sign language to the words of the song, “Waiting for the World to Change” and demonstrating that they are capable of doing everything that a hearing person can do except for being able to hear.


5) Deafnews.com
This video is about a deaf actor named Ashley Reuss. She is a deaf duke in “Firebird”. Reuss continues by telling that she enjoys being deaf and wishes everyone else could learn sign language because it is easy visually.



6) Sign Language Singers
This video was about three boys singing to a song in sign language and dancing to it. I think it was a cute video and it is interesting how they are into a hobby such as singing. I also found it interesting how they were so on que with the movements for not being able to hear.



7) A 1 year old Hearing Baby Signing
This was a video about a one year old baby doing sign language who is not deaf, with her mother. This mother is demonstrating that because a baby is taught how to speak sign language it does not mean that they will not learn how to talk. As she showed she was verbalizing all the words to her baby and the baby was able to speak as well as do sign language.



8) MSSD
This is information on what MSSD has to offer for the kids who are deaf. The M stands for mission because they provide opportunities to help them through life. The S stands for scholarships; they have scholarships with universities like the one in Massachusetts that invited them to Utah and other internship programs. The other S stands for social; they have social programs to help them become in involved in life activities like playing sports and making new friends. The D stands for dreams, to help them work on the tools and skills they need to develop to go on to a successful career. This over all is a school for the deaf that give them opportunities to take their learning to a higher level and become what they want to be.




9) Tour of Gallaudet
This was a video of a tour of the University of Gallaudet. It showed placards of famous people and the infamous 6th avenue entrance referring to the 2006 BDPN protest. There was no sound but it was a nice tour.




10) The Forest
This is a 3D computerized man telling a story in sign language called The Forest. It is a story about how a man struggles looking for an expensive bird in the forest. When he finally finds it he then struggles on how he can catch it so that he can get the big reward for it.




Extra Credit


A) The aslpro.com is a free resource for teachers that can create accounts and quizzes for their students. They accept donations. The five words are cute, arrest, mom, dad, and police officer.


B) 1.American Sign Language has been taught to chimpanzees, gorillas, and other non-human primates as part of various research projects

2. Many parents also teach their infants American Sign Language to assist in communication before verbal skills are developed.


C) 1. Deaf power hit the World in 1988 at Gallaudet University, an event known as the "Deaf President Now” (DPN) Movement. This protest marked history and proves that Deaf Culture is Pride and that Pride is Power.

2. It is estimated that 9 out of 10 members of the American Deaf community marry other members of their cultural group and wish for a deaf child so that they may pass on their culture





Class Reviews:

1) Alex- I learned that Berkeley University of California is the oldest university systems.
2) Stephen- I learned that the American River is famous for its location of Sutter Mill’s, which started the California Gold Rush in the 1850s.
3) Alexa- I liked her bright and colorful picture of the beach board walk.
4) Sophia- I learned that Seal Beach became a popular recreation destination and featured a beach-side amusement park.
5) Antonio- I learned that the Big Sur contains the Post Ranch Hotel, which ranks number one in California.
6) Raquel – I learned the Big Sur is said to start from the Carmel River to the San Carpoforo Creek.
7) Araceli- I learned that Playland at the Beach was also known as Whitney’s Playland in 1928.
8) Megan- I learned that Seal Beach holds a sandcastle building contest every year.
9) Jessica- I learned that the Mavericks is where waves can reach 25 feet at its crest and over 50 feet at the top.
10) Kyle- I learned that Berkeley is known for its roles in the Civil Rights Movements and the Counter Culture Movement.

Week 12 - Newport Beach

I choose Newport Beach because it caught my interest to see what it looked like since Dumas in the story Bienvenidos a Newport Beach mentioned that it was a place where everyone thought that rich people only moved to.

