alifornia School for the Deaf, Riverside was all aflutter with activity.  The football field was blindingly lit.  Clumps of parents stood around in awful flourescent yellow vests proclaiming “Event Staff” in black letters.  A long line of cars waited patiently to pull into the parking lot.  I parked by a tree and made my way to the football field in time to see the kickoff, winding my way through a busy avenue of red easy-ups selling food, Riverside t-shirts, and phone services.  Kids ran here and there throughout the vast crowd, a sea of sporadic red.  Some of them had paws or “go cubs” drawn on their faces in red lipstick as they ran.  I took my place awkwardly at the back of the crowd, trying to find a spot where I wouldn’t be in the way, but could still see the football game.  As I watched the crowd around me, the cheerleaders trying to excite the crowd and the game happeining on the field, it struck me just how similar and different this event was from the events I had been to at my mainstream high school.

A festival atmosphere surrounded the crowd.  It was impossible not to notice how excited everyone was to be there.  As I joined them, I couldn’t help but notice how quiet the crowd was in comparison to a hearing crowd of the same size.  There was very little talking going on, with everyone signing excitedly to their neighbor.  Hearing children would run by me, chattering to their friends as they went, and students stood talking quietly in little groups.  People were constantly walking by me on their way for another drink or a funnel cake, and they would inevitably be stopped by someone who was thrilled to see them.  It seemed to me as if the whole crowd knew each other.

There was a cheer squad standing on the sidelines in red outfits.  They stood in lines, high school aged girls in red and white cheer uniforms and little elementary aged girls in white t-shirts with red pleated skirts.  They did several routines clumped together on the sidelines, staying together as well as if there were invisible music playing.  At half time when they spread apart onto the field, they weren’t as united as when they had been clumped together, but they were still very good.  As the night wore on, the littler girls joined the crowd and the cheerleaders started throwing things into the audience.  Suddenly, people were waving their arms and cheering at the girls, just to get a little football thrown their way.  It was the first time all night that the crowd seemed interested in what was happeining on the field.  The cheerleaders were great, but somehow they didn’t seem to hold my interest like they normally do at a game.

On my way back from the snack booth at half time, I ran into Red from my Deaf Culture class and I realized that she was standing with a whole group of people who I also knew.  I joined them, chatted a lot, and tried to keep one eye on the game.  For some reason, I had such a hard time paying attention to anything going on out there.  Every once in a while I would look up and realize that the score was different, but there had been no fanfare to tell me that things had changed, no collective cheer or groan from the audience about another touchdown being scored.

Overall my experience was great, if a little unusual.  It took me a long time to find people I knew in the crowd, and I spent most of my time feeling outside of things.  At the same time, people tapping my shoulder to ask me to move or signing “excuse me”, and being otherwise treated politely like a true member of Deaf Culture, made me feel like I belonged.  While things were remarkably similar to the Homecoming activities I remembered from my own days in high schoo, the lack of noise and the lack of attention payed to the game really marked this event as different.  I think that if I knew more people there I would have loved going to Homecoming.  As it was I had a very good time and would certainly go again.

Chi getta i rifiuti rischia di essere asfaltato!

Tratto da La Piazza di Novembre

Si lamentano i turisti delle strutture alberghiere (60 reclami scritti). Inferociti i cattolichini: 5mila segnalazioni all’Urp, 500 ai Vigili, 3mila a Hera. Il degrado svilisce la città

 
Le strutture alberghiere

Reclami e lamentele, la stagione turistica di quest’anno ne ha contate una settantina (nel 2008 circa sessanta). Si badi bene, sono reclami scritti su apposito modulo, via e-mail o lettera. Gli addetti ai lavori ci dicono che c’è un rapporto di uno a cinque. Significa che per ogni reclamo scritto che arriva all’Ufficio Iat, ce ne sono almeno atri quattro che si fermano a rimostranze solo verbali. 60 sono quelli che riguardano le strutture alberghiere; una decina che coinvolgono stabilimenti balneari, Comune e altre attività.

Le lamentele interessano diversi aspetti: scortesia e servizi insufficienti, carenze igieniche, menù scadente e/o scarso… Ma la voce più ricorrente è la pubblicità ingannevole nel sito internet e depliant, categoria dell’albergo sovrastimata. Si reclamizza ciò che non si ha o che non si può dare. Insomma è un problema di stelle.

