Check out this painting.  I would totally hang it in my house.  I love the colors and the message!

http://issuu.com/kissfist/docs/eighth/68

DHHSWU

This is a video posted by one of my teachers on Facebook.  It's very informative about Deaf and Hard of Hearing State Workers United, a foundation that helps Deaf state employees achieve equal access and reasonable accommodations in their workplaces.  It is so common for Deaf people to be discriminated against, and we need to take steps to help people understand about Deafness and eliminate audism.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31679471665&v=app_2373072738&ref=ts#!/video/video.php?v=1335993680725

Deaf Church

Yesterday I had a pretty good time at Sacramento Bible Church for the Deaf in Carmichael, CA.  It was my second visit, and I had sheepishly put off going for a few weeks.  Waking up before my alarm clock went off, I couldn't find an excuse to keep me from going this time!  As I parked my car and walked toward the church, I felt butterflies in my stomach that accompanied the realization that I really hadn't signed since school got out (shame on me!).  I walked in, was handed a program (with two word search puzzles inside, YES!), greeted kindly by everyone I passed, and sat down in the second row on the right side of the room. 

Quickly I remembered how welcoming everyone is at the church and that the Deaf people there are so patient with us ASL students.  Also, I was relieved to find that my signing skills were still intact!  Receptive skills, however, needed a little brushing up on...

One of the pastors, Wormy, introduced himself to me as another man sat down in my row...who I recognized!  I reminded Jesse that I had met him a few months ago at Deaf Bingo/Friday Night Live and he remembered me too.  We chatted before the service started, and for a few minutes after before I left to meet a friend.

This link is to a video from the church's page, and it gives a little taste of what Deaf church is like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljaP1g195DM&feature=player_embedded

I like attending Deaf church because it is a great opportunity to interact with Deaf people, especially ones who are happy you showed up and willing to converse with you.  It's an educational experience in two ways: 1) I get to experience Deaf culture first-hand (duh) and 2) I am exposed to new signs, like vocabulary about the Bible and spiritual things.  They don't teach us those things in ASL class, but I'll likely be talking about them now and again so I'd like to know how.  There's a third one, which is that I get to practice my ASL conversational skills and receptive skills - HUGE!

I plan to visit Sacramento Bible Church for the Deaf again in a few weeks.  The service is at 10:45am, and anyone interested in joining me is welcome!

Interpreter Preparation Programs

With only a year to go in my Bachelor of Arts degree in Deaf Studies/American Sign Language, I have just begun researching interpreter training programs.  I am most interested in the top three programs in California - American River College, Ohlone College, and Pierce College.  I have also heard good things about Santa Rosa Junior College.

American River College (ARC) is here in Sacramento.  It is the closest program to my parents and my boyfriend.  Their Interpreter Preparation Program (IPP) is an A.A. degree program and consists of fifty units.  Students who are accepted begin the program each August, and applications are due the second Friday of April that same year.  Acceptance into the program is based on an interview/screening program after the application is submitted.  The tuition fees for the Fall 2010 semester are twenty six dollars per unit.

Ohlone College in Fremont, CA is about three hours and twenty minutes away from my parents and an hour and forty five minutes from my boyfriend.  Students in the IPP program work with Deaf mentors as well as RID-certified interpreters to gain skills and experience.  Ohlone College has a large Deaf student population and is in close proximity with the California School for the Deaf.  The application for the IPP is due sometime in the spring, and the screening process takes place in June.  The A.A. degree and the Certificate of Achievement programs require fifty one to fifty five units for completion and include two courses on developing small businesses.  Fall 2010 tuition for Ohlone College is the same as ARC, twenty six dollars per unit.

Pierce College has a forty-nine-unit American Sign Language/Interpreting Program that is an A.A. degree.  It is located in Woodland Hills, CA, only about six miles from the National Center on Deafness at CSUN.  Pierce College is the farthest of these schools from my hometown and where I am now, at seven hours and forty five minutes from my parents and about six hours from Sacramento.  It is, however, very close to my sister, brother-in-law, and little niece on the way!

The ASL/English Interpreter Education Program at Santa Rosa Junior College is an A.A. degree and requires the completion of fifty two units.  Tuition for Fall 2010 is, again, twenty six dollars per unit.  Santa Rosa is a three and a half hour drive to Paradise, CA and just under two hours to Sacramento.

Besides this basic information, I know that I wouldn't mind living in the areas of ARC and Pierce.  I have never been to Fremont or Santa Rosa.  Living expenses would be more costly near Ohlone and Pierce.

A trusted and respected professor at Sac State gave me the following list of questions to answer in deciding which interpreting program to attend:
1. After students graduate from that program, how many go straight to work?
2. How many pass the National Interpreter Certification (NIC) written and the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment (EIPA) right after graduation?
3. What type of post support will the college give you?
4. How much business planning is built into their programs? (You will most likely free lance at some point so you need to know how to run your own company.)
5. What type of mentoring program do they have during and after?

So...it looks like my next step is to find some contact people from these programs, ask them questions, and decide which ones I want to visit.

Now what?

So, last week the Senate Health Committee voted in favor of the bill AB2072.  What happens next?

http://test.opposeab2072.com/

I am here because...

I guess I'll start this blog with some information about my background, how I got into ASL/Deaf Studies.

I started learning some signs (not real ASL) in 2nd grade through a program called "Sign Song Singers" at my public elementary school.  I got to leave my classroom a couple times a week and go with other kids to learn signs to children's songs, and periodically we would perform these songs for our parents.  I absolutely loved it, but I stopped participating in the program when I switched schools.

In my second year of college I was working on campus at California State University, Chico, and received an email about a beginning ASL class offered for faculty, staff, and student staff only.  The class was free and met once a week.  Remembering how much I liked signing as a kid, I decided to join the small class of about five or six other participants, taught by Chico State's two full-time interpreters.  We learned mainly vocabulary, numbers, and fingerspelling in the class; and I loved it even more than I had in elementary school. 

I have always loved languages.  I find the meanings of words and how they are pieced together to form proper grammar and complete thoughts very interesting.  Writing has always been easier for me than speaking, be it English, Spanish, or Italian. I have a passion for sign language.

I decided to pursue sign language as a career and transferred to Sac State in the summer of 2009 to begin the Deaf Studies program.  My ultimate goal is to become a sign language interpreter, and after graduating from Sac State in the spring of 2011 I plan to go through an interpreter training program. 

So far I have completed ASL 4.  My weakness is hesitancy to put myself out there and meet new people, and I need to push myself to do just that to improve my language skills and practice, practice, PRACTICE!