With the XX Games of the Winter Olympiad now officially two days over, I’m still thinking of the ups and downs, hair-pulling, edge-of-your-seat, groans-and-moans moments.

Bode. Kwan. Tanith. The Flying Tomato. Shani and Chad. The Olympics had its plate full of memorable moments. USA reported that the recent Olympics resulted in the highest medal tally ever on foreign soil. 25 medals: 9 gold, 9 silver, 7 bronze. That’s a good haul, considering the leading contender, Germany, had 29, and a record 26 different countries earned at least one medal.

The media deplored the failures of the Olympians. I beg to differ — somewhat.

USA ruled the snowboarding events. Of course, we better. We’re the country that invented the sport. From the twin gold and silver domination of the men’s and women’s halfpipe to the two medals in the new event of snowboardcross (think BMX racing, but on a snowboard), USA got 5 of the 12 medals available. That’s nearly 50%. Impressive, not a failure.

Speedskating got a bunch of medals, especially 5 medals in-between the Chad Hendrick and Shani Davis feud. Not to mention Apolo Anton Ohno’s (don’t women go nutso over his soul patch?) three medals and the startling and powerful finish to the 500 meter short track race last Saturday, in which Ohno got his first gold of these games.

Tanith and Ben earned USA’s first medal in ice dancing (think Dancing with the Stars, but on ice) since 1976. Fascinating, considering on December 30, Tanith was a citizen of Canada.

Oh…did y’all see the Closing Ceremonies? Isn’t Vancouver mayor Sam Sullivan amazing? If the faithful citizens of Vancouver could re-elect Sullivan to three terms while accepting his quadriplegic status, I stand up and applaud their respect for his political acumen and saavy — not pity over his disability.

What was pathetic? Ice hockey. No medal for the first time in however long… probably before I was born.

Bode and his 0 for naught effort. His rallying cry “I don’t care about medals,” my ass. joinbode.com ranks second on my list of Olympic marketing failures, behind Dan and Dave from Reebok, circa 1992. Bode, be honest for once. You were out of shape. Pathetic. Every time you completed an event, you were gasping for breath. Maybe the 136 races you competed in last year’s World Cup circuit drained your energy. I want to see redemption in 2010.

Bobsledding had a chance for medals. We only mustered silver in the women’s 2-man (wait, I just realized that is sexist…how about 2-person?) bobsledding. We didn’t fare much better in skeleton and luge. I’d just love to go down an ice chute 80 miles per hour with my face inches from the surface. Talk about a huge chin strawberry.

Also disappointing was the number of viewers. Three TV shows outnumbered the viewers that the Olympics had. When I asked other MARC riders, most of them said they caught the action on live webcasts or on Internet clips, and didn’t want to stay up late when the event had already been half-over. I can’t blame them…6 hours difference is a big difference.

2010 should be better. We have a 3 hour difference, just like living on the West Coast. (2010 Winter Olympics are in Vancouver, Canada).

Allison and I were so dedicated to watching at least a few hours of the highlights every night, we even disregarded our customary Netflix weekends. We’re paying the price now.

At least I know that we’re not one of these people who did the below:

Knowing that I love alpine events, especially with fantasizing of making the USA Deaflympics team as a teenager, I can only dream. Plus it’s the only chance I can get to see snow around my snowphobic wife who shudders at the sight of a single snowflake. Why can’t the Olympics be every year?

Our very own Bobby Cox has written a story for one of Washington, D.C.’s leading blogs. This DCist story reviews the heady climate of crime around the Gallaudet campus, using last week’s mugging as a jumping-off point.

For some perspective, I immediately asked Gallaudetians on my buddy list how they felt about it, and the first to respond was Carrie Kobek Pezzarossi. “[I’m] disgusted, mostly. These muggers abused their access to ASL for ill-gotten gains. I am also concerned because just how much did these muggers know about the Deaf individual - how did they know he was Deaf and where did they have access to this person’s address? Are these thieves aware of other Deaf people who live in the area?”