Stelle e controlli

Siccome è il Comune che “dà le stelle”, sarebbe bene che periodicamente avvenisse un sano controllo e verificare se i servizi erogati e le strutture sono ancora adeguate per meritarsi quella categoria.

Le verifiche dovrebbero essere fatte tramite il vigili. Le segnalazioni per altre questioni vanno fatte all’Asl e Nas (problemi igienici delle strutture e servizi, e conservazione dei cibi), la Guardia di finanza (problemi di carattere amministrativo) e forze di polizia per problemi di tipo penale. E’ la regolarità e serietà dei controlli che favorisce la qualità dei servizi.

Una sessantina di famiglie che scrivono allo Iat di essersi trovate male nei nostri alberghi non fa molto piacere. Anche se qualcuno cercherà di minimizzare perché i turisti arrivati quest’anno sono stati circa 300mila. Dunque, qualcosa di fisiologico… Ma qualche albergo è recidivo, su alcuni sono arrivate diverse segnalazioni scritte. Sui “soliti noti”, il Comune e l’Associazione albergatori dovrebbero adoperarsi con le buone o con le cattive a riportarli nella normalità. Ne va l’immagine di tutta la categoria e della città.

Cattolichini inferociti

Se i turisti si lamenticchiano, quelli che sono letteralmente inferociti sono i cattolichini. L’osservatorio privilegiato per avere il polso della situazione è l’Urp (Ufficio relazioni col pubblico), che raccoglie reclami, proteste e segnalazioni. A metà Ottobre erano oltre le 4mila, ma, dice l’impiegata, a fine anno si supereranno le 5mila. Altro termometro il Comando dei vigili. Circa 500 segnalazioni, che quando non riescono a smistarle all’Urp, nei casi più urgenti provvedono a segnalare l’inconveniente alla squadra di pronto intervento. Tralasciamo le numerose lamentele fatte direttamente a voce durante il servizio di pattugliamento.

Per dare l’idea dell’anomalia del degrado di Cattolica basta confrontarsi con i dati di Rimini (130mila abitanti). Qui tra Urp e Comando dei vigili al 20 di ottobre avevano ricevuto “appena” 1.600 segnalazioni (Resto del Carlino 24/10/2009).

Sotto accusa un diffuso degrado della città: buche nelle strade, marciapiedi sconnessi e pericolosi, verde pubblico che risente di una carente manutenzione, sporcizia, traffico caotico, rumori… e tanta maleducazione da parte di, purtroppo, molti cittadini: uso maialesco dei cassonetti, sacchetti e altri rifiuti collocati ovunque, cacche dei cani che decorano tutti i marciapiedi, parcheggio selvaggio…

Un capitolo a parte il servizio di Hera. L’Urp raccoglie solo una minima parte delle segnalazioni, solo dei più arrabbiati, per il resto invita a telefonare direttamente a Hera. Ci dicono che saranno circa 3mila tra proteste e segnalazioni da parte di cittadini di Cattolica che riguardano i servizi Hera.

Il degrado della città

Sempre di più anche il centro mostra i segni del tempo e dell’incuria. Molte zone dei quartieri sono palesemente disagiate. Una città civile ha bisogno di essere vivibile. Il degrado degrada anche la convivenza sociale. Il disagio è forte. Cattolica è una città turistica, la sua immagine è fondamentale per continuare ad essere meta di turisti. Non è solo il centro che deve essere curato (sta cadendo a pezzi), ma l’intera città. Per il rispetto di chi ci vive e degli ospiti che fanno marciare la nostra principale economia: il turismo.

I told my class on Monday that we’d be learning sign language as our class project and I can’t believe how excited they were and how much initiative some of them took.

This is one major part of our curriculum where I really have total control and I’m very excited myself. I am going to teach them poems and songs and even some mother goose rhymes using sign language.

