ran across this

I have proved to myself I am becoming MORE OPEN MINDED

- this powerful 10 minute clip made me feel all types of emotions but I am happy that I watched the whole thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YN5Fdz1En0&feature=related

PLEASE COMMENT!
i would love insight of differnt opinions-

reading UNDERSTANDING DEAF CULTURE

this book at first was dreadful- I thought to myself get on with the GOOD STUFF.

I'm reading- and this stuff is disturbing me

a excerpt on p 129 is "we should try ourselves to forget they are deaf. We should try to teach them to forget that they are deaf"

Why does one feel that ANYONE is inferior to them.

In schools sign language was prohibited. The deaf schools took the children's hands and binded them. hit the students with canes and rulers. and forced instruments into their mouths which made the tongue bleed, and in order to make the children open their mouths.

I couldn't believe that a HUMAN- would act in an inhumane manner because one cant hear.
as I read I now understand why the Deaf are so proud in the culture.

I was born into a family that shown me being Deaf is more than having a audiological hearing loss. It is a sense of identity.

BUT NOW- I'm being exposed to the history of being oppressed- and what essentially formulates the culture.

tomorrow I will be attending a Deaf theatre - THE PRICE

DEFINITELY AM LOOKING FORWARD TO IT

Paddy's Day

Celebrated going to the pub with the Deaf community. I HAD MY FLIP. So i was able to get a lot of footage, i keep rewinding the videos back because my friends are so amusing as they utilize sign language. THAT'S THE TOTAL BEAUTY OF THE LANGUAGE.

We were there for hours and my friend Nirvana was sick- I usually ask her what people are saying when I don't understand.

I found out that I was totally dependant on her, and use her as a cushion. I forced myself to stop utilizing the Deaf studies students in order to communicate with individuals that are Deaf. I am very well capable of holding down a conversation by myself.

MY CONFIDENCE WAS TOTALLY BOOSTED- I just need to find a film(er) who can capture me signing instead of just observing

BLAHHHHHHHHHHH

is exactly HOW I FEEL.

I cant get motivated to do hw at all- and I seemed to have put myself on a personal schedule to minimize the stress OF THE NEAR FUTURE- but have yet failed to even attempt many of the readings/ writing assignments that are due.

Im not feeling down- and Im not feeling homesick but Im not feeling England at the moment. It may be due to me getting into an altercation at the club- or maybe I miss my own space with my own apartment. I hung out with the BSL students last night and fooled around with my flip- it cheered me up EXTREMELY. But right now- i just feel like im kind over over the excitement/hype of my England adventure.

Im pretty sure once i accomplish something and play around with my flip but until then......
toodles


OH YEAH- HAPPY ST. PADDY'S DAY. im surrounding myself with the Deaf students tonight as well, Ill be sure to update you on that :)

Deaf Day- im marking my calender

Deaf Day 2011, taking place on Saturday 16 April, is the biggest event of its kind in the UK for anyone who is D/deaf or interested in Deafness.

http://www.citylit.ac.uk/courses/Deaf_education/173/178

ANTOHER TRIP TO LONDON!!!! :)

epic fail

that plan to have my paper finished by this weekend was an epic fail!
i intend to finish it tomorrow - it's due Tuesday and on Wednesday be nearly finished with my write up. I am attempting to put myself on a schedule to avoid freakin out in the end.

hope this turns out well :/

presentation

had a presentation today.
I could not get the motivation to do it at all- went to sleep at 3 set my alarm for 7 and class started at 9. Why did i ignore my alarm and wake up at 840. I had 20 minutes to get dressed and perfect what i want to say toward the end of my presentation. (it was only about 10 slides). I didnt think I worked well under pressure- but i managed to write down a few things on a note card - get dressed THANK GOODNESS i knew what i was wearing and I arrived to class 2 minutes late- but it was no biggie!