Should Gallaudet officials be taking an active role in cleaning up the neighborhood around its gilded campus, given that many of their students live there? As Carrie said, “Safety is a right all people deserve regardless of their academic or hearing status.”

I’ve always noticed the absence of GU banners being draped from light poles along nearby streets. We see it around GWU, Howard University, and American University. Why not Gallaudet? Being “involved” with the surrounding community doesn’t have to stop with just a name on a metro station.

In other musings, how many people here think GUAA is one funny acronym? GUAAAA! GUAAAA!

Check out this fun anagram of the Washington Metro map.

So, let’s see. Every morning, I get on the metro at Mop Advocate, riding on either the Lube Neil or Reign Alone, change lines at Retro Cement and hop onto the Red Lien to my work at Oak Mat.

I’m sure glad that I moved out of Ripened Fish Thighs before they changed around all the letters. It is freaky how accurate some of those new names are. I think the best one is the airport station, renamed Ghost Nonagenarian Drawl Irrational to Nap. Pretty apropos.

I tip toe around this issue, and that’s being deaf.

That’s just because I don’t want to offend anyone who might take it wrong. My being deaf is not the first thing I identify myself as who I am. But why? I should have deaf pride. Blame it on my parents. Well, no, don’t do that. They’re the ones who put me in a deaf school from the time I was born, then in 6th grade I was begging to be put in a public school. They even had a monthly get together with all the parents in the Frederick area who had deaf kids. So no, don’t blame it on my parents. Blame it on me.

I don’t even call myself hard of hearing (I’ve always HATED that term). When I do bring it up, I’ll say I’m deaf. But it’s weird to say that because I talk fairly well. I can understand people 75% of the time, and I might be able to lip read. So I get away with being “hearing.”

This is how I live: the people I’m around are mostly hearing. My roommates are hearing. I hang out with them often. But we always have a blast. One knows some fingerspelling, so if I miss something, she’ll try to get me to understand. I work in a hearing environment, but I’m on the computer most of the time. 90% of the people at work don’t even realize I’m deaf. They don’t see the hearing aids. If they start talking to me, and I don’t answer, they might think I’m a snob. My boss has intervened when people make comments that I didn’t answer them back and tells them that I’m deaf, so I probably didn’t hear them. My family’s hearing except for my sister. I talk to them, if I don’t understand anything, they will sign. But with my sister, we will sign to each other and I also try to sign to her kids too.

I do have my moments where I wish wish wish a thousand times that I could at least understand people on the phone. That, I know would make my life easy. I could just call up anyone I wanted, and most of all, I could talk to my dad on the phone without him ending up saying, “never mind.” Other than that, I’m really okay with not hearing as much as hearing people. After all, I get to sleep in absolute bliss (the trains run by my house every day).

When I meet a new person, sometimes I’ll say I’m deaf, but I don’t always bring it up (it just doesn’t occur to me). I make it clear that I can hear a lot of stuff, but it doesn’t mean I understand everything. Most people have no problems with that, and sometimes will even ask me questions about it.

I can’t label myself as a deaf woman. Yes, it’s a part of me, but it’s not who I am.

The Bureau of Land Management is a government agency that is responsible for managing all 261+ million acres of public land in the United States. Their mission is to sustain the basic health and diversity of public land for present and future use (Wikipedia). Unfortunately, they’re not doing their job anymore.

The Washington Post reports that, apparently, energy needs are more important to the agency than any other criteria, such as the health or diversity of wildlife. It’s wildlife biologists are being put to work filling out oil drilling applications. This is a very disturbing development, and does coincide with the world’s growing need for energy. Within a few years, many sources report, we will really start having energy supply issues.

So, not only do we have the DC/MD/VA area’s lax management of the Chesapeake Bay, but also, layered on top of that, the Bureau of Land Management’s poor “management” of public land. With the increase of city and federal governmental abuses of eminient domain (see here, here, and definition here) it really points to a horribly short-sighted developmental policy across many branches of government.

