I know this will shock a certain reader in Staunton, Virginia -- this particular blog is all about ... Kathy Hughes.

Who is she? Pull your rand atlas maps, please. Turn to a page that focuses on the state of Minnesota. Find Duluth? Go west from Duluth, look for Deer River. Ahem. that is the town where Kathy Hughes came from. She is Deaf woman from a large family. She went to Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf in Fairbault, Minnesota then went to Gallaudet. Then ended up working at my deaf school in Staunton, Virginia.

She was my houseparent for many, many years. The question is do I like her? Of course I do. She is an exceptional and bright woman. In fact, I knew lots of things in the Holy Bible because of her. She is strong Christian who occasionally lectured, discussed and talked with some residents about everything else from A to Z -- actually, not everything -- from A to W -- of course, sex is always out of this conversation -- you know how it is to deal with Christians. :-)

Anyway, she and I occasionally talked about the world, deaf issues, identity et al. And she is all for vegetables and fruits. She often talked about Robert Johnson's herbs and vegetables. In fact, I repeatedly heard the tales about the Johnsons before I ever met Robin, Shanada, Ronda and Shawn.

I love Kathy. She taught me a lot of things in life -- if you do not like what people do to you, you speak back, of course, with contents, not empty threats. Her way of ASL is what I often copied when it comes to snip-snip with words or quotes. I live in The South where the ASL pace is very slow, and it was always refreshing to see one who can sign in rapid manner. I can snicker and understand everything she says. Fun, fun, fun.

Anyway, just finished a book called "Winning Sounds Like This" by Wayne Coffey. Talked about Gallaudet women's basketball team. They made me remember the fiasco that made me snicker. When Catholic U posted a 65-63 upset over Gallaudet, the CUA girls celebrated wildly amongst each other. Ronda Johnson was peeved at their antics -- so she ran to join them and celebrating their win by jumping and clapping, mocking them. suffice to say, CUA girls stopped celebrating so fast that they stared at Ronda in bewilderment. I was stunned.

She probably learned it from Kathy who hangs out with Ronda Johnson's parents .... tad excessive. ;-)

Cheers,

R-