My table that consists of my chinese speakers and some high-generating spanish- speakers was particularly unleashed. One student at that table bought a Mother Goose book of rhymes to share, and my very shy student, YL, actually stood up and demonstrated to the class how to sign his word! I had given each student two words to learn to teach to the rest of the class, and with prompting from his friends at the table, he stood up, faced the class and showed them “clean”. He even let me hi-5 him! This, a boy who hides his smiles and normally won’t look at me. This class holds a lot of promise and potential.

In teaching ASL, it also offers me a way to teach nouns, adjectives, and verbs, which otherwise are not in our curriculum and which I find helpful when learning a new language. Yay

2nd Vlog – National Adoption Awareness Month

di Maurizio Caprino

Facebook link: RALLY TO KEEP DEAF EDUCATION PROGRAM AND ASL CLASSES AT MSU

To join: KEEP DEAF-ED MAJOR AT MSU!

Date: Friday, December 4, 2009
Time: 10:00am – 12:00pm
Location: Hannah Administration Building
City/Town: East Lansing, MI

Please join us as we campaign against MSU’s proposal to cut the Deaf Education program and ASL classes.

We’ve got one shot – this is it. If you care about education…if you care about children…if you care about the state of Michigan… COME. This is our chance to be recognized! WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THE OPPRESSION AND IGNORANCE ANY LONGER!

Deaf Education and ASL may not seem to affect you directly, but please, we NEED you.

The media has been contacted… we must make this MONUMENTAL.

Please, the children are waiting on you.

I just returned from a bachelorette/bridal shower weekend with friends, one of whom shared this video on Friday night. We proceeded to watch it throughout the weekend, over and over, learning the signs and laughing at “moving my hips like yeah.” And it made me smile every time, so I contemplated sharing it here – and then I heard on the radio this morning that today is Miley Cyrus’ birthday. Kismet.

More on California soon.

Anyone else getting really excited for Thanksgiving?

Hola reclutillas.

Vengo a contaros ese primer día de Academía DAV que tuvo lugar el pasado viernes 20 de Noviembre en el Bruixes i Fades.

Pese a los contratiempos de última hora que se nos presentaron, y que evitaron que un Staff Sargent y un reclutilla pudieran presentarse, conseguimos jugar tres partidas del escenario S5 del SK#1 e instruir a cuatro reclutillas, que se han quedado con ganas de más… creo que ese ha sido el mayor éxito del DAV.

Quiero aprovechar para felicitar a los otros tres S.Sgt. que formaron el equipo de la Academia: el S.Sgt. Mara Saurio, que nos proporcionó el material de apoyo, el S.Sgt. Dagalord, la máquina de las reglas y el S.Sgt. Sombra que pudo con la instrucción de dos reclutas a costa de su propia partida mensual.

S. Sgts. Vehrka, Dagalord y Sombra, se echo en falta a Mara Saurio

Después del salto, más fotos y relato…

Ahí vamos, aunque una vez más mi visión es un poco parcial, tal vez otro sargento debería contar esto, ya que yo estuve instruyendo al reclutilla Leo, y el S.Sgt Sombra instruyó a dos reclutas pero también sirvió de enlace entre mesas e hizo algunas de las fotos.

Partida 01: S.Sgt. Vehrka vs recluta Leo

La partida 01, aunque en realidad fue la que empezó más tarde porque me retrasé un poco, fue la única que no acabó… Leo y yo nos tomamos las cosas con tiempo y estuvimos repasando algunas reglas (pocas) y bastante el sentido táctico del escenario.

Jugamos 3 turnos completos, llevando Leo a los norteamericanos y yo a los alemanes. Al final del 3er turno los alemanes habían conseguido establecer una notable barrera de fuego que prevenía las intentonas de asalto de los G.I. aunque estos estaban a punto de intentar un asalto por varios frentes.

En esta partida usamos la nueva versión de los tableros metálicos con contadores magnéticos que preparó Sombra.

Recluta Ángel vs Recluta Lohen asistidos por el S. Sgt. sombra

En la partida 02, Ángel llevó a los alemanes a la victoria sobre los norteamericanos, al parecer y según me contaron las tiradas de Ángel eran sistematicamente desmoralizadoras

Partida 03: S.Sgt. Dagalord vs Recluta Sr_García

En la partida 03, el S.Sgt. Dagalord fue el único que llevó a los G.I. de la 1ª División norteamericana al éxito en todos sus objetivos, el Recluta Sr_García afirmó necesitar “más entrenamiento de infantería” cosa que se le concederá con gusto en el próximo DAV.

