The Deaf Way

Selected papers from the conference held in Washington DC, July 9-14, 1989.

This book gives you entre into the life and art of an incredible woman who has done much with her life. She has traveled the world. She has met several presidents and prime ministers. She has charmed her way into situations and into places few would imagine possible for anyone. To say that she is a remarkable person is to miss the mark. While barely 20 and an undergraduate, along with a few others, she started the Deaf Art Movement. By 25 her artwork had been published in over 10 books. By 40 she had created an international symbol of sign language interpreting, and had her design work published on over 2000 book covers. By 45, after rededicating her life to studio art, she had completed over 150 pieces and defined a new art genre: Deaf Pop Art. She has taken more photographs of famous people using the ILY sign than most people can name. She found herself in Japan and within days of her arrival was living with a Deaf host family and being interviewed on Japanese TV. She has chutzpah, wit, and style in her 5 foot frame. When I tell you she has been Deaf from birth, I expect some readers will be more impressed. As Silver would say, "Pfft. Get over yourself." Being Deaf is a part of her, like being born Jewish or being born a lesbian. It isn't amazing that she's done what she's done because she's Deaf. She is just amazing. This book is an art biography because it is about her art, but it is also about her life. It reads in chronological format, starting with her birth and leads the reader through various stages in her life and artwork up to the present.

In July 2002, more than 9,700 Deaf people from around the world met in Washington, D.C., to share their arts, research, and languages at Deaf Way II, a joyous festival of diverse Deaf cultures. Deaf Way II: An International Celebration offers 250 full-color photographs with captions and introductory essays to capture again the excitement of this historical event. Those who attended the gathering will relive their rich experiences visually, while those who view it for the first time through this book will feel as though they had lived its splendor in person. The Deaf Way II photographs, taken during the course of the six-day event, create a matchless pictorial record that travels back and forth from the formal grandeur of the opening celebration to fascinating looks behind the scenes at the arts festival and the scholarly conference program. The warm depictions of the youth program and many attendees complement the compelling portrayals of the people and technology that made Deaf Way II accessible to all. Through this magnificent cross-section of photographs, Deaf Way II reveals a wonderful international society of Deaf people that will engage all who see it.

Cover -- title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- Introduction -- Curtis Robbins -- No Rhythm, They Say -- Empty Ears -- Solo Dining While Growing Up -- Learning Up Front -- About the Tale of an Old Bay Fisherman -- Hand Tied -- Melissa Whalen -- The Noisy House -- Christopher Jon Heuer -- The Hands of My Father -- Bone Bird -- Diving Bell -- Holiday -- Corresponding Oval -- Listening for the Same Thing -- Carmen Cristiu -- Leaves on the Water -- Is It a Sin? -- My Mother -- Gaynor Young -- My Plunge to Fame -- John Lee Clark -- Q -- Exuberance -- Carl Wayne Denney -- Borrowed Time -- Sibylle Gurtner May -- "if I could wish to hear well"--Sotonwa Opeoluwa -- The Victim of the Silent Void -- Douglas Bullard -- Yet: Jack Can Hear! -- Pamela Wright-Meinhardt -- When They Tell Me ... -- Silent Howl -- A Letter to C.F. -- Kristi Merriweather -- Be Tellin' Me -- Remember -- It Was His Movin' Hands -- Raymond Luczak -- How to Become a Backstabber -- Depths of the River -- Justine Vogenthaler -- Between Two Worlds -- Cicadas Roar -- 2 Triple Ought -- Willy Conley -- Every Man Must Fall -- Salt in the Basement -- The Cycle of the X-Ray Technician -- The Perfect Woman -- Tonya Marie Stremlau -- A Nice Romantic Dinner

This collection showcases the best scholarship on all aspects of Deaf life presented by more than 100 researchers at the 2002 internationial Deaf forum in Washington, DC.

"The moment when a society must contend with a powerful language other than its own is a decisive point in its evolution. This moment is occurring now in American society". Peters explains precisely how ASL literature achieved this moment, tracing its past and predicting its future in this trailblazing study. Peters connects ASL literature to the literary canon with the archetypal notion of carnival as "the counterculture of the dominated". Throughout history carnivals have been opportunities for the "low", disenfranchised elements of society to displace their "high" counterparts. Citing the Deaf community's long tradition of "literary nights" and festivals like the Deaf Way, Peters recognizes similar forces at work in the propagation of ASL literature. The agents of this movement, Deaf artists and ASL performers -- "Tricksters", as Peters calls them -- jump between the two cultures and languages. Through this process they create a synthesis of English literary content reinterpreted in sign language, which also raises the profile of ASL as a distinct art form in itself. Peters applies her analysis to the craft's landmark works, including Douglas Bullard's novel Islay and Ben Bahan's video-recorded narrative Bird of a Different Feather. Deaf American Literature, the only work of its kind, is its own seminal moment in the emerging discipline of ASL literary criticism.