Barry Strassler Is Hilarious

I stopped reading Barry Strassler's postings except to scour the job postings. But a friend of mine told me today to check a certain comment that Barry Strassler made about Rosa Parks.

I found it -- and it amused me to no end.

Barry wrote:

ROSA PARKS' LEGACY

Rosa Parks has been pretty much lionized in the news for changing the course of civic rights. All this woman wanted to do, one day in the fifties, was to sit down on a city bus.

Did she help the deaf? Indirectly, yes. Her actions sparked groups of disabled to fight for their own rights. And when disabled groups fight, it also rubs off on the deaf. And we, in turn, advocate for our rights.

It all started one hot summer day in Alabama with Rosa Parks.

Thank you, Rosa.

When did December 1, 1955 become one hot summer day in Alabama?

Says it all, eh?

Cheers,

R-

Pictures of Hunger Strike in Flint

See Michelley?
Simple Message In Frigid Climate
Show Some Support

I'm sure the group needs some kind of contributions. Anyone care to enlighten the readers on how to reach these people who might need our help during the strike?

Cheers,

R-

Thanksgiving Tidbits

Survivors' Christy Smith To Join Hunger Strike! It was reported that CBS' Survivors (The Amazon) contestant Christy Smith has left Colorado for Flint, Michigan to join the hunger strike with Ryan Commerson. Among the participants are John Clark and Adrean Clark, the owners/editors of The Tactile Mind Weekly who had been promoting, for years, to recognize ASL as the primary language to teach Deaf children.

Suffice to say, the battle has begun. I received the pictures from Michelley. I need to do some fix on these images before I upload it -- stay tuned for this tomorrow.

Michigan School for the Deaf asked for this.

Remember To Vote for Lee Trevathan! The Poll is still open. Vote for David "Lee" Trevathan, even if you're heterosexual -- we need a deaf bloc to win the whole thing -- after all, if he wins, he owes me few drinks!

Here Is The Picture of Nery & Edward: They were arguing about something else in Spanish language, I believe. When they do, their movements are swift, agile and smooth.

It is always interesting to watch Nery and Edward converse even with the fact that they are in 80s.

Virginia's New "Welcome" Sign: I hate the current one in Virginia -- it is so plain and dull. Virginia is going to change -- if you vote something other than "existing" one. I chose "Mountains". Click this for the vote.

Thanksgiving Facts? Many thought that the first Thanksgiving took place in Massachusetts between the Pilgrims and the Natives. That is not even true. The first one is in Virginia. It happened on December 4, 1619 at Berkeley Plantation. Berkeley Plantation is about 30 miles east of my parents' residence.

It was also reported that Thanksgiving was not supposed to be a "feast" but a "fast" -- by whom? Benjamin Franklin!

About Time If You Ask Me! It is official. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey is going to divorce. Of course, they both cheated on each other for months. I disliked Nick Lachey's smirk -- I hope it goes away for a long time.

Pastor Pow! A Pastor in Russia did not expect this one -- he was preaching and one of the audience leaned in and socked him in the eye. The pastor went on to preach with a blood streaming down his face. About time someone gets to do that to a pastor. Know why? For years, the pastors, preachers, priests always preached that being gay is sinful. Then the audience picked it up and bashed the gays with baseball bats and all that stuff. And these people who spewed so much hate always exonerated itself using the freedom of religion. It is nice to know that someone exercised something different -- whack a pastor out.

Moral of the Story: Don't Argue In The Car! Check this out.

Interesting Subject? I was reading Richmond Times-Dispatch in the last few days -- there is a controversy out of a prestigious school here in Richmond, namely the University of Richmond. Many alumni hated the current President. In fact, the alumni donations has plummeted after UR President William E. Cooper has attempted to steer the different policies to attract the prospects from the Northeast rather than the local ones. He also wanted to raise the academic and athletic standards (Richmond is pretty classy ...) which did not appeal to the alumnus.