Newport beach is in Orange County, California and is a thriving center for business innovation and home to companies making exciting advances in industries ranging from computer technology to real estate, biomedical science to apparel. Newport Beach is a medium-sized city of 70,000 year-round and 100,000 during the summer. They are only 14 miles from Disneyland, 20 miles south of Long Beach, 50 miles south of Los Angeles, and 64 miles west of Palm Springs. It is popular for its boating and you can find excellent shopping centers around Newport Beach and at Newport Center Fashion Island. There are also a number of fine restaurants. Newport Beach contains numerous communities that include Balboa Island, Balboa Peninsula, Cannery Village, Corona del Mar, Fashion Island, Lido Marina Village, Mariners Mile and Upper Newport Bay.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newport_Beach

http://www.beachcalifornia.com/newport.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa0LFBcIxHs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I_-Ax0uv4o&feature=related

Reviews:

1) Alex- I learned that there is an island called Treasure Island that crosses the bridge from San Francisco to Oakland.

2) Alexa- I learned that Alexa also thought of the fairs that we have here when she read Cotton Candy Mirrors.

3) Valerie- I learned that Newport Beach was primarily an area for whites.

4) Sophia- I learned that Sophia has never visited Berkeley either.

5) Kyle- I learned that he got a nail stuck through his foot when he took a shortcut to his grandmother’s house.

6) Antonio- I learned that when he read Dumas story it reminded him of how long it had been since he has visited pool.

7) Judy- I learned that she has moved around a lot just like the author in Bienvenidos a Newport and also like me.

8) Erin- I learned that Berkeley has many different varieties of trees.

9) Mario- I learned that he use to live in a planned community and I am currently living In one now.

10) Jessica- I learned that she learned about Playland at the Beach when reading Cotton Candy Mirrors and so did I.

Week 11: Dumas, Major, Chabon, Goldmark

Bienvenidos A Newport Beach by Firoozeh Dumas

The author Dumas was remembering when she was eleven years old and her father came home one day and announced to his family that they were moving to Newport Beach. She was not too happy about this move because she was tried of moving from place to place, this being the eighth place. Though after thinking about the place she now lived in compared to the neighborhood she was going to move to, she did not mind as much because Newport Beach was considered a place where the rich people moved. Then she describes in detail how Newport Beach was different from the place that she lived in before. For her even though Newport Beach was a planned community and had a lot of rules especially for the swimming pool, which was where she spent most of her time at, more than anyone in the neighborhood, she enjoyed living their. At the end she comments that her parents still live their and that they have never lost their pool key.

I like the sentence, the uglier the car, the more the owner is willing to share it with the rest of the world. (91) This seems to true and funny.

While reading this sentence it made me laugh first of all and also think of how that statement seems to be true because I see that a lot but then again I think it is a money issue because if we were all able to afford a house with a garage or even have the money to buy a nice car this probably would not occur as much.

I learned that there is a place called Newport Beach were rich people live.

Cotton Candy Mirrors by Devorah Major

Devorah Major was recalling the summers when she was a child; how days when they had nickels and dimes they would cross town to spend the day at Playland at the Beach. One day fee back then was only thirty-five cents and another fifteen cents for a candy bar and a drink. She tells about all the rides they have at Playland and the scenery there. Then she goes into detail about her favorite ride which was the Fun House and this was her only reason for making the long cross city trip to Playland. She liked it because she did not have to wait in a long line and sometimes the ticket person would let one enter even if they were short a couple of cents. The importance of this was the hall of mirrors because this was where she first learned about mirrors and here was where she learned about holding on and letting go. Also not to take reflection seriously and to use others eyes as mirrors and only the eyes that are clear and shine with laughter and love.

I’ve learned to use the eyes of others as my mirrors. But only those people whose eyes are clear and shine with laughter. (102)

When I read this it made me think of how true it is. Eyes are really like mirrors you can tell ones expressions and feelings by looking at there eyes and you can also see your own self in another’s eyes if you look deep enough and pay close attention. When reading this story it made me think of the Fun Houses at the fairs and carnivals. When I was younger they use to be my favorite and I would waste practically all my tickets on it. I also spent a lot of time in the hall of mirrors but I did not learn as much as this reader did.

