I made it to the DC Eagle without incident and chatted with the awe-inspiring (among other-things-inspiring) preppyperv as she got the contestant information packets ready for the judges. The deaf contestant, Sir Y, had said in an e-mail that he’d be there between 6-6:15, but he didn’t show up until about 10 minutes to 7. We went upstairs and I interpreted what the Den Daddy - the adorable Tim Woody - had to say to the contestants (there were five total). After that we had to hang out at the club bar on the second floor while each contestant went back upstairs to interview with the judges. Sir Y was fifth, so we had a nice long wait, and I got to help Tim Woody write the “funny question” cards. (Which Smurf would you make your bitch, and why…which president would you want to screw, and what scandal would arise, etc.)

The interviews were supposed to be over by 8:30, but they took a really long time with each contestant. I half-chatted and half-interpreted down at the club bar (where pegsioux stopped by), trying to let Sir Y decide for himself what conversation he wanted to join in on, and trying to relax and slip in my own comments from time to time. It’s not easy to interpret socializing at these things, because the contestants are supposed to be bonding and making friends (there’s a brotherhood award at most events), and it’s kind of weird to have five leathermen socializing - and there I am, a girl, in the middle of it all. It’s also not easy to balance interpreting what the hearing people are saying, and letting the deaf person get a word in edgewise. Fortunately they did want to include him, and of course the Gallaudet protests came up, etc. Finally it was our turn to go upstairs, and I was asked to get in place behind the judges’ table before Sir Y came into the room. He made a good impression, I think, and I felt like I did a pretty good job. It’s hard to interpret that kind of thing, because he is supposed to be making an impression on the judges, and they are hearing a female voice coming from behind them that is obviously a little bit later than what he’s saying due to lag time. So whenever there is a deaf contestant, I always work really hard to be perfect, because I want to make him look as good to the hearing judges as he deserves to be. To my surprise, the last question they asked him was also about the Gallaudet protests - which is not at all related to leather! I guess they just slipped it in because they hadn’t heard a deaf person’s perspective and wanted to know what he thought.

By the time we finished the second floor was open and it was almost time to begin. At one point I went back upstairs to my purse to put on some lipstick, and I heard the tallymaster (makeplayhappen) read out five numbers…and the last one was higher than the others. But I had to rush back downstairs - it was almost time for the contest to start. I had put a stool up on the stage but it ended up being an awkward height so I put it down and just stood onstage - even though I was wearing really bad shoes and my feet already hurt from being on them all day. The first part of the contest went great, we got through the bar wear/intro and formal wear/speech categories just fine. The MC, Frank Nowicki, remembered to hand the microphone to me every time Sir Y was onstage - I’ve had problems in the past with the MC’s trying to hand the mike to the deaf contestant, who usually looks at me and goes “huh?” But Frank is a really awesome MC and he did a great job.

Unfortunately, when it was time for the jockstrap/funny question portion, I had a mishap. See, I was already standing on the edge of the little stage, and I turned around so I could see Sir Y and interpret for him, and he was kind of close so I took a step back, and…I fell off the stage! Fortunately preppyperv was right behind me, and Sir Y grabbed my arm, so I didn’t get hurt although a gasp did come up from the crowd. Anyway, that was embarrassing, and it threw me off for the funny question so I ended up fumbling and having to ask for a repeat and correct myself. And I had been doing so well! But that was the end of the contest, and Sir Y got first runner-up in a very close race - in fact all five contestants were close in scoring. I wish he could have won, but first runner-up is not too bad.

I wanted to get out of there ASAP, because I was exhausted and my feet were killing me. Unfortunately, I had parked in the side lot when I shouldn’t have, and earlier in the evening I had to hand over my keys so the parking attendant (a cute butch who told preppyperv that I was pretty, snort) could move my car. I was told during a break in the contest that my keys were safe downstairs, so when it was all over I tried asking at the bouncer for my keys - no luck. I tried the bartender on the first floor - no luck. So I had to stand around for about 30-45 minutes waiting for my keys, and I was unhappy mostly because my damn feet hurt so much! But if I hadn’t had to wait so long I wouldn’t have been walking out the door just as the supremely gorgeous dawnmarie727 and totally hot worldwalkerdc had been coming in, so I got to see them and that was nice. I didn’t get to stay though - Dawn Marie said I looked sleepy and that I should get along home!

It had turned out that the parking attendant had my keys, so I asked her for them…and she charged me $10 for reasons I still don’t understand. I guess being pretty isn’t enough, and the fact that she wasn’t there when I arrived isn’t enough, and the fact that she moved my car out of her lot isn’t enough…I don’t know. But I dug up $10 and got my car and went straight home.

