Viewing page 20 of 34

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

(5/20/81 mtg page 3)

204 BE: Job programming, working with hearing workers and also 2 other deaf people. 4 out of 10 fellow workers sign very well. BE teaches ASL class at his work which his colleagues attend. Now Bill gets all the gossip he used to miss.
221 JG: That reminds me of a story _________ used to tell about himself; his fellow workers took pity on him because, being deaf, he couldn't pick up gossip like the others in office; they began stopping by his office to tell him things... pretty soon he was the best-informed guy there!
235 Story from the same man (told by JG): about a stranger who stopped by his office one day with a question that he simply couldn't understand, no matter how often he repeated it. Finally man went and asked the secretary; later out of curiosity he asked sec'y what had been asked: "Where's the exit?" [laughter] JG: He thought he didn't know!
245 BE: I work at the corner of 14th and Independence Ave., where all the tourists pass by. Whenever I go out, I really dread being stopped by someone with a question; I always nod and say "Oh, yeah, down that way." Once in a while they stare at me in a funny way, and I think, Oh, Shoot, they asked me a different question--light, hurry up and change!
257 JG: Story about deaf man stopped by someone with a question.
264 SC: Similar story gotten from Don Pettingill. (At this point everyone agreed that at FAF participants should swap stories when they feel like it, not take long turns.)
278 SC: Return to deaf heroes topic. Asks Bill his favorite deaf hero (general kidding about heroes, how many each person is allotted, Gannon can have 5 or ten, change each day . . .)
299 Bill does his golf ball routine, context first explained by JohnMark
-405 as a family tradition in which JM voices key words to keep audience on track; Bill can begin process anywhere (says he never starts at same place) Begins at factory here, with assembly line. 
409 General talk about golf ball routine. BE: gears it differently to deaf and hearing audiences (e.g. fingerspelling W-I-L-S-O-N around the ball at the factory before deaf audiences). SC: did you learn that from others or invent it yourself? BE: Can't remember; I learned most such things or invented them when I was going to Gallaudet, in the dorm when we were just sitting around with nothing else to do.