Lately for the past month or more, I feel like I've turned into a "mental escapist." Basically with the stress of work and Baba's health I constantly during my down time want to pop in a movie or watch a tv show on Hulu with CC. Right now I am slightly aggravated because there's nothing good to watch on tv and I can't watch Hulu right now because the internet I have sucks. Plus I am too tired to do anything else :(
The good news however is....ta da! I am done teaching. Yes today was the final exam review and then the final itself. I started to grade them on the train heading back to the city but since I've come home I just can't will myself to do it. Besides tmw late morning when Jack & I are on our way to Baba's house, I can finish grading them then as well as students' commentaries and reaction papers, plus their Deaf event culture experiences. I probably enjoy reading those the most. Its often their first time seeing a group of Deafies signing away, big or small the crowd is, it doesn't matter. Most of the students report feeling worried that someone would try to talk to them via ASL. Others are more assertive and try to have small conversations with someone deaf. Almost all of my students with a very small exception and I mean small (I think in 5 years I've been teaching I've only come across 2 or 3 less than stellar experiences). I will say that of course for the 2nd semester ASL students, their 2nd Deaf event reaction paper almost always reflects on their 1st experience and they say they felt more confident and able to catch some signs or learn new ones. Some ASL teachers and former students feel this isn't always ideal expectation for 1st year language learners. I got to say, I am for it. Exposure however brief to the population at large will only serve to break the stereotypes out there on us. I often in my films try to bridge the divide between the Deaf and Hearing worlds. My biggest goal next to teaching a new language is for my students to leave with the equality perspective on us Deafies. Rather than the pity them, oh poor them, they can't hear music! Or whatever else the media/Hollywood has misinformed them about US. Boy oh boy, am I fired up or what? But anyhoo, this is a secondary goal I have when teaching ASL. 1st its a LANGUAGE not "broken English." Then 2nd is changing what is generally a pathological perspective on Deafness to a cultural one :)
Ok, time for some movie reviews from the ones I've seen the last few weeks
Awesome movie, slightly indie, a little gritty and just an all around great movie! Its about a girl name Rose who for whatever reason ends up with a son and no real future. She cleans houses and is dating a married man who is in law enforcement. In the beginning of the story, he urges her to get into field of crime scene cleanup because as they say "death can be a messy business." Its wacky enough and still we can all related to the insecurities shared in this movie. Its one of the better movies I've seen in a while!
*PussN'Boots with Christopher Walken from 1980s. It was o-k....it would be good movie if I was 6 years old or younger. But as an adult... pass. I did however research more about the orgins of this story and I had no idea it was written in the 1860s or 1870s!
*Extraordinary Measures starring Harrison Ford and Branden Fraizer about finding a cure for Pompe disease. Definitely a feel good movie at the end.
ugh am too tired to write more...
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