Special Guest Speaker

This year for our special talk our ASL congregation invited a special speaker. He was not a Bethelite, but apparently was on the Bethel Speaker list.  Jesse and his wife were sent to our congregation for the annual special talk.

The talk was excellent material, but even better, it was excellently delivered.  Apparently I could only upload 15 seconds of the 1 1/2 minutes I recorded on my phone. 

Jesse and his wife were featured, among other brothers and sisters, on the ASL version of the drama "What is True Love?" If you have the opportunity to watch it, they are the couple who waited to marry.  The brother, Jesse, played "the nerd" brother.  

Both of them were very sweet and friendly.  They enjoyed meeting all the brothers and sisters in the congregation.  I hope that we will see them again in another drama. The ASL dramas tend to have the same people in them year after year because of their excellent signing skills, and the fact that they live near the Branch and recording studios.  

Deaf Poetry

Recently after a meeting at the Kingdom Hall, I was able to have lunch with the visiting speaker and his wife.  This brother who gave the talk was Hearing, his wife was Hard of Hearing, much like I am, although she did not wear hearing aids.  Both have been attending sign language meetings for about 20 years, so both are very skilled in the language.

In the conversation, the subject of ASL and signing songs during our meetings came up.  The speaker asked me if I noticed that the last  song on Wednesday night, a brand new song, was signed in the ABC format of poetry.  I told him I did not notice it, but thought the song was odd and hard to sign.  He then demonstrated how the song was signed, using the ABC format.  Signing with this method would make the song easy to remember and fun to sign at the meeting.

 This song can be viewed on the jw.org website under American Sign Language (you can change the language at the top right of the page), find the picture of the Song Book, open up the link, then scroll down to the very last song on that download.  If you are at all familiar with ASL, you will see each letter shape signed as the song progresses.  The chorus of the song will be in the 1,2,3 format, so it will be signed 1,2,3,4,5,5,4,3,2,1.jw.org

This song made me  appreciate sign language so much more, as a REAL language, having actual poetry, not just words or facial expressions to get the point across.

There are other sign language poetic formats that the Watchtower Bible and Tract society have used in their songs.  One that I really enjoy watching is the use of only one handshape throughout the whole song.  One needs to be skilled in the language to invent a song or story using only one handshape or classifier.  This format was taught in my advanced ASL college class.

This is a quote from another blog about this poetic form of signing:  "A fun thing to do with the sign language alphabet is to make up an "ABC story." ABC stories use each letter of the sign alphabet to represent something. For example, the "A" handshape is used to "knock" on a door.  ABC stories are used as entertainment and as an educational tool to develop Deaf children's language. Deaf studies and sign language classes frequently include ABC stories. ABC stories are considered to be one aspect of ASL literature, or ASL storytelling."    http://deafpah.blogspot.com/2012/07/lots-of-asl-poetry-abc-123-stories.html

How the Deaf Think

Those of us who were born Hearing and went to a school for hearing children learned language differently from those who are born Deaf.  The Deaf think in pictures.  The above picture is an example of a new publisher Brother, his talk notes for a #1 Bible "Reading"  in our Theocratic School. (Yes, we have Bible Reading talks too.  Attend an ASL meeting and find out how we do it.) I only saw one English word on that page. Amazing!!  He knows EXACTLY what he's going to "read" to the congregation.  Is this above example the same as what another Deaf person would draw for the same scriptures?  Probably not.  Each individual would "gloss" their talk differently.  When I gloss a scripture or paragraph, my "gloss" is very personal, what my mind is thinking and how I would understand the translation of that scripture or paragraph.  I would have a tendency to use more words, since my mind was taught to use the written word from childhood.  I love the written word, but I wish I could think in pictures too.

True or False?

All Deaf in the U.S. can read English.
All Deaf in the U.S. learned and use American Sign Language
All Deaf in the U.S. attended Deaf schools
ASL is a signed translation of English
Sign Language is not a real language, it's just acting out what you want to say
Sign Language is universal, so all Deaf people can communicate the same around the world

The answer to all of the above statements is........FALSE!

1. All Deaf persons in the U.S. cannot necessarily read English, or read at all.  And yet most get along very well in this world.  They enjoy life, go to eat in restaurants, learn a skill, work, have families, etc.

2. All Deaf persons in the U.S. have not learned ASL and not all can use it.  Some Deaf were made to attend Hearing schools.  Some Deaf have no formal education at all.  Some Deaf only use "Home Sign", which is a sign language used in that person's home to help them communicate with members of their family.

3. Not all Deaf attended Deaf schools. Some never attended school at all, some were forced to attend hearing schools and depended on lip reading and help from others.  This doesn't mean a deaf person who did not attend school is not intelligent.  Actually, they might me more intelligent than the average hearing person.  They have to figure out life without a real language.  We know of a man in our congregation that, up until a couple years ago, never learned sign language, but grew up, held down a job, had friends, and communicated with others.

