gratitudes
Why do I include a list of gratitudes? Well, maybe there is no need but it feels right that I do.
I am still in “shock/awe” that this story even got created - a mythology of the Deaf?! “never heard” before - and the awe-shock feeling might never fade away for the rest of my life. As Alexander Graham Bell said about his invention of the telephone, “What God had wrought . . . “, I feel the same here. I am grateful for everything that had crossed my life-path contributing to the growth of this myth. The books and other printed materials, visiting “sacred” places, acquiring “sacred” deaf artifacts, the people who lent support of different kinds, and _____________. I surmise some people will find the listing of so many people to thank to something odd, I don’t know, but it just feels right to thank them “publicly”.
GRATITUDES . . .
. . .to my late paternal uncle, “Jerry” Milton Lester Katz, for aiding me in my “mysticism.” You forcibly wanted to leave in 2005. Even though you finally left in 2006 on Mt. Tam overlooking San Francisco, what you have taught me will always be with me forever - and helping me impart skeptical wisdom to anyone and, especially, eventually to my two young daughters.
. . . to two plays of a trilogy developed by Dr. William Moses, one of my several theatre arts professors at Gallaudet. It was how both plays placed in my lifepath and influenced me for which I am grateful for. The first “mime” play was Telling Stories performed by Gallaudet students during the Deaf Way I Conference in the summer of 1989. It was during that performance when I sat transfixed and jotted down on its program sheet an outline of putting on stage a story of deaf history through the life of a deaf child. That was the genesis of this DC myth eighteen years ago. The second play is the first of Moses’ trilogy, The Kid which was acclaimed and selected to perform at the Kennedy Center during the ACTF (American College Theater Festival) in 1982. In my last semester at Gallaudet, I was in this musical mime (strange but a winning combination) production performing the title character of “the kid.” I didn’t realize until much later how the play’s use of archetypes and the universal Campellian journey of a hero this musical mime portrayed had instilled in my thoughts, preparing me in few years later to begin developing this work of literature and art - The Deaf Child: A Mythology. Thank you, Bill.
. . . to Carole Marie Welsh Forest, of Massachusetts/Vermont, for driving the golden astral Astro during the time this sacred story was first written on paper somewhere on the freeway between Worcester, Massachusetts and Quebec, Canada. Thank you, Carole, in your driving for me AND your sustained support over time, however quiet and far away deep inside a forest on the other coast of America. Bless you.
. . . to my former Tripod students who, in the fall of 1989, were the first people to view this myth. They are Jacob Shamberg, Brad Cohen, Jacky Szpiro, Nicole Elgrably, Joseph Nazarian, Chanel Harvey, Justin Lucero, and Chanai Brewster. I thank them for their attention and patience watching their teacher narrate their “sacred” story.
. . . to Barbara Goldman who gave me the opportunity, for the first time in early 1990, to present the Deaf Child myth as a stage play at UCLA. And thanks to the performers: Anthony Natale, Koli Cutler, Vae, and Jacob Shamberg. Go to 02.05.01 posting to view the three pictures of the performance.
. . . to Mitch Kurs, then a high school deaf studies/history teacher at CSDRiverside, for being the first person, in the fall of 1990, to invite the Deaf Child myth into a state residential school for the deaf (onstage as a storytelling presentation). Thank you, Mitch, for that invitation and for believing in the power of myth.
. . . to Ron and Hedy Udkovich Stern for “being there” at CSDFremont where the myth first, in 1992, became curricula for teaching deaf history to deaf students. I am grateful for the encouragment received at CSDFremont. Thank you, my former colleagues: David Call, Dee Kennedy, and others participating in the formation of deaf studies courses first offered at CSDF, for our discussion and work on deaf studies curricula there.
. . . to Paddy Ladd who, in 1992, walked into my deaf history classroom at CSDFremont and out with a synopsis of the DC myth. In his inscription of my copy of his “white” book, he wrote to me, “Thanks for inspiring me and keep exploring.” That inspired me even further to explore and work on this “odd” but profound “art-literature” project. Paddy was the first one of only two scholars from the “ivory tower” to cite the DC myth. Thank you, Paddy, for one of the carrots at the end of the string hanging from my stick guiding star for me to continue working on this myth.
. . . to Joyann Rasmus Burdett and Marlon “Lon” Kuntze, my former CSDFremont colleagues. They, in 1992, wrote letters for my application to the Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund maintained by the GUAA. It was to apply for a grant to fund my flight to Europe to visit sites of deaf history behind the myth. I look back with fondness at the memory of working with Joyanne and Lon, along with many others at CSDF. Joyanne in the museum/library discussing deaf/CSD history and children books. Lon, as the Bi-Bi coordinator, elaborating on the development of Deaf Studies courses/curriculum which I taught in the HS dept. Thank you, you two.
. . . to Harlan Lane and his book, When the Mind Hears. In 1984, in the streets of Manhattan on a bicycle, I vividly rememebered the moment someone signed to me that Lane’s Clerc book was finally available at the bookstores and the mad bicycle dash there thereafter. At that time, I was in the middle of my seven years itch on Clerc, enamored by his legacy and the sacred purpose his story serves to the American deaf community. Once the book was in my hands and before my eyes, I was in awe-shock to find out that Harlan decided to use Clerc to tell the sacred story of the deaf - He was telling the story for me (deaf people). The impact of Harlan’s book on me is immeasurable.
. . . to the 1992 committee of the GUAA’s Laurent Clerc Cultural Fund who granted funding for my airfare to Europe that summer. I am grateful for GUAA’s financial support because my 1992 trip to various deaf history sites in Europe invaluably helped me visualize many scenes in the myth, even more so while presently enlarging the myth three times more.
. . . to Brian Malzkuhn who was instrumental in making it possible for me, in the spring of 1994, to teach a deaf history course at Ohlone College where the myth was used for the first time in a college course. I wrote this sentence in the second edition (draft) of the Deaf Child Deafhood workbook: “to Brian Malzkuhn, an avid fan/instructor of deaf history, for falling in love with the myth and pulling me into Ohlone College.”
. . . to my soul brother, Eliot Helman, who was my first “Aaron” voicing the myth for me in 1994 at Ohlone College in Fremont, CA. We first met at Gallaudet in 1981 when we performed together as Herald (me in ASL, him in spoken English) in the play, “Marat/Sade”. We have remained close friends through all the highs and lows in our lives. Every time Eliot and I get together, he is always all “eyes” for juicy tidbits of the myth’s new development. He is the one of the handful few who are riding on the wings of VisMa with me.
. . . to Dr. Jean Andrews for being in the path of this myth. As a grant writer extraordinaire, she was able to secure federal grants for the Lamar University Deaf Studies doctoral program which enabled me to receive my doctorate degree with no cost to myself. At the beginning of our correspondence, I found out she loved mythology and expressed enthusiasm this mythology project. At Lamar University, I used this mythology to teach the Introduction to Deaf Studies course which gave great boost to the development of this project. She is the second of only two scholars (the first being Paddy Ladd) to cite the myth in her work. Thank you, Jean, for all you do that enabled me to get my doctorate degree and being part of the development of this myth.