I learned that back then the fees were way cheaper than now.

Berkeley by Michael Chabon

Chabon who lives in Berkeley is telling a story about the things in this town that drives him crazy but as insane as it might be he loves living there. All the things that drive him crazy are the things that make that town worth knowing, putting up with, worth loving and working to preserve for him. Chabon feels that part of the charm of Berkeley is in her settings. The hills, bays, businesses’, house’s and trees but mainly the quality that lies ultimately in the citizenry; one’s neighbors, the people of Berkeley and this is why he can’t imagine living anywhere else.

If that statement has the ring of boosterism, then permit me to clarify my feelings on the subject of my adopted home; this town drives me crazy. (106)

When reading this chapter it reminded me of how I feel about Santa Rosa. It seems very similar to his, this town seems to have grown over night and now it is overcrowded to me. As well as the different people who live here, every corner you turn, you run into people of all types. Like he says all the things that drive me crazy about this town is what keeps me here. I had a chance to move to Fresno closer to my family and I even gave my thirty day notice to leave and for some reason I was not able go. I wind up asking for my place back and finding excuses why it was best for me to stay here.

I learned a little about how Berkeley setting are and how the town is and that there is a place called Key West.

California Honky-Tonk by Kathi Kamen Goldmark

Kathi tells about how her band begun and about her bands first biggest gig in San Pedro. She remembers how they were not as ready as they thought they were and that they still did not even have a name for there band. While they were on there way to the gig they passed by El Rancho Motel and the guitarist of the band decided that this would be the perfect name because the band was like a third rate romance and low-rent like a motel. Not knowing that her first gig would be at a biker bar until they all started to arrive was when it downed on her that all the songs they rehearsed were not to the taste of bikers; then Lonesome Ed remembered the lyrics he had written on a napkin to a most-requested tune played on a jukebox in Sinbad’s Saloon called, “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw”. Then from there on she has been in many bands and played in many clubs; her favorite one that became her bands home base was DeMarco’s 23 Club in Brisbane. The owner at DeMarco’s became her best friend and helps her through thick and thin including with her son. She also mentions her experience that she had with a biker named Lobo at the gig she had in San Pedro.

All four hundred, shaved-headed pounds of scary bellowing biker yelling, “I’m drunk, let’s screw!” into my microphone, as he picked me up in one enormous muscled arm and started walking toward the door. (118)

When I read this story it made me think of the amateur bands that play at clubs probably including ones that I have gone to. Maybe someday they will become big and famous. It also makes me wonder what there story is and the bad experiences that probably had to go through just to get ahead in the music business.

I also did not know there was a tune called, “Why Don’t We Get Drunk and Screw”.

Dumas and Majors stories were about experiences near a beach. Chabon’s story was about how he felt about the town he lived in. Goldmark ‘s story was about her experiences she had with her band and bars. They are all experiences within California but in different places and times.

Review:

1)

Alex- didn’t know that so many people died from the Caltrans.

2) Alexa- loves Hollywood and Seal Beach is not actually part of L.A.

3) Valerie- learned that when Caltrans workers would die on the job, they would put a white helmet by the road as a memorial.

4) Megan- learned of the three Hawaiian –blooded brothers that surfed in America for the first time in 1885.

5) Jared- said that Tobar’s story reminds him of his family trips to visit his cousins.

6) Araceli- Tobar’s story made her think of freeway 101 that she lives next to in Healdsburg.

7) Erin- learned that in Iraq people often drive north on southbound lanes and south on northbound lanes and speeds of 60 mph or more.

8) Jessica- Steinbeck’s story reminds her of the trip she took with her marine biology class to Ano Nuevo.

9) Judy- learned that California was known to be the home of Sasquatch.

10) Kyle- Warshaw’s story made him think of being in Canada for the first time at Whistler-Blackomb.