I didn’t sleep well on Friday night, but I had to get up early for the PCRID conference in Annapolis. I ended up getting there at 8:00, about half an hour before the keynote was scheduled to begin, so I socialized with the co-workers who were manning my company’s booth - and I also chatted with people who used to work for my company but transferred to a rival company. It was good to see them again, at least.

The opening meeting was fun. Janet Bailey did a slide show about the history of RID - nobody has really recorded in pictures just how the profession of interpreting came to be, so she gathered some old photographs she managed to find and showed them off. She also asked those present to dig through their archives and contribute whatever they could find, as she’s hoping to create a book detailing the history of RID and the interpreting profession. She pointed out that even though RID was founded in 1964, nobody really put down “interpreter” on their tax forms until the late 1970’s - prior to that they would always have other duties that were their “real” jobs, and they’d interpret in addition to that. After Janet’s presentation, Lauren Potempa, the current PCRID president (who I co-interpreted with for a meeting some years back), gave a State of the Association speech which wasn’t really memorable enough for me to tell you about it. I earned 0.1 CEU’s each for the slideshow presentation and the speech - in RID, an hour is equal to 0.1 CEU’s, and we have to earn 8 CEU’s in a 4-year period.

The next item on the agenda was the business meeting, which I figured would be fabulously boring. So I went back out to my company’s booth, which had a pretty good location, and chatted with the people there. It turned out one of the people who was supposed to work the booth hadn’t turned up, so instead of milling about and relaxing I got behind the table and actually did work. I was there for a couple of hours at least, which I’m not sure I’ll be compensated for…I know the people who were scheduled to be there got paid for their time, but I think the compliments from the president and HR director (who were there) is all the appreciation I’m going to get. It was fun though, we had a bunch of prizes to raffle off so I had a lot of people coming by to sign up for things.

In the afternoon, I went to a workshop given by Betty Colonomos called “CDI and HI: Who Does What?” (That’s Certified Deaf Interpreter and Hearing Interpreter.) I’ve never worked with a deaf interpreter, so I was hoping to find out about the mechanics, protocol, etc. Instead the workshop seemed to be geared directly to CDI’s (there were several present), and I felt like the hearing attendees were only there so we could tell the CDI’s about our perspective - not to do any actual learning ourselves. Betty was great to watch though, I’d have thought she was Deaf if she hadn’t mentioned early on that she’s a CODA. Unfortunately somebody in the back of the room wasn’t fluent in sign and was using an FM system, and the voice interpreters were seated just a little bit in front of me so for part of the time I had my fingers in my ears so I wouldn’t be distracted by them whispering into the FM system’s microphone. It was an interesting workshop, and I earned 0.3 CEU’s for it, but I did note on the evaluation that I wished there could have been more information for the hearing interpreters who were there.

Afterward I went back to my company’s table to say goodbye, and since one of the people there was supposed to be at the DC Eagle that night I said I’d see him later. I was sleepy from not having slept well but I went straight to the bar, which was very easy - Route 50, where Annapolis is, turns into New York Ave, where the bar is, so I just had a straight shot all the way there.

It is now 1:15am. I am finally back in bed. I had some…adventures. Much getting-lost and going-crazy ensued. Read the rest of this entry »

The crisis is over! I just got the following in email:

Signature: Gallaudet University - Public Relations/Visitors Center

TO: Campus Community
FROM: Board of Trustees
DATE: October 29, 2006
RE: Board of Trustees Meeting

Today, we announce with much regret and pain that after serious deliberation in a special, all-day Executive Session of the Board of Trustees, we have voted to terminate Dr. Fernandes’ appointment as President-Designate (currently effective) and President (effective beginning January 1, 2007) at Gallaudet University.

We understand the impact of this decision and the important issues that inherently arise when a Board re-examines decisions in the face of an on-going protest. The Board believes that it is in the best interests of the University to terminate Dr. Fernandes from the incoming President’s position. Although undoubtedly there will be some in the community who have differing views on the meaning of this decision, we believe that it is a necessity at this point. The Board is continuing to meet to discuss transitional issues.

It has certainly been a difficult and trying time for our Gallaudet community. Now is the time for healing. The hope of the Board of Trustees is for our beloved community to come together to work for a stronger and better Gallaudet.