Al final conseguimos reunir a cuatro jugadores que se desfogaron en esto del ASL, algunos ya tenían un poco de experiencia, pero mucho miedo escénico que espero que estén perdiendo ya mismo, para que todos podamos jugar más en próximos DAV.

Pfc Sr_Garcia

Pfcs. Leo, Lohen y Ángel

Tanto a los S. Sgt, como a los Pfc se les regaló una chapa representativa de su nuevo estátus en la Academia DAV, esperamos que a lo largo de las próximas sesiones de la Academia DAV se vayan ganando nuevos galones.

Rangos de la Academia DAV

Nota di Pao: Come sempre tengo a precisare che l’articolo in questione rientra nella categoria “Leggo & Pubblico” ovvero trovo che abbia dei contenuti interessanti, ma resta il fatto che la scelta di vaccinarsi o meno debba essere valutata insieme ad un medico di fiducia e/o basandosi sulla propria storia clinica.

E’ giusto poter aver tutte le informazioni possibili, ma è altrettanto giusto non prendere per oro colato tutto quello che si trova in Rete. Per quanto mi riguarda fino ad ora non ho avuto ragioni per dubitare di quanto scritto da Mala Cibus, tuttavia resto sempre perplesso quando trovo dei lettori che pongono domande alle quali solo un medico può rispondere.

°°°

Una Asl qualsiasi dell’Emilia Romagna, ore 11:00 del mattino la nostra cavia si presenta al luogo deputato per ricevere la somministrazione del vaccino contro l’influenza A H1N1, reca con se la lettera di “invito” ricevuta qualche giorno prima.

• ore 11:00 c’è già tanta gente in attesa (sembra il casting di un nuovo reality)
• ore 11:25 consegna della lettera
• ore 11:50 chiamata e primo colloquio con un medico, si compila e si firma una liberatoria, si viene mandati in un’altra stanza d’attesa, tra le mani il foglio illustrativo che rivela il nome del vaccino, finalmente si scopre che si tratta di Focetria prodotto da Novartis.
• trascorrono 20 minuti, dietro chiamata si entra in una seconda stanza a colloquio conoscitivo con uno specialista, un quarto d’ora di chiacchere, si passa ad una ulteriore stanza
• trenta minuti d’attesa e si viene chiamati nell’ambulatorio per la somministrazione del vaccino, quindi si passa all’ultima stanza di “decompressione”, quella nella quale si trascorre mezz’ora, come suggerito dal bugiardino, prima di poter lasciare la struttura sanitaria

In totale sono trascorse circa due ore e quaranta minuti. Dopo circa due ore dall’uscita, la nostra cavia inizia ad avere sensazione di caldo e gonfiore al viso, alla terza ora emicrania, dolore al braccio dell’iniezione e indolenzimento, frebbicola leggera verso sera. Il giorno seguente esordio con febbre a 38.5, telefona al medico curante, il quale prescrive due giorni di riposo, comunicati in ditta per la gioia del datore di lavoro, paga Topogigio.

P.S. Ringraziamo la “cavia”, che ha deciso che il vaccino stagionale non lo farà.

Pubblichiamo anche i documenti citati in questo articolo, per necessità di anonimato abbiamo coperto riferimenti a luoghi e persone, oltre a questi documenti viene consegnata al vaccinato una copia controfirmata della liberatoria e assunzione di responsabilità

Vedi la lettera di invito fronte/retro

Vedi il bugiardino del vaccino Focetria fronte/retro

Fonte: http://www.43zero58.com

Like the Miami Dolphins and the Carolina Panthers, this is a short week on KSWI. I am taking off work tomorrow and Monday. Unless something wild happens and either I don’t make it to Monday or every screening of New Moon is sold out this weekend, then I should have a review for this film adaptation of this Pulitzer Prize winning novel next week. Oh did New Moon not win a Pulitzer Prize? Maybe it was in a different category than “tween blood suckers novel”. Was it in the “novella” category? I’m not sure what a “novella” is anyway. Is it a short book or an effeminate book? A short effeminate book. A gay dwarf book. The story of Gimli!

