Is Your City Deaf-Friendly?

Dear Fookem and Bug visitors,

Deaf411 recently announced project called “Deaf-Friendly Cities in the U.S.”, there is a signed video with open captions at www.deaf411online.com/9.html, with online survey. We encourage you to see the video and take the survey. Share our experiences & thoughts as Deaf411 will do a “Deaf-Friendly Cities in the U.S.” report in about 6 months and will make it available to anyone at no cost!

DEAF-FRIENDLY CITIES IN THE U.S. website – www.deaf411online.com/9.html

Jimactor’s China Vacation (Part 3)

By Jimactor

Summary: We visited Beijing No. 1 Carpet Factory. We visited the Changling Tomb ( 3rd Ming Tombs, burial site of 13 Ming Dynasty emperors.) Our route to the tombs takes us along the scenic avenue called the Way of the Spirit. We explored the Great Wall with our own paces. Interview with Davin Searls. He works in China as ASL teacher. Cultural Learning Experience: Beijing Pearl factory with Presentation on how fresh water pearls are produced

HOVRS Event in Chicago

By JFLMad

Hands On VRS (HOVRS) will be showing The Deaf Family movie in Elmhurst, IL on May 31st, 2008. Also you will get a chance to see the future of VRS! Come and find out yourself! Of course the admission is free and will serve hors d’oeuvres!!

Please RSVP!! Seating is limited!!!

The location: The Hub at Berens Park, 493 Oaklawn Ave, Elmhurst, IL 60126. The Hub is located off of West Avenue, Just south of Lake St. and north of North Ave.

Become full HOVRS purple member! HOW???? Contact Jason Lomanto at jlomanto@hovrs.com or videophone at 773-561-3134

Please spread it to your friends and family!

Jimactor’s China Vacation (Part 2)

By Jimactor

Summary: We visited Beijing Disabled Art School. ‘My Dream’ gave China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe by Art Director President, Tai Lihua.

To be continued…

Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service.

To all that have served or are now in service….a heartfelt ” Thank you” on this Memorial Day!

Fookem, Bug, JFLMad, & Jimactor

To read the history of Memorial Day, please click: http://fookembug.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/the-history-of-memorial-day/

Interview with Four Deaf Yorkshiremen Writer, Producer & Director

“Four Deaf Yorkshiremen” DVD & two glossy photos of the Deaf Yorkshiremen

Charlie Swinbourne

By Bug

How a friendly character with a talent for Four Deaf Yorkshiremen became one of the biggest, funniest hits on the Web.

 Charlie Swinbourne? Who’s he? He is a director, writer, and producer of Four Deaf Yorkshiremen, how many of you watched his funny Deaf British film? See a free sample movie below….the actors use British Sign Language, exclusive subtitled preview of 10 minute Deaf short film.

Last week I contacted Charlie in United Kingdom and asked if I could interview him. He happily accepted to share about his experience with us about his films. He was raised in a Deaf enivornment, everyone in his family is Deaf but his father is Hard of hearing.  DVD is on sale for £11 ($22 to Americans), if you are interested in buying or need more information, contact Charlie at  director.charlie@googlemail.com

How many films did you make? when were they made? Why did you write them and did you win any awards?

I have made two films, Coming Out, which I created and wrote, and Four Deaf Yorkshiremen, which I directed as well as writing and producing.

Both films were released in 2007. Coming Out went on to win European awards in France and Finland, which was amazing, and gave me the confidence to make Four Deaf Yorkshiremen afterwards, directing for the first time!

Coming Out was written from the heart, about deaf identity, and it was something I felt I had to say about acceptance and truth. Four Deaf Yorkshiremen was more written for fun, I wanted the deaf community to have some comedy out there, on You Tube, for anyone to see at any time!

What is the hard part being as a film maker?

It takes a long time to make a film, first you need an idea, then a script, then filming, editing, releasing. Everything takes ages and filming is very slow!

When we made Four Deaf Yorkshiremen, we all worked for free and made no money at all, we made it because we were passionate about giving the film to the community. We released it on YouTube so everyone could see it, and we are all proud it has got over 60,000 views, which is remarkable, beyond our wildest dreams.

What was your first film?

Coming Out was my first film. It was funny because I had the idea three years ago, then it took three years for me to ask someone to make it, so it had been in my head for a long time before it got onto screen!

Are you producer, writer, and actor? How long?

I am a writer, director, and producer. I recently also wrote a play, called ‘Lipstick and Lollipops’ which is now touring the UK with a deaf theatre company, Deafinitely Theatre, you can see more information here: http://deafinitelytheatre.co.uk

Four Deaf Yorkshiremen’ is one of many interesting film. I assume that Yorkshire is a name of former county of northern England.

