ADA in Struggle

Political Cartoon of the Week

This is an old political cartoon that I did for SIGNews back in '04. After seeing discussion on the issue of the ADA Restoration Act in the blogosphere, I thought I'd share this cartoon with you. The struggle is still ongoing. Whaddya think, fellas?

DCS Chair's Vlog Broadcast

DCS Board Chair Leslie Elion just put out a vlog this morning, explaining how DCS came up with the estimate of 1,000 deaf evacuees and further updating the situation on wildfires and evacuation.
She raised a good point why an estimate was necessary in order to help FEMA project their services for meeting the evacuees' needs. This seemingly minor thing may help deaf agencies a great deal in the future in emergency preparations.

Regarding some people's expressed puzzlement over the estimate, I brought this up with an interpreter I was talking with at the DCS booth at Qualcomm Stadium yesterday. She thought the figure of 1,000 was about right because there is a bulk of deaf people living in Chula Vista, southeast of San Diego. There are also more deaf people who live in Poway, Escondido, Julian and the surrounding mountains. Some of those deaf people have families, usually tend to stay at home and don't hang out as some of us San Diego regulars do at Deaf Coffee on Fridays or other places. Some of the deaf evacuees don't go to Qualcomm or other evacuation centers but spend the nights over at their friends or relatives' houses instead.

Despite that the winds calmed down, the fires are still raging in some parts of San Diego County. For a more updated information on the five major fires in San Diego County, see this link.

The deaf evacuees that I met and interviewed with yesterday were fine and in an upbeat mood. One of them told me DCS was very outstanding in its services that it provided. The emergency services people were great to them, this evacuee told me. Jon Savage already posted photos of evacuees at Qualcomm that you can see here.

I pray that the evacuees' houses are intact!

Update at Qualcomm Stadium

I just went to visit the evacuation center at Qualcomm Stadium today. With my press credentials (I'm a staff writer for SIGNews), I was admitted in. When I entered through the gate, DCS' booth was right there in front. I was greeted by an interpreter there and I interviewed two deaf evacuees there. I saw that there were only 6 deaf/HOH evacuees altogether at the stadium. I took some pictures as I walked around the stadium. The number of evacuees at the stadium has dwindled, as many of them are being relocated to Del Mar Fairgrounds and some are allowed to return to their homes. What touched my heart was seeing the drawings of children on the walls. These drawings were expressions of thanks to the firefighters for their hard work. I will share with you two pictures tonight. Look forward to my coming detailed report in the next issue of SIGNews. I'll comment a little more on my experience in my next blog tomorrow.

DCS Estimate: 1,000 Deaf/HOH Evacuees

I just visited Deaf Community Services' office, which is open today. After vp'ing my friend, I saw the chairperson of DCS as she walked into the lobby and I greeted her. I asked her a few quick questions about the situation with deaf evacuees. She said that DCS is doing well in its job of providing interpreter services at Qualcomm Stadium and other evacuation areas and that 4 or 5 interpreters were present at the stadium. She estimated that there are about 1,000 deaf and hard of hearing evacuees, some of who are at the stadium and some others who are at other areas. She added that DCS may possibly open a relief fund for those deaf evacuees and will post an announcement soon in due time. When I receive a press release from them, I will post a copy of it here.

Stay tuned for incoming news or announcements.

Firestorm 2007

Where I live, the air outside is now a little misty and smells slightly of smoke. Fortunately my home is in an area far away from the wildfires in the eastern parts of San Diego County. However, there is a small fire raging in Tierrasanta, 10 miles north of my home. My roommate, who is hearing, told me the mayor urged on radio for everyone to stay indoors and be prepared for evacuations. Deaf Community Services, which office is not far from my home, is providing interpreters for deaf evacuees in need of help.

http://www.dcsofsd.org/

For a more detailed report on the wildfires from the perspective of a longtime San Diego resident, go to this link:

http://gnarlydorkette.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html#1297146524577272287

Hope all the folks are allright! I will keep you updated.