And yes, Gimli was gay! Him and Legolas! They rode a boat to fight and travel the world together. There was so much sexual tension between them and their playful chiding of each other. “What’s happening out there?” “Shall I describe it to you?” *grumble grumble* “Or would you like me to find you a box?”…. a box to better kiss you on your crazy bearded face you ole’ scruffy dwarf. They were so gay for each other. Also, next time someone mentions how “gay” the ending of Return of the King was with the slow motion Frodo’s bed romp, just remind them that it could’ve been a whole lot gayer if they showed what happened with Gimli and Legolas. Me? I’m going to marry that hot elf chick over there and be king of this entire land. You? Oh, you’re going to ride on a paddle boat the rest of your life snuggling up on a cantankerous, scabies having, axe wielding dwarf. Hmmm? ….. fag… nah I’m joking. I love you guys. I voted for civil unions and I think gays should be able to adopt kids. Best of luck, ciao.

Ciao? Yuck. I think Aragorn may be gay too (have you seen the cartoon Lord of the Rings!?!) or he was just trying to make those two homos feel better. Hunh? What the hell am I writing about? That coffee really hasn’t woken me up at all. Ok, so speaking of Lord of the Rings, I saw your completely disingenuous criticism of Scipio Africanus’ ability to scare elephants away with loud horns vis a vis elephants in LOTR trilogy not being afraid of horns. I did see one commenter point out that in LOTR the “elephants” are in fact different than other elephants and they are really called “olyphants” or something similar. This is 100% true. Lord of the Rings took place on MIDDLE EARTH. Not Earth, but Middle Earth. My name is Earth, MIDDLE Earth. So there are many differences, for instance elves. If you hadn’t noticed Legolas is tall, thin, long blonde hair, super powers, graceful et cetera. That is what a Middle Earth elf looks like meanwhile a regular ole’ Earth elf bakes cookies in trees. Who is to say which elf is better? If you are in an archery competition or playing the classic “who can see the farthest away” game then you’ll want Legolas. If you are looking for a chocolate covered graham cracker then you might want to knock on some trees looking for a Keebler elf.

That ramble will be considered the first of my answering the weekly questions on KSWI. Now I will use the regular format with bold words and less rants about which if not all characters from Lord of the Rings would have chose to share a pillow and then the subsequent talk with it from a fellow m-a-n than that of a woah-man. Uhhhh… akswisayswhat?

Why are there no nipples kay swidge?

It took longer than I expected for someone to mention this, although the post was fabulously mind dazzling so I can see why some may have missed it. But the lack of nipples was a conscious decision and not an indication that I have no nipples nor does my professional wrestler alter-ego not have nipples. I thought the nipples would be a distraction so they were omitted. If I drew big nipples or small nipples that would have become a hot topic of discussion. What color would the nipples have or have not been? How much detail or lack of detail on the nipples? These would all be hotly contested matters of discussion that I felt would completely distract from the genius of the post.

And come on, this is a motherfucking family and kid friendly web-fucking-site.

How did Scipio Africanus know to defeat the elephants with loud noises?

First off, how dare you question Scipio and his greatness! The Dark Continent was named after this ingenious man! But I’m guessing it was either first hand knowledge of him having fought elephants before, it was shared knowledge between Roman military leaders from men who had fought elephants before or at the very least it was an amazing experiment of “guess and check”. A lot of animals get spooked by loud sounds so why not elephants?

Shouldn’t these things be warning signs to keep my distance? Why does this sound like a dream come true instead?

Good question. Follow up questions – why does Phil Anselmo’s scream make me happy? Why do I think power metal will be played in Heaven? Why do I think the term “awol” should mean “gone fucking crazy” instead of “absent without leave”? Why do I think Mark Jindrak and Sean O’Haire should switch names?

All good questions.

a/s/l?

Recently, I have been hearing people use the term “ASL” or “American Sign Language” and every time I hear someone say “ASL” I inherently think of “a/s/l”. Is this person talking about cybering? No, or maybe yes. I don’t know. I’m only paying attention half the time when people talk anyone. At some point someone will say something like a/s/l or ASL and I’ll tune off into some weird depraved world remembering the AOL chat rooms of my yester-youth. I never went into a Sally Jessie chat room. I spent my time freaking out Jesus freaks in Born Again Christian chat rooms. That was fun.

