The Thing From Where....

Deaf Mosaic #710

Filmed in 1991, released that spring 1992. For years both deafies and hearies have come up to me and exclaimed Oh I saw you on Deaf Mosaic! And I know exactly what they are referring to. You see for my junior year I had to complete a 2nd year of science. Since I barely eked a passing grade for Biology and despise chemistry enough to prefer a root canal to a chemistry lesson I signed up for a team class of Alegebra II and Physics. I have always LOVED math (well maybe not so much geometry) but I have a deep appreciation for numbers and enjoy calculating crap in my own head such as total costs of several items.

Anyways the point is my teacher Mary Ellsworth (whom by the way is probably one of the best teachers ever to instruct at MSSD) decided we would participate in a contest called the Pumpkin Chunkin competition. The goal is to build a machine that would toss a pumpkin the furtherest of all. Since of course we had to incorporate elements of physics such as velocity, gravity, impact of forces etc etc. We spent several months building these machines. The class had been divided into 3 different teams. I was the captain of mine (what a surprise right?). I still remember building it in the area by the old art room (now the eagle center) and across from the pool/gym near Dorm B. Mine was based on medievel catapult pictures and we added weights to increase the velocity of the pumpkin for when it was flung.

I dont know how the heck we got those pumpkin chunkin machines to deleware but we did and it was a WINDY that day. We didn't know at the time that everyone else was using metal/computers to create their machines and ours was wooden based. We were small league compared to some of those pumpkin chunkin machines but I am proud to say, out of the 3 teams from MSSD, I lead The Thing From Where to victory! 91 feet, was how far our pumpkin was thrown.

Of course I have a cameo in this part of Deaf Mosaic. What you can do is click on the link above or HERE and either watch the video from beginning or open the movie player in another window and scroll to approx 5 minutes and 20 secs and thats the beginning of the Pumpkin Chunkin segment. I appear around 7 minutes or so. Man you have to keep in mind 2 things when you see me. 1 I had only been signing for a little over 2 years. and 2 when I learned ASL, Total Communication or SimComming was all on the rage and actually promoted on MSSD campus so I am just appalled at how much I MOUTH! So for those of you who complain I mouth too much, look no further and you'll see how far I've come :) Other than that I don't look much different except younger and skinner. I was 17 in this video.

We also did some other cool experiments that year such as the typical egg drop where you use a limited amount of supplies such as paper and tape and construct something that would protect an egg being dropped from 2 stories. I still remember how I built mine, with layers of "tubings" to cushion my egg and it did survive. Lastly I remember attending some kind of science fair/exhibition that Mary Ellsworth arranged for all of us to go. There were these cool toothpick or popcicle stick bridges made and I think we were invited to create our own bridge and to see how much pressure it could stand. The more pressure your bridge took without falling apart the better. I remember seeing those bridges be destroyed by this pressure 'punisher' machine. I appreciated what Mary Ellsworth did, she gave me a real understanding and opportunities to explore physics outside the classroom and to this day it has helped foster my love of astronomy that I've had since early childhood. Watching programs on deep space or planets I would not understand them the way I do if it hadn't been for her class.

So for the 1st time, through the caption media program I got to see for myself this particular episode. I think I may have seen it 1x in the early 90s but otherwise, its been over 15 years. But I can recall so much details, it might as well have happened yesterday.