150 Years on Kendall Green: The Blog

Today’s the final day of the conference. Most people are still here, although some are leaving tonight, while others will disperse over the weekend. We’ve been sitting straight through large portions of today, so the main picture will have to be the one in your head, envisioning a rapt audience hanging on the every word of the presenter presently on stage. For the rest of the day, scroll down!

Michael Reis is enraptured by the video clip with snippets of all of Gallaudet’s presidents (sans EMG and W. Lloyd Johns) shown signing. It was a very interesting clip, and hopefully whoever created it will think about possibly putting it up here or elsewhere for us to view! I’d never seen Percival Hall signing, so that was neat.

Victor Vodounou is explaining about how Andrew Foster brought wrestling to Africa. No, wait, he’s telling about how Foster introduced football to Africa! No, that’s not right either… Perhaps how Foster introduced America to Africa?

Most likely he’s answering a follow-up question to his interesting presentation on a Black Deaf pioneer who established more than 30 schools all over Africa.

The Gallaudet University Press and its employees cheerfully visited with conference participants and offered their books at a special discount for registered attendees. It was a good opportunity to look over the latest publications, or consider buying a book that you wanted for some time. It’s interesting to think of the small number of books on Deaf studies and history just a generation or two ago, compared with today. There’s even more books in the pipeline, as we found out during some of the presentations.

That’s it– it’s been a great three days. The next photo essay will be coming to you at the next Deaf history gathering; although I’m not sure when that is, let’s hope it’ll be soon!

Ben Bahan and I. King Jordan are relieved that the power is still on. This is especially true for Ben. King is wondering if there are any more photos of the SLCC in the remaining presentations today and tomorrow.

In reality, this picture was taken shortly after the Q & A session following Jordan’s keynote speech.

Uh. This is the flyer advertising Deaf History 101, right? No? Where am I supposed to go, then? These two conference attendees are enjoying a relaxing moment during the mid-morning break.

As Denny Voreck confidently makes his way back into the auditorium, others are wondering if they should follow his lead or march to a different drummer.

Jeff Brune correctly identifies an important part of his anatomy as fellow diners enjoy the luncheon during the second day of the conference.

People are enjoying the conference, but as always, they are enjoying the opportunity to relax and get to know each other over food and drinks.

Here, you can see even more people as they enjoy their mid-day meal. We’re all catching up with old friends, but quite a few of us are enjoying meeting new people as well!

Evans, is that you? Gad, you’re the world’s worst photographer! [Yes, I know– I need to take the TFP course all over again, I guess. Maybe Teri Sentelle can help out…] Fortunately for the cameraman, Rebecca Edwards [left] and Chris Krentz [the deer in the headlights look right] are remarkably forgiving. Both presented their papers today, and during this evening reception, they are more than ready to meet and greet.

This morning, a continental breakfast was offered by the Gallaudet University Press prior to the start of the conference. That’s Kim Pudans-Smith in the forefront chatting, and you can see some attendees munching on their fruit and pastries as they catch up and meet and greet.

Here’s the other half of the hall– of course, there are earlybirds who have already eaten, people who had breakfast elsewhere, people like me who nearly overslept, and some folks who are staying elsewhere and are en route to campus!

The stage is set, and all is ready. People have started drifting in, and as always, animatedly chatting, meeting new people, greeting old friends, and getting settled in.

The auditorium is really starting to fill up at this point. By the time the day begins, it’s packed. But through the wonders of cyberspace and blogs, you’re there too. *grin*

The keynote speech by James McPherson has just concluded. I’m still trying to decide if Brian Greenwald is paying homage, or simply being a good host. I suspect a bit of both.

I’m a sucker for famous historians, I guess, but here’s another photo of the conference chair with the first keynote speaker of the conference.

This is a photo of the lobby, replete with refreshments, during what will be the first of our breaks today. People are enjoying themselves, and chatting about the conference, the food, the glasses, the clothes they’re wearing, the cars they drive, the jobs they do, the bosses they suck up to… Oh, wait. Maybe they’re just having a good time!

This is during our second, unintended, actually forced break, if you will. The power has gone out due to problems at the SLCC construction site, and we were all in the dark until around 5:30 p.m. People are enjoying the opportunity to let their stomachs settle after the delicious lunch, and hoping that we’ll be able to resume the presentations!

It’s not a conference at Gallaudet without those trusty Sidekicks! Pagers were fully in evidence throughout the day. In the meantime, people in the background are chatting the old-fashioned way.

Paddy Ladd is enlightening Aaron Kelstone about how the Brits handle power outages better than we upstart Americans. It could be though that they’re discussing Deaf theatre and Dorothy Miles, or some other topic. I’m just providing the pictures…