4. ASL is NOT a translation of English.  It's just not.  It is based on English words, but is a language all it's own.

5. Sign Language is a real language, with grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and anything else that is involved with a language. The language is made up of physical movement or your hands and body, but also VERY much includes facial expression.  Sometimes the facial expression is all you need to get your point across.  But there are rules of grammar in forming sentences, just like any other language.

6. Sign Language is NOT universal.  There are dozens of official sign languages around the world. Some countries take up American Sign Language because more has been published using ASL.  But many countries take pride in developing their own official sign language.

Most of you reading this blog know that some (soon all) of our New World Translation Bible is translated in video form in ASL.  This is how we study our Bible, in video form.  Check out the Bible and other publications we have in ASL  on jw.org, change your language in the upper right corner to American Sign.  Find a scripture in the Bible that is very familiar to you, then watch the ASL video and see if you can figure out what sign is what. Also, I invite any of you to attend an ASL meeting at a Kingdom Hall near you.  You will not be disappointed!!  It's very entertaining, if not anything else.  But sign language is not there to entertain. It's a way to communicate.

We truly feel blessed and cherished by our God Jehovah that the Governing Body would care enough about our Deaf brothers and sisters to translate the Bible and other publications in ASL, as well as other sign languages.

As always, your comments are appreciated.

English Assembly

Since John missed so much of our ASL assembly, we decided to take in some of the same assembly in English.  So what was different?

First thing both of us noticed that, as people started assembling inside the auditorium after lunch, it started getting noisy.  We forgot how noisy hearing people are.  :) ASL assemblies and meetings are sometimes eerily quiet, with a few spoken voices here and there, but very quiet.  And during the meetings, very quiet.  I do find it very calming and soothing during the ASL meetings.  

Second thing:  ASL is very entertaining. English sometimes is kind of boring.  No offense.  Maybe it was the speakers.  But even John looked over at me during one of the talks and signed "English boring."

It was nice to hear the last talk given by the Bethel speaker in English. Even though I completely understood the same talk in ASL, and understood that the very same information was given, the illustrations the brother used were very clear to me, and the urgency of the talk, about how the scriptures say we are all responsible to be peacemakers in the congregation.  But I did understand, in ASL and English, that it's our personal responsibility to maintain peace in the congregation.  Wonderful reminders!

Though we didn't know anyone at that assembly, it was nice to hear our "native" language being spoken by people around us, even if conversation wasn't directed to us, we didn't have to think about what people were trying to say.  Sometimes at ASL conventions and meetings, we are so conscious about signing our thoughts that we miss hearing the words.  It's difficult to explain.  I love ASL as a language, and I'm learning to love the culture (some things still hard to accept), but I still love the English language.  When it comes to "reading" the Watchtower and Awake magazines, as well as the other publications we have, I don't so much enjoy reading them, but really enjoy listening to them while driving around town.

In June we have our Regional Convention in Norco CA and Fairfield CA. Both conventions are in June, within one week of each other.  I can only imagine that both conventions will have the same Bethel speakers traveling from South (Norco) to North (Fairfield).  Since I will be attending one or two days in Norco, and all three days in Fairfield, I'll let you know if the same speakers attended both conventions.

Circuit Assembly

Yesterday was our Circuit Assembly, or as we call it in ASL "1-day assembly" .  There were over 800 in attendance, which includes parts of two circuits.  Our circuit's congregations include as far South as Fresno, as far North as Santa Rosa, East Modesto and/or Stockton, West San Francisco, and everything in between that area.  But our A part of the circuit, which is South of Fresno, attends Norco Assembly Hall. We have never met with them.

The other circuit included Oregon, and Northern California (Redding, Chico).  I met several new friends from Oregon, so it will be nice to see them again in June for our Regional Convention, and I always enjoy the talks from the C.O. who serves that circuit.

    As always our Circuit Assembly was a "a banquet of rich dishes, ...of fine wine" (Isaiah 25:6).  Our special speaker was a Brother Dunbar from Bethel.  His last talk about Seeking Peace and Pursue It was just excellent , reminding us that it is our job personally to keep the peace in the congregation, always giving our brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt, taking it upon ourselves to apologize, even if we are in the right.  In other words, Humility at all times, and self-control.  Always good reminders, for sure.  

Our newest elder, who happens to also be Deaf, Quang Nguyen, had two parts in the assembly.  One was the talk right after lunch that includes interviews.  (I still find interviews difficult to understand, since the conversation goes back and forth too quickly, and everyone has their own "accent" to the language).  His second part was a soliloquy within a talk about taking offense, being too sensitive, not harboring resentment, and forgiving our brothers faults or mistakes toward us. He did so well, I'm very proud of him.  Some of you might wonder why I mentioned that he is Deaf, why that would matter.  He is one of the reasons why brothers like John have moved over to the ASL congregation, to help train "native" brothers like Quang to take the lead in the congregation.  The Deaf relate better to an elder who is Deaf and have experienced the Deaf culture first hand.  It would be the same in any culture.

