Gas. It’s the number one topic in most conversations I’ve seen lately, both online and off. It’s an especially loaded subject out here in California, where regular is hovering anywhere from $4.49 to $4.89 a gallon, depending on the area. Quite a few of us, around the country, have adjusted to the skyrocketing prices in different ways. Those of you in DC have an advantage in Metro, while others cope [...]

The Virginia Tech shootings last year partially fed into a stereotype society tends to have about killers: they’re odd, strange, violent individuals that we can spot from a mile away. The reality was that Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter who murdered classmates and professors, was mentally ill. His illness manifested itself in rather frightening ways, such as “morbid and grotesque” class assignments. Although the student body, faculty, and staff of Virginia [...]

It’s November already, and Christmas decorations have been up in the stores for about two weeks now. It seems everything is in fast motion these days, and that definitely applies to the world of politics. Come Sunday, it’ll be exactly a year before we head to the polls to elect a new president. Normally, that wouldn’t be big news in itself, except that it’s still very possible that the first [...]

I’m writing this at the witching hour, and thinking about pixy sticks. You don’t see them much in the stores out here these days (either that, or I’m looking in the wrong places!). I’m also thinking about caramel apples, mulled cider, and popcorn (but not so much popcorn balls…). Yep, it’s that time of year again. Time to figure out what creative costume to wear, what decorations to put out, [...]

Every time I visit DeafDC or DeafRead, there’s a mix of articles. Some are on perennial subjects, such as cochlear implants. Others are on the “hot event” of the day, such as the Gallaudet protests last year. The latest such issue is the Doug Bahl case. Often such topics are inter-related, or lead back to larger questions. For example, the various captioning posts here at DeafDC lead back to the [...]

When I was young, my parents (like most parents) assumed the responsibility to teach me the morals and ethics I needed to know. I was taught early (like most children) the difference between “yes” and “no,” black and white, and right and wrong. I learned the difference between the truth and a lie. Some of these lessons were clear-cut, while others were introduced in stark binary terms of black and [...]

Yeah, I know– not the most original title. There’s probably a zillion bloggers/columnists who have used this title already (Howard Kurtz is one, for example). But there’s nothing like being a follower, is there? I wasn’t originally going to blog about Paris Hilton, anywhere, but recent events changed my mind. Whether Paris Hilton deserved her sentence or not doesn’t bother me. The fact that Paris Hilton was busted to begin [...]

Yesterday’s guest blog by Bert Shaposka was an interesting read, but it is also the latest in a long line of blogs about Gallaudet. To some extent, this is to be expected, given the events of the past year, and the accreditation woes aired in public earlier this year. But you know what? Gallaudet isn’t the be-all and end-all of the Deaf universe. I visited with a friend a couple [...]

This morning, while cleaning out my inbox and taking care of other mundane matters, I ran across a news blurb, advertising a contest here in Los Angeles tomorrow. My first thought after reading the article was, “Hmm… I wonder if any deaf contestants will be participating?” The contest? A battle between participants to see who can text message the fastest. I figure since we deaf have rapidly adapted as “thumb [...]

I attended one of the preview sessions for “Through Deaf Eyes,” which meant that I, along with a number of other people nationwide, saw about half of the entire program before it was broadcast nationally yesterday. Afterwards, I saw someone use the phrase, “Through Hearing Eyes” to describe the film. Now that I’ve watched the program in its entirety, I’m not sure it should be called “Through Deaf Eyes” or [...]