And the recent blunt of Dr. William E. Cooper's comments to the staff members, "The entering quality of our student body needs to be much higher, if we are going to transform bright minds into great achievers instead of transforming mush into mush, and I mean it."

They are losing the alumni funds. See the pattern? If we do not like the policies of Provost Fernie, Vice-President Paulie and President Irvie at Gallaudet -- all we have to do is to stop donate and talk to the media about their lackadaisal problems. Especially with Provost Fernie.

If the University of Richmond Alumni can do this, so can Gallaudet Alumni -- the students of Gallaudet cannot succeed without the backing of Alumni to fire Provost Fernie.

Think about it.

Cheers,

R-

New Information About Sarah

Today, I had an opportunity to talk with Sarah's brother, Chris. The family is going through the difficult times. They are pretty in shock about the whole thing. But I was able to get some helpful information that may make us feel much better.

Sarah Pack died at 7:40 AM last Sunday of Embolism. What happened is that she had a clot in her leg, it eventually got in her lungs. The doctor said that she died instanteously.

She will be cremated and her ashes will be sprinkled in the ocean as per her wishes. In fact, she will have three services. One will be on Friday in West Haven, Connecticut. And the other one on Saturday in Manhattan, New York. The last one will be determined by the family regarding honoring Sarah's wishes.

Chris has indicated that the family is aware that Sarah's friends knew more of her desirable charities than the family do and he'd appreciate that I could get the exact information on her favorite charities and I'll be able to turn them in for Chris to follow up with the family.

The main reason why the recent donation in lieu of flowers be donated to "Gateway Christian Fellowship. In the memo, please note for Ukraine orphanages and/or services for Deaf children." is that the family is aware that Sarah was touched more about this particular one: Deaf children in Ukraine.

But he is willing to add more if anyone could email me with specific information on what kind of charities that Sarah loved.

For Sano, Chris has requested that if you wanted to donate flowers, you may do so for this Saturday by making the arrangements via the Internet or your local florist shop to connect with New York. The address is St. Elizabeth Roman Catholic Church, Deaf Church, 213 East 83rd Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) New York City, N.Y.

Otherwise, the family is taking one step at a time. Like everyone else, they find it hard to believe that Sarah has departed as well. But the family is aware that Sarah has many friends scattered across the nation, Canada and Europe and few more as well.

I was cleaning the boxes in the closet -- I came upon the comic book, Wonder Woman #73, where I recalled seeing a beautiful panel of Wonder Woman leaving her home (the story has that her home, Themyscira Island has disappeared for some reasons unknown to her -- later, she found out why, though). You could see her flying away but she turned her head to look at us all. You knew someday, she'll be back. That's how I feel about Sarah.

One time, we were so bored and we hung out on her rooftop facing the skyline of Manhattan -- she asked me what kind of comic book character would I love -- I said, "Mordru, of course!" She rolled her eyes and said, "That was one dumb question, right?" Sarah once joked that if she was so thin, she'd be hot like Wonder Woman. But to me, she is Wonder Woman.

Farewell But We Shall Meet Again

Hope this message helped you in any capacity regarding Sarah.

Now is the time to celebrate her life. What is done is done, let's rock and roll. That's what she would wanted us to do. Oh, to lighten up the mood -- Sarah and I always teased each other -- many friends can attest that I do this frequently -- I tend to greet her with a line like, "Hey, you fakey ho, whassup?"

She always shot me back that this unique line, "Nothing much, you Pepperoni ho!" She is right. I have the soft spot for Pepperoni. Not in my ass, but in my mouth. Hell, I'll eat Pepperoni over anyone's cock! And Sarah was right as always!

Cheers,

R-

Sarah's Tidbits

Sarah Pack’s Obituary: Here is the link. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised with the parents’ choice of donations. I do not think Sarah would like that at all.

Few words from Jade: Here is the message from Jade, another close friend of Sarah Pack in New York:

A TRIBUTE TO SARAH MARIE PACK

The news has come unexpectedly that SARAH MARIE PACK, a friend, my publicist, and confident has suddenly departed from the earth on Sunday, November 20, 2005. We will all sorely miss her.