On a lighter note, Chesapeake Bay and recycling aside, check out 5thape’s post about flirting with deaf girls. We rarely hear about the “hearing perspective” of their everyday interactions with us. I think he brings up few very interesting points about the aesthetics of writing back and forth with a deaf person.

What do you think? Do YOU ever notice the things that he notices? Dirty hands? Unmanicured fingernails?

Another interesting thing to think about is the fact that, unlike the stereotype, he wasn’t repulsed and turned off by meeting a deaf person. Maybe the next time you communicate with that cute girl or guy via pen or pseduo-sign language, his or her’s awkwardness may in fact be due to him/her actually liking you…

So, maybe a lot of the awkwardness that we encounter out in the wild is actually due to their own thoughts about themselves; how they are presenting themselves and communicating with you. Not that they’re annoyed or put off by you.

I picked up this link, and when I saw what it had to say, I knew I’d have to share it with all of you. I had to chuckle…

For those who may not be as aware of Deafness as some others may be, we Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Cochlear Implanted, Oral, (the list goes on)…we share a unique trait with the rest of the world out there…*whispering*

We’re human! Yes, we are of the genus homo sapiens*. By this classification, we are able to express emotions, feelings, thoughts (among many other things), and most of all, communicate by any design we choose!

I know that this may rub some people the wrong way. Doing so is not my intention. I believe that awareness HAS to increase exponentially–awareness of disability, culture, race, orientation, customs, mannerisms, etc…in order to engender a sense of

R E S P E C T.

After all, the adage “know thy neighbor” has to have some meaning, hmm?

*Main Entry: Ho·mo sa·pi·ens
Pronunciation: “hO-(”)mO-’sap-E-&nz, -’sA-pE-, -”enz
Function: noun
: MANKIND : HUMANKINDhomo sapiens: n : the only surviving hominid; species to which modern man belongs; bipedal primate having language and ability to make and use complex tools; brain 1400 cc [syn: Homo sapiens]

http://www.dictionary.com/

Many of us have probably heard the news by now - Sorenson’s videophone (VP) will soon let users conduct their video relay (VRS) calls through other providers such as Sprint, Hands On VRS, or Hamilton.

Sorenson is one of those things we love and hate. We love their pretty videophones and their proprietary phone number system that makes it easy to call others. We hate their Sorenson VRS-only (VRS) restriction and how it makes it hard to call that other videophone model, the D-Link i2eye.

The deaf videophone market is populated by two competing, free hardware products - the Sorenson VP-100 and the D-Link, but it’s also occupied by nearly a dozen VRS providers, all competing for the same slice of the pie.

Using a Sorenson VP-100, you can only use Sorenson’s VRS. If they’re really busy and you have to wait 10-15 minutes for an available interpreter, too bad. With a D-Link, you can choose from any VRS provider. If one VRS is busy, you just hang up and go onto the next VRS provider.
Personally, the biggest reason for not using Sorenson’s product was the VRS restriction. Everything else about it is great. In a market that is clearly dominated by Sorenson VP-100s, why would I want to use a different product which forces me to dial up other friends using IP numbers instead of the friendly North American telephone numbering system (xxx-xxx-xxxx)?

It was because I couldn’t accept the constrains Sorenson’s VP-100 had placed upon my access to video relay services. It’s like being told you can only use Gillette shaving cream with your Gillette Fusion razor. A lack of choice is preposterous in any market, including our little deaf videophone market.

But now, hey. Sorenson just figured out that, too (thanks to a lot of public outcry), and is now giving their customers the power to choose their VRS provider. With this move, I really don’t see anything standing in Sorenson’s way to completely conquering the videophone market. Is that a bad thing?

Given that other videophone providers appear unable to make any modifications to the D-Links they distribute freely, there seems to be no incentive for to improve the D-Link’s connectivity to Sorenson videophones or even its internal software’s appearance.

In that case, why don’t we all just start using Sorenson VP-100s and throw out the whole dialing-by-IP thing already?