“Four Deaf Yorkshiremen’ is one of many interesting films. I assume that Yorkshire is a name of former county of northern England. Why did you pick the name as”Yorkshiremen” for your film?

The film is based on a classic comedy sketch called ‘Four Yorkshiremen’, which was performed by Monty Python, which made it very famous. This film was inspired by that sketch, so I just added ‘Deaf’ to the title, to show where the film first came from. The film is a new script for the deaf actors, focused on their deaf family, so it is original, but it has that original connection to something before, so the name shows that well.

More about Yorkshire, well, Yorkshire is a place in England which is in the north far from London. It’s a beautiful area with a lot of countryside, where there are honest northern people who are ’straight talking’ and traditional, they have strong values and tell you exactly what they think! It’s a place which a lot of English people have fond memories or dreams of, hopefully we feel that in the film!

Is everyone in your films Deaf?

Yes the actors in Four Deaf Yorkshiremen were all deaf, there was also a deaf cameraman, deaf make up artist, and a deaf production company called Remark! helped us. So it was all very deaf! Coming Out had one hearing actor, who played the mother, most of the crew were also deaf.

Who are the actors in Four Deaf Yorkshiremen?

The four stars of Four Deaf Yorkshiremen are:

John Smith – a well known deaf comedian in the UK
Ilan Dwek – a well known deaf actor with credits in TV and theatre
Matt Kirby – deaf actor from deaf films and TV
Jonathan Reid – deaf director and actor

Are they from UK?

They are all English, I believe they all went to deaf school, I’m sure they did!

Are you Deaf? If so, how did you become Deaf? From Deaf family? Tell a little bit about yourself…

I am hard of hearing, I come from a deaf family, my mother is profoundly deaf, my father is hard of hearing. My two brothers are deaf as well. So we had a lot of deaf culture growing up. We were all born deaf and sign to each other in a way that we can understand!

How many and what languages do you know? (example, English, BSL, ASL, etc)

I know BSL and English, and I am terrible at German and French, I failed both at school! I couldn’t hear it very well!

Do you have the website ? If you sell the dvd, how much?

Website: http://deafinitelytheatre.co.uk/ 

We are selling the DVD for £11 ($22) to Americans, they can email director.charlie@googlemail.com to order a copy, thanks! The DVD has photo gallery, the film, trailers, deleted scenes and a DVD menu, plus two glossy photos of the men!

The important thing is we are not making a profit from the DVD! The DVD sale is to fund the second film in the series, which we think will be called ‘The Return of the Four Deaf Yorkshiremen’ or something like that!

Like our site?

I LOVE the site! It’s great to see how deaf Americans have built up an online community which I think we could do more in the UK. You have a sense of fun, which is great, and I admire what you have done – in fact, I’m honoured to be on the site!

Miss Deaf World

By Bug

Last year Miss Deaf World 2007 was held on July 14 2007 in Prague, Czech Republic. The contest was organised by s.r.o, the Czech Model Management agency. A total of 19 girls from 19 countries competed in the annual contest, with the title of first vice-miss going to Kristina Weber from Germany and the second going to Neonila Kudlic from Ukraine. 25-year-old Chinese girl Bao Qingling was crowned Miss Deaf World 2007 in the Miss Deaf World competition.

This year Miss Deaf World 2008 will take place in Prague, the Czech Republic from June 30, 2008 to July 13, 2008. For more information, go to http://www.czechmodel.cz/2008.html

Here’s list of contestants who were in the the contest last year:

Miss Australia Ljiljana Stefanovic, 16

Miss Bulgary Marija Delcevska, 18

Miss Canada Knar Adourian, 24

Miss China Bao Quing Ling, 25

Miss Congo Mansouela Dezzy Ruth, 22

Miss Czech Caroline Hyklova, 18

Miss Great Britain Kellie Moody, 23

Miss Germany Kristina Weber, 21

Miss Ghana Mabel Adjei Mintah, 24

Miss Lithuania Laura Valyte, 24

Miss Macedonia Radmila Peric, 18

Miss New Zealand Hayley Jackson, 24

Miss Poland Kasia Galasiewicz, 23

Miss Serbia Bojana Prodanovic, 24

Miss Slovakia Daniela Majernikova, 23

Miss South Africa Terneil Nicole Oppel, 19

Miss Ukraine Neonila Kudlic, 18

Miss Zambia, Eviance Chanda, 17

Miss Zimbabwe Aydrey Chakara, 24

To read more about last year contest, click: http://www.missdeafworld.com/ . Here’s three videos I found for you to enjoy.