At lunch we sat across from a young mother with three children who just 8 months before joined the ASL congregation in Auburn, as well as a Deaf woman who was a new publisher, or as they are called in ASL a "person preaching not-yet baptized" (there's no sign or specific word for Unbaptized Publisher, only a description of what it actually is, and that's exactly what Unbaptized Publisher is).  The Deaf woman informed me that she had been studying for many years, but was thinking about being baptized this summer, in June.  Can I count my time for chatting with her at lunch?  I think I can.

A lovely day, all in all.  Can't wait for our Regional Convention in June.  Hopefully the "person preaching not-yet baptized" will be one of our new sisters!!!  Well see!

Visiting the Walnut Creek/Oakland Satellite Meeting

Sorry, no pictures this time, but I wanted to write about our visit to Walnut Creek Kingdom Hall.

The Oakland Sign Language Congregation has been meeting on Saturday afternoons, the first Saturday of each month, in the Walnut Creek Kingdom Hall.  This was the first time we attended at this new arrangement.  Wow, so glad we did!!

The Public Talk was given by one of the former Watchtower translators.  I love watching a sign language talk given by a "native" speaker, or signer.  This brother is, what is called, a CODA (child of a Deaf Adult).  The talk was great, about how we need three things:  Communication, education, and association, to maintain our spirituality.

Before and after the meeting we were able to chat a bit with some old friends, meet some new friends.  But since it had been a long day for us, attending two meetings, not having lunch yet, we decided to go home and make dinner.

I did meet a very nice Deaf sister, about the same age as me, who is a good friend of Jane Sweet.  I'm hoping in the near future this new sister, Jane, and I can get together for some chatting.

We plan to try to attend again.  It's good practice to be around more Deaf people, and also, since Oakland is trying to move their meetings to Walnut Creek, we are seriously considering the move also.  So if we get to know people now in the congregation, it will be an easier transition for us.

Deaf Nation Expo event

For the past several years, even before we joined Milpitas ASL, the congregation has participated in Deaf Nation Expo in Pleasanton CA.  Many of you might be wondering what Deaf Nation Expo is?  It is an annual event that takes place at one of the exhibit halls at the Alameda Fair Grounds.  This event has services, churches, and, businesses that cater to the Deaf community. You might wonder how the Deaf community differs from the Hearing community when it comes to products and services?  Well, how do hearing people wake up on time in the morning in order to get to work on time?  Easy, an alarm clock with either an annoying alarm or music.  But the Deaf can't hear.....so there are special alarm clocks for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.  These consist of a vibrator that you can set under your pillow or mattress to vibrate the bed to wake you, or very bright lights (but obviously this doesn't work very well).  There are many specialized products made specifically for the Deaf, and since this group are a small in number, some of these products and services are hard to find.

There are other products and services directed to the Deaf community: Sign Language movies (not closed caption, but movies where the actors are signing), jewelry, T-shirts, keychains, books, etc.  Also at the Expo there are tables and areas rented offering services to the Deaf community, such as interpreting, legal, religious, real estate, cell phones, etc.  There are some very savvy business persons that learn sign language for no other reason that to further their business. Every year there is a Real Estate agent that sets up a table.  The Deaf community have a difficult time trusting people in the Hearing community. But the Deaf community like to talk about people that sign, who they can trust. So if a person is a real estate agent, car salesperson, bank executive, etc., the Deaf will tell each other about that person and go to them when they need a house, car, etc.  I'm pretty sure that the Real Estate agent we see every year does a good business dealing with Deaf clients. Smart man.

So Jehovah's Witnesses, our Milpitas ASL congregation, sets up a table every year.  We have 2 TV's going with our videos (either the Bible, tracts, or dramas), large printed signs advertising JW.org, and usually those invited to sit behind the tables bring their iPad's and set them on the table in front of them, showing visitors how accessible JW Sign Language app is and what it can do for them.  Also set out are sign language DVD's and a sign-up sheet just in case they would like a visit from us to their home.

We don't have the numbers in yet, but we heard that the DVD's were not moving as much as  in past events, but the JW.org tract was moving like hotcakes. The Deaf LOVE their smartphones. They LOVE apps that are directed specifically to the Deaf. This is exactly why JW Sign Language app was developed. This is how Deaf Jehovah's Witnesses and Hearing Witnesses that attend sign language meetings do our personal study. Very few of us still use DVD's in our TV's or computers.

Another nice thing about Deaf Nation Expo is that we ALWAYS see many of the friends from other local congregations visiting the event. So it was very nice to see brothers and sisters from Oakland, San Francisco, Modesto, Stockton, as well as other Deaf who are not Jehovah's Witnesses that we have met in the past. Every year I look for both of my ASL college professors, but have never seen them. John always runs into a nice man that he works with at Toyota named David. He's always friendly and happy to see us.

We didn't stay too long at the event, but we did enjoy the time we were there, and we are always proud of the witness made by our JW table.