UPDATE 10/24/07: My area was not affected at all by the fires. I walked outside and saw people were doing their normal businesses. Only one or two I saw wore masks. The air quality is improving, less hazy than yesterday. All schools will remain closed this week, however. A friend of mine informed me that she was told by her company to go to work on Monday. Then the order was reversed and she and her co-employees were sent home in the afternoon. She worked from home during the day yesterday.

I saw reports on TV that about 500,000 lives were affected by the wildfires, especially most of those living in the northern and eastern parts of San Diego County.

Racism at MSSD

Commentary

As a MSSD alumni, I am shocked and appalled at the racially-charged incident that occured recently at my old high school. I read Berke's blog that one of the seven students involved in the assault on the black student was black. It seems that the teenagers do not understand the full implications of using hate symbols of the swastika and "KKK."

An article recently published in CNN describes it as a "game." According to the article, Metro Police Chief Cathy Lanier understood it started out as a "friendly horseplay" that got out of control and escalated into an assault.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/04/deafschool.racial.incident/index.html

Gallaudet President Robert Davila is quoted by CNN as saying that the game was "destructive and represented a kind of evil that existed in society."

I agree totally with President Davila. Sadly, this incident demonstrates ignorance on part of the students involved in the incident. It also shows that not much changed at MSSD after thirty years.

I am reminded of my time at MSSD in the late '70s to the early '80s, when I have encountered a few students who were racially biased. MSSD back then had a high percentage of Hispanics and blacks (as it still does today, I think). I am part white and part Latino myself, but often I was confused for Italian. So one or two white students, thinking I was white, would whisper to me a snide comment about Hispanics or blacks. I was immediately put off and would inform the white student of my true ethnic identity, and he would blush and apologize. This has often happened to me beyond high school.

There was once a gang at MSSD, all white, who at first dubbed themselves "KKK." They'd wear jean cutoff jackets and bandanas on their heads and strut around, acting like they thought they were cool. But none of them were really racist. I'd seen the gang leader hang out and joke with black students, as if it was no big thing. When I asked him why he'd call his gang "KKK", he explained it was for shock value. He wanted his gang to look "bad" and intimidate students. Later his gang changed their name to "Bragg." Those of you who went to MSSD with me may be familiar with this gang. The gang wasn't violent, however; it was known for playing pranks and harassing certain students.

Admiral Thad Allen (in response to the noose incident) said that "this type of racist conduct, like other forms of discrimination, runs counter to" the Coast Guard's core values and should not be tolerated. Likewise, the type of racist conduct at MSSD, regardless whether it was horseplay or not, whatever racial background of those individuals involved, runs counter to MSSD's core values and should not be tolerated.

The way MSSD authorities handled this must be commended. However, the issue remains educating deaf teens on the subject of prejudice and bias.

MSSD is a school. MSSD is supposed to be a for democracy, tolerance, unity, and education. To preserve their pride and honor, MSSD students must kick out bigotry, discrimination, prejudice, hatred and bias!

MSSD is #1! Keep up the Eagle spirit!

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Update 10/8/07: I am back from a weekend trip. Recently an anguished mom of the MSSD perpetrator wrote a blog that shed light on the situation. I sympathize with this mother because I happen to know a few students back in my old days who were, too, developmentally disabled. As I pointed out in my story of the gang that labelled themselves "KKK" for shock value, there were students who lacked the knowledge nor understanding of hate symbols they utilized in their fantasy entactments.

I read with interest Brenda Zimmerman's comment on Mishka Zena's blog "CNN: Not A Racial Attack, But a War Game Gone Too Far." She described a pretty accurate picture of what it was like at MSSD back in the late '70s to early '80s. I reiterate, however, there were indeed a few students who were prejudiced. I remember one or two students who made anti-Semitic remarks in my presence.