Everyone got hounded for choosing the same topic to do their presentation. Students regurgitated what the professor taught last week into their presentation and at the end when asked what facts did they find to support the information they decided to present - they had no idea!

for ex- one girl put that one theory suggests schizophrenia may be caused my a maternal virus ( woman carrying child catches a virus and the effects of the virus can cause harm to unborn child) - when questioned about her research she had no idea how to answer- stories that Ive heard about the professor made her out to be petrifying like the "principal" on Matilda lol

I was the 4th student to present this am on schizophrenia- I started with a poem which was in fact a personal reflection of Colin King an individual suffering from schizophrenia. He revealed how he view himself, how he was viewed by peers, of the same race, and of others. He introduces himself as Mr. insane, subnormal, and psychotic exposing his loss of contact with reality.

I added what symptoms are of being schizophrenic and all in all my presentation was way much different than the other students. I do not blame them- but their school system. Professors here do not clearly express what is expected of them and I did not know what was expected of me as well but I can say that I thank my professors back at home for preparing me very well. I actually noticed that I was shaking due to not presenting in a while- but I projected my voice and tried not to speak rather quickly- which i often do when I am ready to get it all over with.

I left my class this morning feeling great- knowing that I am able to express myself concisely- which is an attribute that I have always felt I needed improvement with.

Along with my presentation which was not graded! I must write a 1500 word write up. I thought the write up was an essay and I have mildly beaten myself up about not starting it but thank goodness I havent because I would have done the assignment ALL WRONG!

this weekend i will work on that and my paper due in Deaf Community and Culture on Tuesday.
In addition to playing with my flip mino- going into town to get that since it came in yesterday :) IM SO EXCITED! I can finally work on my projects.

flip mino is here

Today I was determined to have a productive day. Went to the medical centre to see how much I weighed- I have continued to lose weight- but I'm not excited because I know I will gain it all back in the meantime when I return.

Productivity- I have not been studying W H Y?!
The English school system is not motivating me

I have a presentation on schizophrenia and guess what I'm not being graded on it. I was doing all types of research and excited to speak in front of the class with all these cool facts that I'm finding- or the hypothesis prevalent in the study of psychosis.

Went to the course leader to see what information should be included and GUESS WHAT- Its pass or fail - its not being graded

after that was said- I PUT THE BOOK DOWN

reading was no longer interesting! I think that my mind is goal oriented and in America I have drive because I am used to getting numerous assignments that in fact get graded-

here I write 2 papers and that's it- for each of my courses

FML- this is outrageous. I do not see how my teacher can justify if I have retained information with writing  a paper

YES i do realize that multiple choice is a cop-out for individually reading students open answers on exams but I would rather have those than just a measly essay. Well I wont say measly since they do require thought but I just don't see how 1500 word essay exemplify that I have learned material over the course of a term in school.

My flip is here and I decided to get it tomorrow after my presentation- if not I would just play with it and not study :/

Nacirema

our teacher had us read about this "crazy tribe"

the class was community and culture
and we read about a culture that was poorly understood
- a lot of their day was spent in ritual activity
and the focus of the activity was the human body

the fundamental belief was the human body is ugly and its natural tendency to debility and disease. Their wealth was determined by how many shrines they possessed. There were a box of potions that were essential to living. These Nacirema also had an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth.

They went to see a holy mouth man who tortured indiviudally on a annual basis- it was seen as an exorcisim of the evils of the mouth. Ceremonial feasts existed to make thin people fat and vice versa. Women baked their heads in ovens for hours at a time and these people were absurd-

all in all- he was talking about americans.
N A C I R E M A is American backwards

it was an eye opener on how as I was reading this I thought these people were odd- because I didnt understand the point in the things they did- It made me realize one cant be so quick to label something different as strange- just because I dont understand it.

my birthday week has been fantastic

i havent stopped celebrating

turned 21 and it will definitely be a birthday that i will always remember :)

this week i have been asked to critically think about my life.

I was asked does America really have cliques- like the movie Mean girls

After I answered- it made me think movies tend to portray America as a whole. Also something interesting I found out was that In England they do not

I also went to a debate- very interesting (when i find the link I will post)
I met some Afro- Caribbean individuals and the outlooks on life here made me think a lot.
it's late and I haven't posted in a while so i just wanted to jot something down. Will post details later

PS I WILL BE BUYING MY FLIP SOON!