three handouts- week 2

       The first short story, Learning My Native Language, was a wonderful heartfelt recollection of Ms. Stocker's life and how she coped with her hearing deficiency. She makes her story sound so human and so vulnerable, I really feel for her as she is telling about her childhood and growing up in the hearing world. It breaks my heart when i see that she struggled with such isolation and frustration. when you can quite hear what is going on or are unable to make out the context clues it make interacting within the world you live in so unbelievably difficult and exasperating. i love how she leads us through her pitfalls and successes throughout her life, she makes sure to show her successes and explain how she was able to overcome.  i appreciate her ending her story with her acceptance of her limitations and who she had come to be while learning to ask for help or accommodations that lead her to be able to join in life more fully.

       -Ashley Esteva

       The second story/ poem, The Hands of My Father, the father's life seems to be such a simple one, a life of solidarity and solace however when the child introduces themselves into the story the silence of the father is different than what the child describes the silence being for themselves. the child seems to see themselves as a nuisance to the father because the do not quite understand each other's perspectives. however when the child says that they would go to their father even though he has passed away really shows how much the child really loved the father even though they had their differences, they shared a bond in silence- even though their silences were different.

     -Ashley Esteva

       The third story, Recollections, was unlike the previous two stories and really reflected on the pride that the author had for her Deaf heritage and she so loved ASL and the beauty it brought to her life. her memories were so vivid and unmistakable. it was as if she was telling her life story with the colors and majesty of ASL without actually signing her story. i really enjoy feeling involved with the memories of her elementary school experience all the way through to her time at Gallaudet University. her pride for her native language is unmistakable and so admirable she came to terms with the fact that she loved her native language so much that she would rather live with ASL and in the Deaf community so fully that she didn't want to have speech therapy or marry outside of her culture. it was a refreshing look at someones life.

       -Ashley  Esteva