I agree with Carl Schroeder's comment that dormitory staff should be responsible. However, I think more could be done to educate MSSD students on U.S. history, why such hate symbols as the swastika and KKK are anti-American and what our core American values are. This way students would develop more respect and tolerance for each other. Maybe this is a project MSSD's social studies department could consider? I remember MSSD has done projects like this in the past to raise students' awareness on several pivotal issues such as respect for the other's property or right to religious belief.

Now, see my responses to the posters here.

On the Night of the Hamill/Bisping Fight

Cartoon of the week

Hey, folks...I'm back! I was there, saw the fight with a group of my friends like the rest of you deafies. I meant to blog on this after the fight, but I got sick with a cold. Now that I'm back healthy, here it is. The characters and the place are different, but this cartoon captures the mood of what happened that night I watched the fight. My friends, of course, dress very differently (we're all in shorts here in San Diego and this is normally a very mellow town) and drink (but not that heavily as in this cartoon!). It is not meant as an endorsement of drinking, mind you (It's now almost 1 year since I QUIT drinking due to a health condition! More on that later...); this is just a joke. But you understand how we all felt when we watched the fight. I'm really looking forward to the rematch. One of my friends I saw the fight with happens to know Matt Hammill personally. Hey the Hammer....thank you, you've made us proud Americans! We all support you 100%!

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DEAFestival 2007 Van Nuys, California

I was invited by GLAD to give an art workshop at DEAFestival 2007, which will take place at Woodley Park in Van Nuys, California. For more information, go to DEAFestival's website http://ladeafestival.wordpress.com/ or GLAD's website www.gladinc.org/. If you'd like to participate in my workshop, you are welcome to do so! I will be teaching cartooning skills as well as doing caricatures of people there. Hope to see you there!

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BOOK PROJECT FINALLY DONE!

The book project I had been working on for a long time is now finally done! More details will be forthcoming later. I don't know yet when the book will be released, but I'll be sure to let you all know.

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OJ SIMPSON INVOLVED IN ROBBERY?

Did you see the news today? Can you believe that? I used to be an OJ Simpson fan. What a disappointing debacle....

Deaf Attitudes

Deaf Peddler vs. Deaf Huckster
political cartoon of the week

Ah, it's good to have a break from my work! I'm back at my blogger seat. There are so many issues that I saw in the blogsphere that I would like to comment, but was unable to do so due to time and work. So allow me to catch up...one of the issues I'd like to blog on tonight is the quibble between Mike McConnell and Mike Schmidt over the differences between a deaf peddler and a deaf beggar. I was amused by this because it reminded me of one cartoon I did for SILENT NEWS in 1995 on this issue. I'll share it with you here now.



Whatever you chose to do, it's all in attitude! Which one would you pick?

Paris Before & After

Cartoon

They say jail experience can build up your character....

Crab Funnies #3

Crab Sign Language

More Crab Funnies

Never Trust a Crab with Rubber Bands Around Its Claws

Two Cute L'il Crabs at Lunch Break

Crab Funnies

Response to Ward Nyholm's Vlog

Hey, folks!

Ward Nyholm developed an interesting vlog about rare, ASL comics that you should view.

Rare Deaf/ASL Comics

Ward, thank you for blurbing my comic book PAH-CHAMP! and other gentlemen's comic books. You asked for feedback on why there weren't any subsequent issues. Here is my response: my first issue sold well at first but didn't generate enough revenue to my expectations for next print. For this, I apologize to my fans, readers and other artists. It was a venture that didn't fly high far off the ground. Plus there were things I realized I should have done to make it better in order to market it successfully. Selling comic books is a very tough business. In addition, I've been wrapped up in free-lance work, project after project, since 2002. Now I am very near to completion of a book project, a classical children's book that you folks will be sure to love. (The illustrations I did in there are very different from the kind of cartoons I normally do, however.) And I have three book projects ahead of me already!