Each Day When Tomorrow Comes

Each day when tomorrow comes, you would find a way to create an optimistic outlook on life and impact others.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you would rotate the troubles of the world into humor.

Each day when tomorrow comes, when mass of obscurities came knocking on your door, you manage to produce energy, form luminosity, and brighten those around you because you refuse to succumb its powers over you.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you walk the warrior in you shielded from adversity of every sinew and fiber of your being.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you are an essence and the mastery of life, and you teach us what life is all about.

Each day when tomorrow comes, your heart is enormous that you radiate love and support to those close to you and knows you.

Each day when tomorrow comes, you always look forward to life: * “…making snow angels, dancing in the rain, going down a block, swinging at a playground, walking a friend's dog, and many more fun stuff!”*

*This is an excerpt from Sarah’s blog while being hospitalized for 13 days.

To read more about Sarah and her beautiful and inspiring blog, please click here: Just Wondering OutLoud

Check These Out: Evidently, Sarah's impact on many others can be noted on people's blogs/xanga all over the country.

And so our creation begins.....
Melmira
Hirself
witty, charming, funny, resilient, optimistic, humble, timeless
Guthrie's TrekAsia Journal
Key Lime Pie Lovers unite!
Update: ~~~** Introspectives of the jenko
Update: Deaf In The City
Update: Wherever You Go
Update:The eyes translate body language and communication...
Update: Epiphaneia


Anyone to add? Please email me at Ridor9th@gmail.com so I can add. Thanks!

Sarah's Three Pictures: These pictures of last Thanksgiving Dinner which Sarah Pack hosted at her palace in Hell's Kitchen, I was invited and there, I got to meet some of Sarah’s close friends. After eating the massive food which I was not used to, I asked Sarah if I could sneak into Kaybee’s bedroom to lay down because I was stuffed and too tired to converse with many people for 15 minutes or so. She nodded. I vanished into her bedroom to lay down -- you know how it is with the turkey, it puts you to sleep.

Guess what happened next? Sarah joined. Boris joined. We were having a good time, evidently. I watched Boris playing around with Sarah next to me -- making it impossible for me to catch few Zs. We were joking about different things related to sex -- as you can see Sarah laughing out loud when Boris tried to do something. I tried to tell KD not to take pictures, naturally -- I was ignored. As you can see, I was amused at the antics Boris did to Sarah. Little did I know that it was our last Thanksgiving Dinner.

Enjoy!



One of Many Little Things That Binds Sarah with Me: Sarah’s grandparents lived in the southwestern part of Virginia near Blacksburg. My Hrandparents also lived in the southwestern part of Virginia in Big Stone Gap. The southwestern part of Virginia is the long rectangular that surrounded itself between North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia -- between these two towns is about 165 miles long due to the fact the roads has to go up and down the damned mountains.

We discussed about the morbidity of Appalachian Mountains folks or The South who seemed to be into taking pictures at the funerals. I had been to many funerals in the South where relatives and friends took pictures of deceased bodies. Sarah confirmed that she is not crazy about going to these funerals because she had the same experiences that I did. Needless to say, Sarah and I had heavy fits of laughters that I think the neighbors thought we were nuts.

Note to readers & friends of Sarah Pack: Feel free to email me of your memories with Sarah. I'll be sure to insert it in the next few days. This week on the blogsite practically belongs to Sarah Pack and her friends to celebrate her life. A part of this surely has helped me to cope with her sudden death, I guess, and I hope it does for others. After all, that is what she would like it to be. It is OK to be upset and reflect on this -- but you gotta celebrate somewhere down the route. I still have her emails sitting in my Inbox -- especially the last one that she wrote around 7:30 AM last Sunday before she passed away.

Sigh.