On any given day, my friend or I would pose as a crazed druggie, Satanist and/or contemplating suicide. They would attempt to save my soul by typing “JESUS LOVES YOU” in capital letters a million times over and over. My absolute favorite part would be when someone, either myself, friend or some other random doing exactly what we were doing in there messing with crazies, would type “666” and it was a mad dash for the Christians to nullify this deviltry with “777”. HAHAHAHAHAHAH… That tug of war could go on forever.

Jasper2322: Yeah, well 666 motherfuckers!

LeftHandofChrist01: 777

MotherMary32479: 777

BookofJob82: Oh no! 777 777 777 777

Craig40: 777

Craig40: Whew. We got it guys. Good work.

Jasper2322: 666

Craig40: NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Craig is such a drama queen. Nice “screen name”, Craig! For the few of you who are compiling scrap books about me, my AIM was not Jasper2322. It was Spy65. And if you ever get killed in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 by some guy named “why schmucky” then that’s me kicking yo’ ass. Whatever. Not bragging or nothing.

Football!?! Vikings!?!

I love football. There is football on tonight! YES! And yes I’ve noticed the Vikings. I’ve noticed them so much that I have this gif now saved on my computer FOREVER!

Ray Edwards wants it. That “IT” is to kill Matthew Stafford and/or all quarterbacks.

That is so wild looking. It looks like Matt Stafford’s life was saved by getting drilled from lineman instead of being murdered by the flying defensive end. That guy is 6’5” who took off in flight like that. It is crazy ridiculous what quarterbacks have to deal with in the league nowadays. Look at how freak that move is! That is a 270 pound, 6’5” monster of a man going airborne. It is insane. People who even joke that there is any sport tougher than the NFL are being stupid. No other sport has a guy that huge and that violent trying to kill other person like that from the sky.

The Vikings looked like wrecking machines that game. Of course, it was against the Lions so way to go at batting around the special needs kid of the league.

Expectations for New Moon

Short answer: Low.

Long answer: I clicked on that link that summarized New Moon up using action figures. If that is accurate then it seems like the long trailers for New Moon show the plot points of the middle without all the junk in between for the most part. So like a compressed accordion I think New Moon will be like that 3 minute trailer extended to 2 hours. I’m not too excited about that. I was kind of hoping all the stuff in the trailer all took place in the first 45 minutes of the movie and the next hour plus was all new stuff, but apparently not. I’m looking forward to seeing Kristen Stewart and her want on the big screen. I am also looking forward to the screams you say will happen when Fake-Rob makes his appearances.

Currently, my main hope is that there will be a gang war of teenagers through middle age women over Team Jacob vs. Team Edward. I would pay money to see that. I would love for Fake-Rob to make his first appearance and half the theater is swooning while the other half is hissing and heckling. Then vice versa happen when Fake-Taylor appears. Then this back and forth becomes louder and more abrasive which leads to brass knuckles, bike chains and baseball bats. Or it could break out into a full on ninja fight scene like out of Ninja Assassin which is a movie I’m actually excited to go see.

I really just want to see some bitches hatin’ bitches get physical. Is that too much to ask? I’ll sit through your fantasy romance, but some chick better light some other chick up with an uppercut to her jaw.

Did anyone notice there is a Team Edward vs. Team Jacob Burger King commercial?

Tomorrow’s post

One of my many unfinished writing projects was a novel loosely based on my current work experience. The central character is a guy in his mid 20’s who is bored to death at his office job at a major corporation and with his life in general. While at work he starts fantasizing and day dreaming about the ridiculous to help get him through each day. He fantasizes about sex and violence and calamity. After a couple months of work his wishing and praying becomes a reality when a series of strange and horrible events (for example a terrorist attack) start to take place at work. His work place becomes wild and science fiction like with internal warring feudalistic factions and external attacks from guerrilla terrorists while at the same time still trying to do the boring jobs they are paid to do. Weapons training and conference calls.  