I still intend to do another comic book soon in the future someday. I don't know if I will continue PAH-CHAMP! or not. Maybe I will, if other cartoonists/artists are interested in participating in this venture and if any publisher will pick this up. I am thinking of reprinting the first issue with a better glossy color cover. Another idea I have is a comic book anthology, which I already discussed with fellow deaf cartoonists Andrea McCann and Matt Daigle. But each one of us has commitments to attend to, and there seemed to be no time for this project. Yet...I think I will pursue this idea again soon this summer. Talk with other artists and see what can be done. It'd be great to have an anthology magazine or book out by next year, before next summer '08 when Comic Con takes place and I plan to get a booth. Maybe we could set up a special deaf artists' exhibit at Comic Con, with a tribute to Robert Johnson (who was tragically killed in an accident several years ago - which year I can't immediately recall). Hmm...hmm...so many ideas brewing in my head....well, thank you for bringing this up, Ward!

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Note to readers: my email address has changed. My new email address is now deafcartoon@gmail.com

Jerry Falwell's Interpreter

politcal cartoon by D. McClintock

TERRY THE TELEVANGELIST INTERPRETER

Jerry Falwell, the famous Bible-thumpin' televangelist of the Religious Right, passed away on May 15, 2007. I watched with bemusement Ridor's brief video blog on Falwell. His reaction to the breaking news was predictable. When I saw the breaking news I was flooded with memories of my involvement in fundamentalist Christianity during the heydays of the Religious Right in the '80s. (Yep...I was a born-again, evangelical Christian!) Anyone remember Riverdale Baptist Church in Landover, MD.? That church had many deaf members in its congregation and it provided interpreted services as well as separate Sunday school classes for children and adults. When I was at MSSD I'd attend this church almost every Sunday for two years. The church would later have a fall-out with the deaf community during the late '80s (I think) over the issue of interpreters. I believe Rev. Jerry Falwell was a guest speaker at the church a few times, although I've never personally met or listened to him. The stories I heard of him from deaf patrons and interpreters who met him present quite a different picture of the personality apart from the image he was portrayed as in the media.

Whatever you think of him, whether you agree with his politics or not, it is indeed true that he was very deaf-friendly and he provided interpreters at his church for many years. It is true that his university provide support services for deaf and hard of hearing students. I happen to know of a few deaf Christians who went to Liberty University, and they reported to me how great and kind as a person Rev. Falwell was. That is one big positive thing that can be said about him. The interpreter whom I met at Riverdale Baptist Church described him as very "warm and affable" and that he was easy to approach if you wanted to discuss a problem and he'd listen to you with wide-open attentive eyes or ears. Well, it's a shame this aspect of his personality wasn't shown much on television. Plus it did not help that he made several outrageous statements over the years, especially those over 9/11 and Telebubbies (which I thought were stupid). Even more puzzling was his friendliness with Rev. Sun Myung Moon, world-famous cult leader who claimed to be the Messiah and who had himself coroned as a king in a Senate office in Washington, D.C. (click on the link and you'll see a picture of them chummy with each other, buddy-buddy!). Falwell became something of an embarrassment to the Religious Right movement, anyway, shortly before I dropped out of Christianity in '83. This may surprise you, but as someone that was close to being a Young Republican back then, I used to admire him. Oh, well...

I think I read somewhere from a personal account that Jerry Falwell mellowed a bit as he aged and he concentrated his efforts on theological issues and running an university after the Moral Majority disbanded. I wonder what his reaction was like when he arrived to find heaven filled with Jews, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists...(I don't believe in hell). :-D

My sincere condolences to Falwell's family and friends and the deaf Christian community in Va. who know him.