• I have had a headache for two and a half days now.
• I forgot that I had put my tiny diamond earrings on the bed, and then I went and slept in the bed. They are not lost, they are just missing - either on the bed or the floor. But it’s going to be a pain to find them.
• Although 25% of voters have voted for deafjournal.net, I realized that I don’t want to be solely responsible for providing support for however many users I get! So that one is probably out of the running. Really, right now, it’s between corsetworld.net, geekygrrl.net, and meredithonline.org. I still don’t know what I would do with the latter two, because I already have amanita.net where I keep all my stuff. CorsetWorld would have a purpose, though, so I’m kind of leaning that way - but I still like the geekygrrl.net too.
• The ATM in the building where I work is no longer making us pay a surcharge! Yay! (I use a credit union with exactly one location in the metro area, so I am used to paying a surcharge at all ATMs.)
• I am on a million Gallaudet-related mailing lists right now. I am getting several blogs (People of the Eye, Elisa Writes, Mishka Zena, and RidorLIVE) by e-mail and I am also on the GallyNet-L mailing list which is very active. I also continue to get two copies of every USA-L News mailing that goes out (can’t figure out how to deactivate either of them!) and I signed up for the GUFSSA alert list this morning. My mail is full of Gallaudet-related stuff.
• I am no longer sad when the scale hasn’t gone down. I have been at 160 for a couple of months now, give or take a couple of pounds now and then. I am going to continue on my diet, so I will be elated if I lose weight, but I will still be happy if I just maintain.
• I still have a headache. I have no Advil at work.

I finally made it to Gallaudet, though I didn’t do any interpreting. I mostly hung out with ayala920 the whole time, and got to meet a couple of her friends, who I really liked. I also saw a couple of the guys from the RSVP cruise I interpreted for last year; I see them around every so often at various events.

I offered to be an interpreter, and the coordinator in the GIS office was all set to have me work until midnight, come back tomorrow, get paid for it, and everything. I managed to get out of that and just offered my services to the woman at the front gate who was coordinating interpreting…I actually met her when I interviewed with GIS a few months ago. I told her I’m an RID-certified interpreter and would be available in an emergency if she needed it.

So we all stood around and waited until the faculty announcement came. MJ Bienvenu was the first person to make announcements, which were mostly a bunch of numbers that, when summarized, said “we support you, JKF must resign.” This is going to sound cheesy, but I was so thrilled to be there, hearing those words. I cheered and applauded with the rest of the crowd, even though I am at most a “friend” of Gallaudet. (I have a friend who is a student, a friend who is on staff, and I took some night classes there a couple of years ago…I’ve always loved the place.) I also felt so excited to be on a college campus, surrounded by young people - when the subject of dorms and roommates came up, I sighed about “oh, when I was in college…” ayala920 teased me about the moony way I referred to my college, but I really did feel special being on a campus last night.

I left before the rally started, because I wanted to get home at a semi-reasonable hour. The faculty announcements were over, and the people I was talking to wanted to get food and such, so it was a good time to go. But damn, I want to be on that campus full-time, for work or classes. I love Gallaudet!

The Gallaudet FSSA News blog has posted a request for interpreters to come to the campus. I want to go so bad. I want to be there, be part of it, see what’s happening with my own eyes. I have my RID member card that shows I’m a certified interpreter. I could help. But I’m going on vacation…and there’s stuff I have to get done. I can’t go into the city after work and stay there into the night…I have to be up at 6:00am tomorrow.

I’ve always said my hands make a difference - my hands facilitate communication. Right now, I feel so powerless. Whether what’s happening at Gallaudet is right or wrong, whatever my opinion is or should be…the right to interpreters is a fundamental right, and it’s essential right now. I’m neutral…I don’t know how I feel about the protest, so I’m not biased. But I can’t do anything, because I have previous obligations.

Good luck, Gallaudet. I can’t wait till I get back a week from now and see what’s happened.

Highlights of the weekend included working with fairerhiannon (a delight as always!), meeting worldwalkerdc (all too briefly), and giving dawnmarie727 her present (her reaction was awesome).

Other happenings included buying an embroidered leathergirl t-shirt, trying on a couple of corsets and finding a 26″ fits quite well and a 24″ is not too far off if I keep losing weight, as seen here. It was great to see all the deaf people who turned out, especially some who aren’t local to DC/Baltimore (and Philadelphia/NJ) but who came out to support Michelle in her step-down as Ms. World Leather 2005. (It turns out the current International Mr. Leather is an interpreter too, from Canada - I had no idea!)

Downer moments included the five-hour drive to get there (DC to Philadelphia should be 2.5-3 hrs maximum), and my brain completely shutting off this afternoon when the final part of the contest began. I was up there for about 5-10 minutes and I begged fairerhiannon to switch with me because I was making no sense. I don’t know what was wrong but my brain just wasn’t working. It took me another 5-10 minutes before I was able to relieve fairerhiannon and after that I was a little shaky but I did okay.

It was fun overall. And International Deaf Leather is coming to Philadelphia in 2008!

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