I got way out of control at College Bowl tonight. One of the other players had written the questions we were using, and one was about Jamie Lee Curtis. It said she was born with a syndrome (I think it actually said birth defect actually) that makes her a what? Well, of course I knew she was born with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, but what does that make her? I puzzled over it for a few seconds and then it hit me - an intersexual. The student who wrote the questions came around and looked at our answers, and told me mine was wrong. As he turned away to reveal the answer, I signed (to nobody in particular) “I am right, and if you said hermaphrodite I will kill you.” So he shows the answer, and it says “Hermaphrodite (do not accept transsexual, shemale, or transvestite)”. Everybody always contests answers, so everybody started protesting. I leapt out of my chair and started yelling, “I OBJECT! I OBJECT! I VERY STRONGLY OBJECT!” (This is all in sign, btw.). Everybody else settled down, and I kept demanding to file an objection. The guy who wrote the questions tried to shut me down, but the coach said “it looks like she knows what she’s talking about.” So the student let me stand up and explain my objection. I got up and ranted “that is an old greek word, of course. But it is NOT APPROPRIATE anymore! It is considered DISCRIMINATORY and derogatory! It is not accepted by the medical establishment or the people themselves!! It is not appropriate!!!”. The guy who wrote the questions said something to the effect of “yikes, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend” and apologized profusely. I said “okay, thank you” and sat down, saying “oh, but, I’m not one, though.” Which was kind of unnecessary to say and implies that there’s something wrong with being intersexual. I think I said it because I was overexcited. At the end of practice, I got the guy’s attention and apologized for getting so overexcited. He said “oh no, I’m sorry I offended.” I said “well, I really could have said it more calmly and nicely, so I’m sorry.”

And that was my little freakout for the evening.

Today is what we call a clusterfuck of epic proportions. (Firefox’s spell checker has flagged clusterfuck, but I don’t care.) This weekend we were helping a friend move down from New York to DC. To live in our house, actually, until he finds a place of his own. Which I’m not happy about, but at least he’s going to find a place of his own, and damn soon if I have anything to say about it. Two boarders was too many already; fortunately we’re still living at the in-laws’ for the time being. Anyway, today was a giant mess.

This morning we started working at around 8:00 or 8:30; he guessed we’d be out of there by noon. Half an hour later, he was standing around doing nothing. I said “do you need something to do?” He said no, and continued standing around doing nothing. So a few minutes later, A asked him if he was waiting for something. He said yes, he was waiting for us to get off the rug so he could vacuum it. A pointed out that things did not have to be done in a particular order, and there was lots more he could do meanwhile. (See, he wasn’t actually ready to go. He had left a lot of things undone. We suspect he spent his time masturbating, smoking weed, and playing video games instead. Normally these are pursuits I would approve of, but not when there are things to be done.) He got all huffy and ordered us to get out and go home, he’d do it all himself. Needless to say this was ridiculous and pissed off A and I quite a lot. She locked herself in the bathroom to cool off, and I went back to packing up his computer. Damn, I wish we’d left when he said to.

He did most of the carrying to the U-Haul while she and I cleaned the place. A lot of the carrying (down two flights of stairs) was done on Saturday, when we had hired two guys to come and help us out with the furniture…but there was still a lot left to be carried. So A and I cleaned and scrubbed…the bathroom, the refrigerator, the stove, the fingerprints from all the light switches and doorknobs, etc. I was working on the very dirty inside of a kitchen cabinet and A was working next to me at the sink when he stopped behind us and commented, “you guys are such good little scrubbers!” I turned around and gave him The Look of Death. He said something to the effect of “I wouldn’t have done that if you guys hadn’t been here” and A turned around and said “So…this doesn’t need to be done?” He said: no, not really. We immediately dropped our sponges and got ready to leave - bags gathered, coats on - and he said “are you leaving TOWN now? There’s so much left to do!” I was about to smack him in the mouth, I swear.

I went and got our car, which we’d parked a couple of blocks away on Friday night. I came back and brought my book for Sex & Gender class and sat with the U-Haul for a couple of hours, because that way he wouldn’t have to keep pulling the back gate up and down and locking and unlocking the padlock. (That’s what I did on Saturday instead of carrying anything - I was the truck guard and A did stuff upstairs.) I sat out there freezing my ass off - it was about 40 degrees both days, with no sun because of all the buildings. Finally it was time to go. At 3:10pm, that is. More than three hours later than he’d predicted, and five hours from when I wish we’d left, when he told us to.