R-

11.21.05 Tidbits

Stop The Tmobile Spam Attack! Joseph Rainmound requested me to link this in order to warn anyone who has SK2, blackberry or pagers owned by T-Mobile. Last night, there had been a spam attack. My sister complained that it went on all night -- she turned it off.

At first, the national office denied that it was a national problem. But they admitted it. It will be cool if everyone who has the pagers call them -- in order to force them to stop this activity.

Notice The Change? As of now, I am still reeling from the shock regarding Sarah Pack's death. I noticed that more and more hospitals are now known as "Medical Center". It implied that it is for profit business. Pay up money, we'll save your life. No money, you'll wait bit longer -- you gotta dance with Death the best way you can do. The hospitals are quickly getting on my list of "hateful things" along with police officers.

Whatever happened to the concept of hospitals being a hospital to HELP people? Today, thanks to the American capitalism, money comes first. Many hospitals will not proceed without the approval of insurance. To me, it is not appropriate.

Another Death: Sam the Ugly Dog has died at 14. Thanks for the link, Christian.

Jose Padilla Finally Charged: After 3 years in the brig without a charge, Jose Padilla was accused by the Government that he plans to use 'dirty bomb'. He was born in the United States and was denied of his due process. Finally, after 3 years, he got the list of charges against him because the government did not want to deal with the Supreme Court's rulings. What a wuss. And the best part is that no charge from Jose Padilla has to do with the 'dirty bomb'.

According to the constitution, the American citizens has the right to have a speedy trial. 3 years in the brig before getting the speedy trial says a lot about the administration and Pentagon's respect towards the constitution.

Virginia Cavaliers Women 2-0: They are now 2-0 after posting two wins over George Washington 66-53 and Wright State 74-56. They'll play Alabama and Minnesota in Paradise Jam Tournament in Virgin Islands. I hope the Cavaliers get to issue some kind of payback to Sonny Wasilowski's favorite team!

Yes, Barry, There is One! My father told me that he informed Barry Strassler of DeafDigest that there is one Deaf person that drives 18-wheeler truck, Barry did not believe him. In fact, Barry Strassler dismissed my father's claims. Last Saturday night, I got to meet Andrew King of Dale City, Virginia, the man who held the Commercial Driver's License. He said he was very lucky -- he got the CDL, then few years later, the computers came in to screen all drivers. The state also disallowed Deaf people from driving the 18-wheeler trucks because of "safety" reasons. Bullshit.

In more than 20 years, he said he hadn't gotten in an accident and he drove his 18-wheeler truck, hurling the materials to many states. He said that many businesses that he worked with knew that he is Deaf but as long as he gets the deeds done, nothing else mattered. No, he does not use voice, use hearing aids or has cochlear implants. He is just plain Deaf who is profilic in ASL. His appearance reminded me of Elvis Presley except that he has white hair all over. I teased him that Elvis is already dead so drop dead.

Oh, yeah, Barry Strassler claimed that no one has CDLs. Not even Andrew King of Dale City. Barry thinks he knew it all.

Remember Tower Clock 2001 Yearbook Controversy? In 2001, there was a 32-page section in Tower Clock's 2001 Yearbook that was considered to be one of the most hilarious, brilliant and radical. Provost Fernie seized the yearbooks and had this 32-page section removed. I vividly recalled seeing the drama at Gallaudet about this for weeks.

I was able to read these 32-page section when my friend told me she has it. I thought it was great! It was funny, they poked fun at almost everything else. But apparently, Provost Fernie does not like it at all. So she used the excuse to indicate that "6 students and parents" do not like it. My hunch is that there were no six students at all, just only Provost Fernie, President Irvie and Vice-President Paulie did not like it because they feel it may tarnish the image they worked hard to preserve.

If you guys want to read page by page, check this link!

Deaf People Cannot Donate Blood: In Canada, the Canadian Blood Services forbade Deaf persons from donating the blood. Their reason? That Deaf people would be embarassed in talking about sensitive information in front of interpreters. That is not reasonable and good cause to forbid Deaf persons from donating the blood. Wow, some places do make us feel less than 2nd class citizen!