I guess it would be like Lord of the Flies, Fight Club, and Office Space having a mutated devil spawn. The main character is not supposed to be literally me nor is the job supposed to be literally my current job, but it is “based on” that stuff I guess. Anyway, I never finished. I wrote some chapters and got lazy and stopped writing it.

The chapter that I will put up tomorrow is one of the early on fantasy chapters that the main character has trying to spice up his boring day at work. I was going to choose one of the violent fantasies, but then I remembered you are mostly girls and you probably would rather have something funny and “sexy” than bloody hatchet stuff. Anyway, I wrote it around this time last year I guess and I hadn’t looked at it in awhile. I think the chapter is fun, ridiculous, disturbing and full of details which I love. Good job me!

Hope you like “it”. Hope you like Twilight: New Moon. Hope you like the chapter tomorrow. I’ll see you next week.

y Deaf Culture teacher asked us to get into groups and adapt a regular hearing children’s story to contain elements of Deaf Culture, including pictures.  She would then turn them into a book of short stories for an elementary school classroom at a deaf school.  My group picked the Grimm fairy tale The 12 Dancing Princesses, and I’m so proud of how it turned out!!  I couldn’t resist posting it here with the pictures.  I did all the Illustrations myself.   Here it is:

 nce upon a time, a hearing king had twelve deaf daughters, each one more beautiful than the last.  They all slept together in one large, splendid room.  Their beds stood side by side and every night when they went to bed the king locked the door and bolted it so he knew his children were safe.  Every morning when  he unlocked the door, he saw that their shoes were worn out, with holes in the toes and laces broken.  The king ordered an investigation, but after many weeks of trying, no one could find out how the princesses were able to leave the locked and bolted room. 

The king was very upset that he had to spend so much royal money on new shoes for his daughters, for princesses could not wear shabby shoes.  He proclaimed that whoever could discover where his daughters went at night could choose one of them for his wife and be king after his death.  If, however, they could not discover where his daughters went after three days and nights, they should be banished from his kingdom forever.

It was not long before a prince from the next kingdom came and offered to discover where the princesses danced at night.  He was welcomed warmly into the palace with a large feast, and in the evening, was led into a bedroom next to the pricesses bedroom.  He was to watch and discover where the twelve went, so the princess’s bedroom door was left open.  Nevertheless, the prince’s eyelids grew heavy and he fell asleep.  When he awoke in the morning, all twelve pairs of shoes had holes in them and he had no idea how this had occured.  The same thing happened on the second and third nights, so he was banished forever from the kingdom.  Many others came after and undertook the mystery, but none discovered how the shoes got holes in them and were banished as the first prince had been.

One day a poor, wounded veteran found himself on the road to the town where the princesses lived.  He met a funny old woman on the road who asked him where he was going. 

“I really don’t know,” he answered jokingly. “I thought I might discover where the princesses danced holes in their shoes and become the king.”

“That’s not so difficult.”  Said the old woman mysteriously.  “The secret is that you must pretend to be sound asleep.”

With that, she gave him a little cloak and said, “If you put this on, you will be invisible.  Then you can follow the princesses at night.”

When the soldier recieved this good advice, he decided to try his luck.  He went to the King and announced that he also wanted to take the challenge.  The King welcomed the old soldier, and had his servants dress him in royal garments.  At the feat that night, the oldest princess stood up and performed an ABC story in sign language for everyone in the hall.  Her signing was beautiful and it made the soldier want to learn more.  It also made him want to succeed more than ever before.

Later that evening, he was led into the bedroom next to the twelve princesses.  He lay down immediately, and after a while began to snore as if in the deepest sleep.

The twelve princesses felt the vibrations of his snoring, and so they got up.  They then opened the wardrobes and brought out pretty dresses and dressed themselves in front of the long mirrors.  They sprang about and rejoiced at the thought of going to the dance.  Because the girls were deaf, they didn’t realize how noisy they were being while getting dressed and dancing about laughing.  But the youngest princess wasn’t feeling joyful and signed to them that she had a bad feeling.  Her sisters just thought she was being silly and teased her.

When they were all ready to go, they looked carefully at the soldier, but he had closed his eyes and did not move or stir, so they felt themselves quite secure.