We realized at the last minute that we couldn’t take the regular route to the Holland Tunnel, we had to take the truck route. He was behind us, and I called him and said “did you see we have to follow the truck route?” He said “oh, no! I didn’t see that.” So we led him through it. I don’t know why, but we stuck with him the whole way back to our house. After the final toll on the New Jersey Turnpike, which we breezed through with E-Z Pass, we sat on the shoulder and waited for half an hour until he came through. Half an hour. Wait, I remember why we stuck with him: because he’s a moron who can’t handle himself. He called up after the toll in Delaware and said “uh…do you have any cash? I’m running out of cash.” Apparently he didn’t have enough for tolls - they were costing him more than normal because he’s driving a truck, but he didn’t think to have LOTS of extra cash on hand. So fine, we pulled over on the shoulder together and I ran back with $40 cash. At the Fort McHenry toll, we went through a regular lane because there’s nowhere to pull over and wait after that one. Of course he managed to be so far behind us that we didn’t see him, but we figured he’d catch up. Nope: he’s still a moron.

We were around Catonsville when he called and said this priceless gem: “I took 695 East. Was that wrong?” Instant *headdesk* on my part. I said “Yes.” He said “I gotta go, bye” and hung up. So we had absolutely no idea what happened, what he was doing, or where he would end up. We drove another 8 miles to a rest area just past Route 32, and called him up again. Turns out he was still on 695 because he figured he could just loop around, and he said to go home, he’d find his way somehow. A pointed out that 695 is the Baltimore Beltway. So we told him we were waiting at the rest stop past Route 32, because obviously he needed help getting home. Fortunately that rest area was part of Maryland’s free wi-fi rest stop program, so I got on the computer and started typing this entry. (I’m still typing it, duh - we’re about to cross the American Legion bridge into Virginia.) He finally caught up and we set off…still guiding him…because he’s a moron.

This probably doesn’t sound too bad to most of you, but the guy was already on my shit list to begin with for various other stupidities. A wanted to help him move, so of course I came too. And I didn’t mind it, until today, when he became a complete idiot. God damn, he pissed me off so bad.

Let’s just clarify this a little.
Meredith is the #434 most common female first name
0.033% of females in the US are named Meredith.
Around 40425 US females are named Meredith!

Meridith is the #2776 most common female first name
0.002% of females in the US are named Meridith.
Around 2450 US females are named Meridith!

Merideth is the #3699 most common female first name
0.001% of females in the US are named Merideth.
Around 1225 US females are named Merideth!

That’s right, it’s the four hundred and thirty-fourth most common name. There are more than 40,000 American women with my name. Variants are exceedingly uncommon. So why does everybody get it wrong?! (Thanks to NameStatistics.com for the numbers.)

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Or at least say it in a totally different location on the internet.
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I am offended by the last question on my final exam for ASL/Deaf Studies class. In summary, it says that we should be opposed to the UK’s Fertilization and Embryology bill, and we should pretend we are giving a presentation to the House of Lords on why it should be canceled. We are to use what we have learned in class about identity in our mock argument. Links are given to this article and information on the bill.

Now, the linked-to article explains that the bill would prohibit families from choosing a deaf embryo where a hearing one was available; it might also limit the ability of deaf people to donate eggs or sperm. So I can see why it’s related from that perspective. However, a half-second of digging turns up more information. The bill would also allow scientists to inject animal eggs with human sperm for the creation of human/animal hybrids, and it also allows lesbians to be named as the parents of test-tube babies without any reference to a father.

I object to the question having been asked at all. The idea that I should base my opinion on a bill on only one of its statements is absurd, but furthermore, the idea that I should be asked to defend a prescribed opinion to a political question as part of my final exam is outrageous. If they had told me to give my opinion on the question, I would have no problem with that. But defending the position they tell me, on only part of the bill…well, I just don’t know what to do about it. Should I contact the team of teachers who developed the exam and ask for an alternative question, or should I answer the question as if the deaf question is the only one on the ballot, or…my god, how can they ask such a thing?!

I hate Hollister. And Aeropostale. And Abercrombie & Fitch. And all the other brands that jack up prices on ordinary items just because their name is on them. Hollister is the current fad from what I can tell (did know know their stores play music louder than OSHA allows?), and kids all over my school are wearing Hollister this and Hollister that.

I’m not talking about brands that are famous, mind you. Levi’s are famous because they are quality jeans. Converse is famous because Chuck Taylors have a distinct look. Pacific Sun has wild prints that they are known for. Even semi-existential brands like No Fear still stand for something - if you wear a No Fear shirt, you are conveying a message about yourself about being a daredevil, shirking authority, etc. Life is Good encourages being carefree, having an active lifestyle, etc. But Hollister and friends have none of these distinctions.

If you interrupted the assembly line at an Aeropostale factory before the name went on the clothes, you’d still have perfect normal, wearable clothes that would cost a lot less. The only association they can make is “we’re cool.” And therefore, if you wear Aeropostale, you’ll be cool too! That’s enough reason to jack up the price 40%, right? No! I don’t care if you think “oh but wearing Hollister shows that I like surfing and stuff,” it doesn’t. Wearing Hollister shows that you like Hollister, because there is absolutely nothing unique about the clothes they make. Like I said, I’m not talking about Puma shoes here, those are distinctive. But Seven jeans are just jeans.

