I have listened to my pastor talk about doctors, surgeries, and more. He shares the wonderful ways God is with people who are sick or going through difficult times.

Excuse my English; I’m not here to teach or preach. I’m simply writing what I see and hear.

I asked my pastor about the chaplain at the hospital, and he paused for a moment. The question is why people who are religious accept the chaplain instead of their own pastor. No one has the same religion as us. Yet, hospitals always have chaplains and chapels. My pastor explained that people have different religious cultures and beliefs in God. But what about the chaplain?

At the hospital, I encountered people who were Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, and Baptist. They had both a chaplain and a chapel for everyone. It was common for people of all faiths to have a place for their beliefs. After all, there is only one God.

They are the same.

Yours?

DW ~

Blamed? For giving birth to me? Well, you know, some rare babies are born with yellow skin and require special attention.

In the 1970s, there wasn’t an easy way to understand things like technology or medicine. My granny, who was in her late 40s at the time, didn’t know much about these topics. She spent her life working from farm to farm and often blamed her struggles on her heart or a disability. I’m not really sure what she did during those years.

When my mother had me, no one knew what to expect. I was small, and her pregnancy wasn’t big enough for anyone to notice. Here’s a true story: my mother loved banana split ice cream and always ate it on weekends. One weekend, the day before I was born, she made sure to have her ice cream. That Sunday, my parents went to church, and afterward, my mother told my father to take her to the hospital. When they arrived, the nurse looked at her and said it wasn’t time because she was too small. The doctor even told her, “There’s no baby in there.” My mother got angry and said, “Get this baby out of me!” They doubted her but took her to the delivery room anyway—and surprise, I was born! I came out freezing, with yellow skin, and they were shocked and embarrassed because, well, there I was! DUH!

They put me under a special light until my skin turned a normal color. No one knew I was deaf the whole time—they thought I was just a perfectly normal baby. I stayed there for a few days without even having a name! LOL. Finally, they gave me one—whew! All the while, I was accompanied by a song from Barbra Streisand.

About 18 months later, I found out I was completely deaf. My granny started blaming my parents for giving me yellow skin and making me deaf! It was such an innocent event that happened.

My mother wrote that story, but it got lost somewhere, maybe even thrown in the trash. I can’t say for sure.

Bless her heart, my granny passed away when I was 16. I missed her so much. She loved me like her own children and grandchildren. No one knew about her heart issues until after she passed, and since then, most of us have been paying more attention to our family’s heart health. Heart problems seem to come up often now.

Want to know about yellow skin on baby: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22263-jaundice-in-newborns

Want to know about heart: https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/index.htm

Love ya! DW

Are you deaf or Deaf? Why?

I am deaf and I been in hearing world as natural for me. I have some of Deaf culture in my life, too. I would put myself as ‘lowercase d’ in deaf. You know hearing impaired is business word for everything but Deaf against it. I can understand that, but it is business way to say. Science words or medical words alike as Business words. Anyway, here is next.

Deaf is completely Deaf as strong ASL, deaf culture.

The ‘uppercase D’ Deaf is used to describe people who identify as culturally Deaf. They might be actively engaged with the Deaf community. Deaf with a capital D indicates a culture identify for people with hearing loss who share a common culture and who often have a shared sign language.

Big D deaf people are those who are born deaf or experience hearing loss before spoken language is acquired and regard their deafness as part of their identity and culture rather than as a disability.

Better way to say or write “d/Deaf” I know it is hardest thing to write or asking. Both are the same but identify differently.

“Deaf” with capital ‘D’ tends to match most of the following:

Culture Deaf and part of the Deaf community.

Haven’t “lost” anything nor do they like to be labelled “hearing impaired” because it is not medical condition or disability. Deaf is their identify.

Common use of sign language and on most occasions. Their primary language.

Sign language is primary language. English spoken or Foreign spoken is second language.

Fully immersed themselves in the Deaf community.

Attended Deaf school.

Great pride in their Deaf identity.

“deaf” with small ‘d’ tends to match most of the following:

Chooses not or does not associate themselves as part of the Deaf community.

Also had little to no exposure to the Deaf community.

Hearing loss is referred to as a medical condition.

Refer it as a disability.

Gradually lost their hearing and have not yet integrated to the community.

Primary choices of communication are not a sign language.

Integrates with the hearing world and potentially feels more comfortable there.