Deaf C-Blogs Links

After browsing through the roll of blogs in DeafRead, I see that a number of deaf c-blogs (short for cartoon blogs) is growing. For those of you folks who are interested in deaf-related cartoon artwork, I would like to introduce you to those links:

http://deafjoke.tv - posts cartoons by various deaf and non-deaf artists on a regular basis

http://pany.wordpress.com/tag/comic/ - although I haven't contacted the bloggers themselves (Ward Nyholm and Ginny Paja-Nyholm) yet, it seems to me that their cartoons were created using the software, Comic Life Deluxe. (see http://www.amazon.com/Comic-Life-Deluxe-Strip-Creator/dp/B000BGZHD8 ) I don't know if they can be appropriately considered as professional cartoonists (those that do artwork by hand and who make a living by selling cartoons or comic strips), but the creativity and humor used in their work would make them digital cartoonists.

www.moeart.com/ - My old RIT colleague and friend, Maureen Kluska's website. Hey, Moe, come back, will you? We miss your cutesy cartoons!

http://www.mdaigletoons.com/ - also my old RIT colleague and friend! Matt Daigle's website. He's the fella who created DeafRead's logo.

If you see a link to a deaf c-blog you'd like me to post, let me know!

Deaf Cartoonists Society

G'evening, folks! Today is my day off from work on the book project, which is very near to completion. Whew! Working in the field of children's book illustration was an interesting experience for me and I'm enjoying it. I am not at liberty to give you details yet on this book that I am doing illustrations for, but when it is ready, I will certainly post a press release on the company's behalf. Parents and children, whether deaf, hoh or hearing, will like this new treat coming soon in the future!

It has been a while since my last entry in the deaf blogosphere. To new bloggers and visitors of DeafRead, I'd like to introduce myself. I am an illustrator and a cartoonist. It is now 30 years since my first career opportunity came up when I was 11 and did illustrations for my stepfather's 1977 New Hampshire Farmer's Market Almanac. That must be a rare publication by now - probably hard to find - but if any of you fans of my artwork ever happen to find it, let me know! :>

Last night my friend and I went to a SCCS (Southern California Cartoonists Society) meeting, which is held on a monthly basis. I was the only deaf cartoonist attending, with my friend who volunteered to interpret for me. Dean LeCrone showed us his homemade movie, Dean LeCrone vs. The Mutants of Comic Con , which we thought was amusing. While we watched the movie, Joe Schmidt, another fellow cartoonist (who happens to know how to sign) , drew a portrait of me sitting at the table. I was so impressed by his accurate rendering of my profile and thought I'd show it to you. Thanks, Joe!

Now, my thoughts after I watched LeCrone's video of Comic Con. Folks, as you may know, Comic Con is coming up soon this summer (July 26-29 2007) at San Diego Convention! For more information on the annual event, see their website, http://www.comic-con.org/. Interpreting services will be provided at the event for deaf/hoh patrons. Unfortunately, I was not able to get a booth for deaf cartoonists this year. I was informed by a Comic Con staff member that booths sell out very fast and that the best time is to get a table in a year advance. Besides, one must have a publication in order to reserve a booth. Publication with my artwork will not be yet released until at a later date. Nonetheless, I am not giving up on my dream of a deaf cartoonists booth at Comic Con. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage other fellow deaf artists to get together and form a Deaf Cartoonists Society. The Deaf Cartoonists Society would be modeled after the National Cartoonist Society, with which SCCS is affiliated. DCS' mission would be to exhibit artwork by deaf cartoonists in a museum or a gallery. We have a year ahead of us to get a booth in '08, so I will be concentrating my effort on finding sponsors for supporting a DCS booth now that I have connections to Comic Con. If any of you artists are interested in getting involved, let me know! There's still an opportunity for those who would like to meet me in person or get an autograph from me...SCCS and NCS are hosting a Comic-Con Kick Off Party at Buster's Beach House and Longboard Restaurant at 807 Harbor Dr. (next to Convention Center). I'll be there! Hope to see you come!

In Memory

Hello, folks, everybody....I'm taking a pause from my work to write a few thoughts on this tragedy of the shooting at VA Tech. I am shocked and saddened by the carnage that went on there. The connections I have to Virginia are these times when I lived in the Metro area as a child, as a MSSD student and as an . The first time in my childhood, I attended a school in VA for a very brief time before my family and I moved to New England. Thus I feel very sorry for the families of the victims of the shooting in VA and offer my condolences to them.