Two Wisdom Teeth Pulled Out: It was 50-minute performance but I felt like 5-minute. I'm so high on vicodine. Who cannot love it?!

Cheers,

R-

Sarah and I

I arrived in New York by Chinatown Bus for a job interview more than 3 years ago. It was around 6 AM in the morning. The stench of Chinatown is pretty repulsive, to say the least. Standing on a street named East Broadway waiting for Kaybee to arrive, the sky slowly brightened as the skyscrapers on Lower Manhattan illuminated against the sky.

Prior to the trip, I had been to New York only twice but each time, it was very superficial visits. But not after this.

Kaybee was kind to let me stay with her in Hell's Kitchen. Later, after the job interview, I went to kaybee's place. There I got to meet her roommates. Normally, I am cautious and wary of meeting new faces. That is who I am. But kaybee's roommate, Sarah Pack broke through easier than committing a sin. How? She said something outrageous that made me like her instanteously.

She was saying, "Did you know that ... umm ... I often get free rides on cabs here in New York because of this [she pointed at her breasts]?"

From that point, I was hooked with her. Sarah went on to explain that most of the drivers are Arabs, Indians or dark-skinned guys. They always stared at her big breasts. She said it was such a nuisance but she knew that it excited them as well. Sarah said that they often declined her money to pay for fare. One time, Sarah told me that one guy personally thanked her for riding in his cab. She rolled her eyes and said, "At least, they are happy."

The next night, I was drunk and hungry. Sarah suggested a 24-hour diner on 11 Avenue by 49 Street. Today, the place went out of business. But when we entered the premise, it was cozy. WE munched bacon, sausage strips, eggs, pancakes and fried potatoes. It was fun chatting with Sarah as she mentioned about things in life from 2 AM to 5 AM. It was only the second night after I was formally introduced to her.

Her thoughts, frustrations and aspirations are similar to mine. We were able to change the subjects liberally as things go by. I hate the people who said, "Let's back to this subject ..."

IN fact, Sarah told me she HATED it!

It is no secret that Sarah and I am not in shape like many people. We are out of shape beings who struggled to deal with the issues surrounding ourselves. Sarah did not get big on "purpose". Her medical condition required her to take steroids which caused her to grow by size. Not her fault. I was able to divulge my frustrations on her, and her on me about our appearances.

When I moved to New York, and if I needed a timeout from the daily drama of New York Life, I simply paged Sarah and asked if I could come by and chat. She'd say, "Why bother to ask? Just come!" I ended up staying for hours and one time, for two days in a row.

One time, Sarah paged me to tell me to come over to her place for a dinner. When I arrived at her door, I saw Sarah standing by her apartment door. She said, "Bad news or good news?"

I opted for bad.

"I got locked out."

Good?

"I ordered the food from 9 Avenue diner and they're already here. We are going to eat at [pointing at the neighbor's door]."

I said, "You kid me or what?"

The old irish woman came out of her apartment and motioned us to enter her kitchen where we dined at her kitchen table. Throughout the dinner, we laughed, laughed and laughed about having our dinner at some stranger's home. We stayed about an hour before Kaybee finally got home and opened the door for us.

That is so Sarah. If things comes up in her face, relax -- it'll pass eventually. There are moments that I could not figure out what's going on in New York -- little tidbits that puzzled me. Sarah was there to explain that. I learned to appreciate New York through Sarah. One time she ordered ice cream shakes. I told her that I was not interested. She said, "Trust me on this."

It was homemade ice cream shakes from some restaurant on 9 Avenue It was heavenly. She introduced me to a lot of things and for that, I appreciated her very much.

It was such an unfortunate that three persons I knew and loved, Chanda Smith, Jake Temby and now Sarah Pack are gone. But I like to think that they are somewhere else to prepare one massive party for my Grand Arrival someday.

Yeah, that is probably the reason.

Cheers,

R-