And just in case anybody thinks I’m being a hypocrite, I want to mention that Hello Kitty does not fall under this category. The company’s name is Sanrio, and little girls don’t go ga-ga for Sanrio - they do it for Hello Kitty.

Wearing A&F says only one thing about you. It says that you are willing to pay extra for a regular t-shirt that happens to have their name on it. As always, I am open to discussion on this rant, but you will never get me to like Hollister.

I am posting in response to this press release regarding the connection between Jane Fernandes and Joseph Mesa.

People, repeat after me. Jane Fernandes is not the devil. Jane Fernandes is not the devil.

JANE FERNANDES IS NOT THE DEVIL.

Seriously. Ever since it was announced that she is returning to teach at Gallaudet, the GallyProtest mailing list has been full of hate mail about her and why she shouldn’t come back. (She will be teaching Intro to Deaf Studies, and I. King Jordan will be teaching advanced psychology classes.) Oddly, there has been much less about IKJ than about JKF. There’s been the occasional “his legacy is tarnished, he destroyed himself” bit, but nothing like what JKF has been put through.

This thing about her connection to Mesa - the kid who committed the 2001 murders, which I remember well because I was taking night classes there at the time - is just ridiculous. Lots and lots of teens are troubled, and they don’t grow up to kill people. Mesa obviously had something pathologically wrong with him that Fernandes - not a trained clinical psychiatrist herself - could not have diagnosed. I’m sure she felt at the time that she was trying to give a troubled kid from another culture, Guam, a better education. She had him brought to MSSD for his education, not so he could grow up to kill two boys later.

I’m tired of everybody claiming that JKF ruined Gallaudet. I’m tired of the claims that she has no business coming back to campus. The fact is, she is coming back to teach. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell she will get back into an administrative position anytime soon. She taught sign communication long before she became VP of the Clerc center (in 1995) or provost (in 2000). There are basically zero students left at Gallaudet who took her sign communications class. She might very well be a highly skilled teacher, but the GallyProtest people continue to vilify her at every chance they get.

Jane Fernandes was not the right person for the presidency of Gallaudet University. That much is obvious now - she would have been a continuation of the administration that led the college into its current accreditation crisis. But that does NOT make her the devil, and it does NOT mean she will be a bad teacher. I’m just so fucking tired of all this bullshit about her. Pretty much everybody I ask on campus - all of my peers - don’t even care that she’s coming back.

Can we please stop fighting over the 9/11 stuff now? Specifically I’m talking about the conspiracy theories. Through random surfing, I found my way to another one of those sites that is full of hue and cry about buildings being brought down deliberately, whether the hole in the Pentagon could have been made by a plane, etc. My response to all of that now is: Shut the hell up. It doesn’t matter.

Seriously, why does it matter if the government was lying to us? Is that going to change anything that happened? Newsflash: the government is elected in the United States. If you don’t like the government, if you think they lied, vote them out of office and change it! Let me know if that brings back the 2800 people who died that day.

The question should not be “what happened then?” The question should be “what do we do now?”

I was having a hard time posting a comment about this in a friend’s journal, so I decided to post it here instead. This is just venting about the message board at the Video Relay Services Consumer Association website. As far as I can tell, people who post over there feel exempt from the requirement to consider the needs of others as well as their own, and they don’t think it’s necessary to do any research before spouting.

There are many people on the board saying “save VRS and cut TTY” - don’t people realize that the majority of D/HH Americans do not use ASL? There are more than 25 million Americans with severe to profound hearing loss, and only about 1-2 million use ASL. All those other people are using text relay on either TTY or computers. I fully support keeping VRS - not just because I am a VI myself, but because Deaf people have a right to communicate in their first language - but if the FCC is looking to cut costs, as that website indicates, I would think they will cut the service used by a few people than the service used by a lot of people. I know I’ll get flamed for this, so I’ll repeat - VRS interpreting is my job. So I don’t want them to get rid of it, that would put me out of a job. But the people on that board are not thinking logically (needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few) or considering the needs of non-signing deaf Americans alongside their own needs as signers.

Another person said “if VRS terps are paid more than $40/hr then reduce their salary to $30/hr and don’t let it go above that.” This person apparently has no idea how VRS interpreters are paid, or even interpreters in general. I’m not sure they even realize how much actual work is involved in interpreting, how much training costs, how much experience is factored into the situation…sure, $30/hr interpreting beats working at the local burger joint for minimum wage, but it is not necessarily commensurate with what the job actually entails.

Let the flaming begin.