How sad. Eighteen years ago, DC came up with a grand recycling plan: by 1994 recycle 45% of everybody’s trash. Today that figure is 14% or below. Read more about this at the DC Examiner website. Part of the reason is the city’s lack of enforcement — they have yet to cite a single company or person for not recycling, even though they were sued by the Sierra Club to do so.

At this point, I’d say that only an all-out effort will save the recycling program. For me, this ties into the effort to keep the Chesapeake Bay clean. There should be a Chief Environmental Officer for each city, with strong authority and the ability to get things done. I’d imagine a CVO (Chief enVironmental Officer) getting this recycling program back on track, spearheading efforts to keep Chesapeake Bay clean, and encouraging development of more eco-friendly housing projects like Elevation 314 in Takoma Park.

Speaking of Elevation 314 (which is a seriously cool place); I almost chose to live there. They have a whole raft of environmentally friendly initiatives, such as bamboo flooring, geothermal heat, and active rainwater filtering. Very nice place.

Finally, here’s some good that will come out of the impending outbreak of bird flu: scientists have developed a method to produce compost from dead chicken bodies in order to both (1) kill the bird flu inside the bodies and (2) provide rich compost that can be used to fertilize dirt. Read more at Washington Post. This is far better than burning the bodies, which produces pollution, or discarding in the landfills.

“Brokeback Mountain” is a gay movie. No ifs, ands, or buts. There’s some hot and heavy man-on-man kissing with the most beautiful line of spittle since Winona Ryder kissed Christian Bale in Little Women. There’s homosexual sex. There’s even - sadly - male prostitution. And of course, pervading every little crack and nuance of the film available, there’s layers upon layers of homophobia, both actual and self-perceived.

You can argue all you want about how the movie isn’t really a gay movie but really one that has universal appeal. You can argue about how people, both gay and straight, can relate to a story that isn’t actually about homosexuality, but about forbidden love. But there’s no escaping the fact that this is a gay movie about two gay men who happen to work in one of the most un-gay-friendly occupations in an area of the country that’s arguably still the most un-gay-friendly today. How many times do I have to say the word gay?

Now, what’s wrong with still saying the movie has universal appeal and relatable themes? Absolutely nothing. In just about every article or critique I’ve read, both before and after seeing the movie, there are arguments that either it’s a gay movie or that it’s a human interest movie (the implication, of course, being that it’s okay for this movie to be considered “mainstream” if you don’t focus too much on two guys kissing). Dude, wake up. It’s both. Yes, that’s entirely possible.

If there’s not one gay bone in your body, this movie still applies to you. Case in point: both cowboys end up married to women. These women are hurt, of course, by the lie these two concoct in trying to conform to our society’s expectation of them. So are the children they bear with these women.

Next time you think you have absolutely nothing to do with homosexuality, think about all the gay or transgender people you know (or don’t realize you know). And yes, unless you’re living under a rock, gay people are around you. And no, try as you might to convince yourselves you can, you cannot choose to avoid people of varying orientations.

What messages do you send that tells them they’re wrong, abnormal, or don’t deserve to live their lives pursuing their own dreams? When you say to somebody that you believe they weren’t born gay, but chose to be “that way,” aren’t you alienating them? Aren’t you hurting them, telling them they can’t be the way they are without some sacrifice (namely, your acceptance and your wholehearted respect)? When you go to the voting booths and support bans on gay marriage or unions, aren’t you violating another person’s civil right to choose to legally be with somebody they love? Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, my ass.

Or, conversely, think about all the homophobic people you know. Y’know, the ones who think, like one family member I’m very close to, that it’s okay to see some guy wearing a tight t-shirt (a trend, which, by the way, is not solely reserved for gay use) and holler out that he’s queerer than a three-dollar bill. Or the ones who profess to love every brother and sister because it’s written in the bible to do so… and then will turn around and hurt, demean, or oppress the same brother or sister because they’re gay and therefore apparently sinning. Love is patient, love is kind… not.