When this carnage occured, I checked Deafread to see if there were any reaction from bloggers to such a senseless incident. There were none yesterday as I recalled. But just today I rechecked Deafread and came across this blog:

http://www.deafdc.com/blog/erin-casler/2007-04-17/spiral-of-silence-indeed/

I was wondering myself, too, Erin. That's why I decided to come forth and offer my comments. I think there are deaf students at VA Tech, aren't there? It appears that yes, there are but how many, I don't know. My Google search pulled up a link to the interpreting services at VA Tech: http://www.ssd.vt.edu/islshome.htm

There is no comment on the SSD home on the tragedy. I wonder if any of the 33 students who were killed was deaf or hard of hearing. Do you know of any deaf student at VA Tech? Let us know. Let's give them and the families of the victims our support!

Asides from this, I have some new artwork that I will post in due time when I am free from my commitment and work. I'll also respond to comments that posters left on my last post. Be back to you later, folks...

Lisa Lampanelli

Politicial Cartoon of the Week

Lisa Lampanelli and the Deaf

Now, who'll taste the wrath of my pen this time? :-D

One woman I picked this time is Lisa Lampanelli, a comedian who made disparaging remarks towards deaf people during a local radio interview. She made those remarks when she was informed that RIT, where she was scheduled for a March 23rd appearance, had a populace of 1,100 deaf and hard of hearing students. To see what she said of deaf people, see this link:

http://blog.deafread.com/mishkazena/2007/03/23/protest-at-rit-over-lampanelli-show/

Also see this link, http://www.ridorlive.com/?p=2159

More to come!

I'm Back!

Finally, after a 1-month hiatus, I'm finally baaack! How are y'all? Miss me, eh? :-D
Since my last update, I've been so busy working on a few projects. Whew...now that I'm back in Blogger, I tried to figure how to make some changes around in my blogsite...couldn't find a way to post this image (best cartoon award) in my description box at the top. Any tip anyone out there can give me on this? It seems to me from reading this guide book I got, I'd have to switch to FTP to do this. Well, I'll take care of this later. I just wanted to give you a glimpse of what my award looks like. For now... I'll just share with you some news, comments and a new cartoon that I just did last week! :)

VRI for the Deaf & Blind

Politicial Cartoon of the Week(end)

"OH, DON'T WORRY, THAT'S VRI FOR THE DEAF AND BLIND!"

Greetings, folks! I know it's been a while since I was away from the blog desk! I've been meaning to post my updates here but I was so busy with work and recently I came down with a cold. I'm feeling OK, now. (Ah...ah...ah-choo!) Excuse me while I fetch a Kleenex...

I ran into some technical problems when I tried to update this blogsite and lost the links. Please be patient as I restore the links and make some changes in the site. It'll look better!

While I work to update this blogsite,here's the cartoon of the weekend for your amusement - this time related to the controversy over VRI at Beth Israel Hospital. If any of you folks missed the news, here's the link to Joseph Rainmound's article, http://surdus.blogspot.com/2007/01/394-vri-at-beth-israel-plot-thickens.html and another link to Ridor's story of his experience with VRI, http://www.ridorlive.com/?p=1867.

Having just been in the hospital twice last November 2006, I can relate to the questionability of use of VRI in emergency cases. When I had a minor heart attack, I went under a brain fog. According to my friends who brought me to the hospital, I was not entirely coherent. It was quite a traumatic experience and I doubt VRI would help an individual in a case with an experience like mine. A live interpreter, in my opinion, would be the best for this type of situation to help the patient deal with the crisis of the moment. Now what if the patient is deaf and blind? How would VRI help this patient? Hence why I created this cartoon...:-)

Asides from this, I have more new comic strips in work! Coming up soon:

1. DeafRead Best 2006 Cartoon Blog Award (Thank You / Acknowledgement)

2. American ASL II

3. MSSD/Gallaudet story

Plus more! It'll be worth your wait! :-D