The eldest went to her bed and tapped it.  It immediately sank into the ground, revealing a secret pathway.  The sisters went down through the opening, the eldest going first.  The soldier, who had watched everything, did not wait any longer.  He sprang out of bed, put on his invisibility cloak, and went down last behind the youngest princess.  Halfway down the stairs he stepped a little on her dress.  She was terrified, and she began waving her arms to get her sister’s attention.

She signed, “My dress is stuck.  Someone is pulling my dress!”

The eldest signed back, “Don’t be silly, you caught it on a nail.”  They then continued down the stairs.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were standing in a wonderful avenue of trees, all the leaves of which were silver shone and glistened.  The soldier thought, “I must carry a token away with me.” and broke off a twig from one of the trees.  The youngest thought she saw something, but since her sisters had made fun of her before, she decided not to say anything.

As they traveled deeper into the forest, the leaves of the trees turned to gold, and then to diamonds.  Again, the soldier broke branches from each of the trees, and each time the youngest princess thought she saw something move, but he was too quick for her to be sure.  They went on and came to a great lake where twelve little boats stood, and in each boat sat a handsome deaf prince.  Each took one princess with him.  The soldier seated himself next to the youngest.

The youngest prince signed to his princess, “I don’t know why the boat is so much heavier today, and I will have to row with all my strength if I am to get across the lake.”

“What could be the cause,” she signed, “but the warm weather?  I feel very warm too.”

On the opposite side of the lake stood a splendid, brightly lit pavilion, perfect light for signing and dancing.  The princes rowed over and endered a silver and gold ballroom.  Each prince danced with the girl he loved most all night long.  The dancers could feel the pulsating music and they moved with so much joy.  They did not know that the soldier danced with them unseen.  They danced until 3 o’clock in the morning, and when they were finished all their shoes had holes.  The princes then rowed them back across the lake and this time the soldier seated himself by the eldest, so he could get back to bed without suspicion.

On the shore, the girls took leave of their princes, and promised to return the following night.  As they were saying their long goodbyes, the soldier ran out in front and lay down quickly on his bed.  When the twelve had come up slowly and wearily from their midnight dance, the soldier was already snoring so strong that they could feel the vibrations.  They felt confident that he had slept the whole time they were away.  They took off their beautiful dresses, laid them away, put the worn out shoes under the beds, and went to sleep.

The next morning the soldier did not tell the king what he saw.  Instead, he went with the twelve princesses again to their wonderful dance, and again the next night.  Everything happened has it had before, and each night the princesses danced until their shoes were worn to pieces.

When it came time for the soldier to give his answer to the king, he took the three twigs with him as proof.  The sisters stood outside, peeking through the window, trying to read his lips as he spoke to the king.  They noticed the tree twigs and wondered, worried, how he got them.  The youngest concluded, “He must have followed us.”  They knew they had been caught.

When the king asked the soldier, “Where have my twelve daughters danced there shoes to pieces at night?”  the soldier answered, “in an underground pavilion with twelve princes.”  The soldier then explained how he had found out.

The king then had his court guard get his twelve daughters and bring them in.  The king yelled at the girls as he always did, thinking that if he shouted loud enough they could hear him.  Of course, it was not until the interpreter signed that they understood what their father was saying.  He asked if the soldier told the truth.  When the princesses saw that they were betrayed, many of them closed their eyes so they could not see the interpreter signing.  However, the eldest felt obliged to confess all.  Hearing this, the king asked the soldier which one of his daughters he would have for his wife. 

The soldier answered, “I am no longer young, so give me the eldest.”  But he was also thinking of how beautifully she had signed the ABC story on his first night in the palace.

The engagement was announced by the royal herald and the whole kingdom was invited to the wedding the following month.  The sisters were dismayed that their older sister was marrying a hearing man, but eventually he won them over.  During that month, the soldier used pen and paper to communicate with his fiance, but he was secretly taking sign language lessons.  On his wedding day, the soldier signed his vows to his new bride.  He learned as much as he could about the deaf world, and always went with his wife and her sisters to all their social activities.  As the soldier’s sign language skills grew, so did the love between him and his princess, and they lived happily ever after.  The End,

I uploaded all my 2009 ASL Vlogs in this blogsite.