When you laugh along with the jokes or even say nothing, aren’t you saying it’s okay to label gay people weird? Aren’t you committing the worst kind of disrespect, relegating someone to an inferior position for no good reason?

If my daughter ever comes home and tells me she’s going to spend the rest of her life with another woman who rocks her world, I want her to tell me with the same sense of anticipation and excitement as I had when I told my mother I was getting married. The last thing I want her to experience is fear and anxiety and wondering whether she’ll lose respect or be kicked out of my life or anyone else’s. But that, unfortunately is happening to other people, even now, after Brokeback Mountain has been released.

Was this country ready for Brokeback Mountain? The plethora of gay jokes and comics (like in the Boondocks, for example) and the notorious banning of showing BBM in certain places says it wasn’t, not entirely. But man, did this country need this movie.

We’re at the point where we’re no longer arguing whether gay people deserve any legal rights, but how much legal recognization they deserve. It is my wholehearted hope that this movie will provide the momentum that we all need to make us think. And think hard enough to bring this issue entirely out into the open.

During the viewing of the movie, I could see several people, male and female, gay and straight, fidgeting nervously during slightly homoerotic scenes. But no one batted an eyelash when Ennis (Heath Ledger) bedded his wife (real-life girlfriend Michelle Williams) much more graphically than he bedded Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal). And these people are no strangers to gay issues. That tells me this is still brand-new territory, even for the people, gay or straight or somewhere in between, who are fighting for and dreaming of the day when gay is a-okay and we don’t have to be careful anymore.

Now, this is one gorgeously photographed movie. An amazing portrayal of enforced loneliness just because the world wasn’t a little friendlier. A little slow (how many montages of herded sheep can a person stand?!), but beautiful to look at. Heath Ledger did a gorgeous job of portraying somebody who didn’t want to be who he was or want what he wanted. The emotional tension between the gay characters and their families had me gripping my armrests.

But BBM has its weaknesses too. I did not understand the jump from co-workers to lovers. Sorry. I did not see the attraction, the build-up. I just saw a slam-bang surprise consummation and then a frantic attempt to not really be attracted to each other. I did not appreciate Jake Gyllenhaal’s immature portrayal of a reckless lover (although I absolutely loved his performance during the “boys should watch football” scene with his character’s overbearing father-in-law). I didn’t understand completely the motivation behind just about anybody’s actions. Overall, the emotional landscape of the movie left me wanting.

But it was well enough done to have me (and many others) crying at the end of the movie. That’s the true brunt of its universal appeal, that a movie about an issue that people still call perverse today can bring you to tears.

And I hope the movie’s well enough done to impact our world today. Racism is alive and well, but we’ve had enough dialogue on the issue that people of all races can vote, can marry who they choose (except for someone of the same sex), can own property, and so forth. In short, somebody who isn’t white can walk around for the most part without fear. We’ve also had enough dialogue on feminist issues that a battered woman can now speak up (hopefully, anyway), and not be poo-pooed.

Just this morning in class I had a classmate announce that “Faggots drink chai tea.” Now the guy he said that to is determined never to order chai tea again. And no one (including myself, unfortunately) said a damn thing.

We very obviously haven’t talked enough that my gay friends can go out and hold hands or give their partner a peck on the lips in public (in most places, anyway) like I do with my husband without fear of being attacked, either verbally or physically. We haven’t talked enough that my friends are even willing to consider trying.

They’re too afraid. Afraid of whom?!

Afraid of all the people who are afraid of them.

Every one of the arguments against allowing legal gay unions that I’ve heard has to do with respecting the sanctity or tradition of marriage or family. I translate that as fear of change or difference. That’s the same attitude that killed any chance Ennis and Jack had at happiness.

So, yeah. Just because Brokeback Mountain is a gay movie doesn’t mean it’s not for you to see. Just because an issue has to do with gay people doesn’t mean it doesn’t concern you. Pretty much, if you’re alive, it does.

Even though I wasn’t so wowed by Brokeback Mountain cinema-wise, I was wowed by its potential cultural impact. Now, if we can just get a movie made about gay NFL players made…