Disaster Photos

By Fookem and Bug

Tornadoes slammed northern Colorado. There were no sirens, but people saw the strange weather as the black clouds moved fast Just before noon, they watched as a massive tornado, almost a mile wide, came bearing down on Windsor, Colorado. Damage stretches for miles. In town, trees lay on homes. A hundred homes were damaged. This is going to take a lot of work to clean up, Help is pouring in from across the state. Law enforcement agencies and construction workers have taken over the town. To read more about this, go to http://fookembug.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/a-massive-tornado-tore-into-the-northern-colorado/

A Massive Tornado Tore into the Northern Colorado

By Bug

The town of Windsor and nearby towns such as Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, etc. hit hard by the tornado Thursday damaging many homes and businesses. Imagine you are Deaf relaxing at home and don’t know that tornado coming toward you because you can’t hear the siren. Is it scary? I have a Deaf friend who slept while the tornado was hitting the town. After she woke up and walked to her front door to get her newspaper. When she opened and noticed her neighbor’s house was not there and her front tree was gone too. People who are deaf would not hear a tornado coming until they could feel the vibration and of course it would be too late then, nor could they listen to the radio or any other source of weather information that requires hearing. I admit that I sometime keep my eyes open for any kind of nasty weather because I know I would never get the alert message right away. We don’t have many tornados because it is very unsual to see this by a mountain range. Unfortunately, not many towns have tornado sirens or think they need them.

I woke up and wondered why my room was so dark in the morning. I looked out of my bedroom window but all I saw was the black sky. I turned my computer on to check the local news. The national weather service in Denver had issued a severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch. I sent a warning notice to my Deaf friends and let them know that we are under a tornado warning watch. One of my friends said, ” I’m not worried. I’m used to tornados back home.” I replied teasing Vanessa, ” How nice of me to let you know in case you don’t want to lose your wig.” I think she didn’t realize how bad tornado was. A one hour later Vanessa said ” I keep my eyes on my cats they were acting up due to tornado warning. If it happens. I grab them with me to the bathroom. It’s safe because no windows”.

My past American Sign Language (ASL) student Jessie sent me a wireless email asking if I’m okay. I told her that we are still under the tornado watch. “This weather is insane! There was a tornado in Windsor. Have you heard anything about Fort Collins? We’re in lock down at school”, said Jessie. I told her that I might not be able to use my sidekick to send or recieve the emails because of no power

I was concerned about my friend Tim’s parents because they live in the area where the tornoado hit. I sent my text message asking if his parents were safe. Tim replied, ” My parents are good. My dad made it through but his work building (shop) trashed. Everyone had time to make it to shelter. Hope the company can rebuild. Roof gone. Doors gone,”

Another email came from my friend Cindy. She wrote” Hey, where were you today during the “fun” weather? The tornado touched down north of the Budweiser plant and came towards my school in Wellington. My school lost all of its power. We had the kids in the hallway for almost 2 hours. It was so loud…sounded like a train was on top of the school. We sang to the kids so they wouldn’t hear how bad it was. “

A several cars were overturned and a train was derailed. The town is littered with wreckage of roofs, beaten cars, and torn up trees. Some homes are halfway torn out. More than 200 poles were brought down by the tornadoes. About 60,000 people were still without power at 4 p.m. It’s terrible and sad for some of these people. The total number of injured is unknown, but I was told that least 100 people were treated for a variety of injuries.

I saw a damaged atm machine next to the bank. Also the bank is destroyed. I was told there were reports of injuries in the area where children at a daycare received minor scratches. Roughly 130 kids were in the daycare and they hid in a bank vault for safety. None of the children were injured, but several cars suffered heavy damage near the building.

Hundreds of people were left homeless today after a tornado ripped through residential streets in. Also, many birds were beside the fallen trees. I think the birds were trying to figure out where they needed to go since their little homes (nests) were gone. It’s like the homeless people tried to figure out like the birds.

The dogs were wandering around. Some of them sat in front of their owners’ destroyed home as they waited for their owners. I walked by their houses and looked for anyone missing. One victim said, ” My house is gone, I lost my dog. I lost my cats. I lost my camper. I lost everything.”

I took many good pictures and will post them soon. The videos you are about to watch contains footage of an incident in which many places were destroyed and damaged. Except one of videos (tornado on T.V.) was not made by me. I want to show you what the tornado did to the town.

If you are looking for information about the welfare of those impacted by the tornadoes, log onto www.redcross.org.

UPDATED: to view my pictures, click: http://fookembug.wordpress.com/2008/05/23/disaster-photos/

Seven Tornadoes Hit Near Bug’s Home

Written by Fookem

I was alerted when Bug sent me the tornado warning message this afternoon about (1pm CST). A few minutes later, he sent me another message saying, the large tornado reported on ground north of Denver and another one about 8 miles northeast where he lives. He said the storm is moving and see clouds moving so fast. ‘Video it’, I said.

He walked through the site and took some pictures and video it, too. His home is fine. ‘Still shocked’, he said. More stories will be coming soon from Bug. Stay tuned.