Does that help? I know I am deaf but not Deaf. I am going to study deaf education at University of Montevallo.

~ DW

My mom and I were talking about my childhood and how I was deaf yet independent. She reminded me that my first time on stage was when I was just 3 years old in Dothan, Alabama, modeling my hearing aids. I told her how I felt walking onto the stage surrounded by strangers—remember, I was only 3! She insisted I was happy and smiling as I came out from the store onto the catwalk, but I told her I was actually confused by all the people. The only person I saw was my dad, kneeling and waving at me. I just stood there smiling as camera flashes went off. The background was so dark I couldn’t see anyone else. I modeled as a toddler for two years, but stopped after I had a golf accident that left a mark on my forehead. My modeling career was mostly about displaying pictures, but my time on stage ended there.

Then she dropped me off at swim lessons like nothing had happened. She told the people there, “Jen will learn from you by watching and copying others.” And yes, it’s true—I learned from others and followed along as I always do.

In Birmingham, Alabama, at Girl Scout camp, she left me like nothing had happened. Hehe. I often had to deal with those kinds of issues with hearing campers, but luckily I found someone who knew sign language to communicate with me. The counselor was about 18 or 20, and I was only around 10! I depended on her all the time, and while I felt bad for her, it was worth it for me to be there and face people like that. At the dance studio, she took me to lessons and left me there with all the girls. The teachers were so shocked because I was deaf! Poor teacher. I followed the girls, a little behind the routine, but I managed to do it.

Both paragraphs are from Alabama.

Dallas, Texas—here it is. I grew up alongside both hearing and deaf kids in the same public schools. I didn’t really experience independence until my 20s. Oh, I remember when my mother told me to go to the store by myself—I was so nervous! I was still young, just a pre-teen, and being an only child, I relied a lot on my parents. I did feel independent when I was in a relationship with my boyfriend during my teenage years, doing the typical teen thing of not listening to my parents, as far as I can remember. My mother was overprotective when I was a teenager—be a good girl… yeah, not exactly!

When I turned 20, I started getting more attention and became independent. I thought I could make it on my own, living in an apartment and having a job. Turns out, it was the wrong decision. I was a bit of a brat for a while—immature and thinking I was independent enough, but I wasn’t. I learned a lot during those years about what’s right and wrong when it comes to independence. I had girls come and go from my life, bringing crazy situations, and I made it through. That taught me a lot, too.

I had wonderful years in St. Louis, MO during my 30s and 40s. I learned to make my own decisions and be independent. My parents lived nearby, and I could reach out to them whenever I needed. I lived in an apartment and managed my finances. After winning a lawsuit against UPS, I bought a home and handled it well. Later, after being laid off, I moved into a condo. Fortunately, my finances were secure thanks to the house and truck. I even traded in my big RAM truck for a car that fit nicely in the condo garage.

Moved back to Alabama, my home state, because my family needs me! Stayed at my parents’ house while staying independent as always. Hearing world or Deaf world?

What about deaf families being independent? I mean an entire family that is deaf, not like mine, since my family is hearing and I’m the only deaf person. How about you?

Smiles ~ DW

Let’s say here. I watched one of movie called First Female Director (2023) by Chelsea Peretti who also director/actor. It was so funny and corny same time. It catches me thinking about who was the first female director? Yeah, ready? Here is it…

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Alice Guy-Blache (1873-1968) was a French pioneer film director. She was one of the first filmmakers to make a narrative fiction film, as well as the first woman to direct a film.

Her quote: There is nothing connected with the staging of a motion picture that a woman cannot do as easily as a man, and there is no reason she cannot master every technicality of the art…In the arts of acting, painting, music, and literature women have long held their place among the most successful workers, and when it is considered how vitally these arts enter into the production of motion pictures one wonders why the names of scores of women are not found among the most successful creators of photodrama offerings – Alice Guy-Blanche in The Moving Picture World, July 11, 1914.

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The First America Woman Film Director is Lois Weber (1879-1939), was an American silent film director, screenwriter, produce and actress. “the most important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films”

Film historian Anthony Slide (1944) has also asserted, “Along with D.W. Griffith (1875-1948), Weber was the American cinema’s first genuine auteur, a filmmaker involved in all aspects of production and one who utilized the motion picture to put across her own ideas and philosophies”.

Just wanted to be said, “HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY”

~ DW