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Showing posts with label ASL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ASL. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Lydia Callas Wins the week

Lydia Callas Wins the week


In a pretty horrific week, where Hurricane Sandy took at least 50 lives and wreaked havoc on pretty much anything that crossed it’s path – there was at least a silver lining in the middle one of the most terrifying Hurricanes in recent memory: That proverbial Ray of sunlight was Lydia Callas. A few days ago I just happened to watch Mayor Bloomberg’s Press conference where he addressed the subject of the Hurricane as it pertained to his city, I must have been between switching channels at the time, when his sign language interpreter happened to catch my attention. It didn’t take me but a few moments to figure out why, it was the mere expression in which she exhibited her craft: The exaggerated expressions on her face, the extra seasoning on her hand movements, the way in which she put her entire body into every word that she signed – the mere flavor she exhibited made me want to befriend a hearing impaired person just so I could get the motivation to learn sign language. It was a thing of beauty. It was as if she was talking to her homegirl and not translating for the Mayor of New York City during a crisis. I want to hang out with Lydia Callas. I want her to be my sign language hype-woman if I ever decide to grab the Mic and terrorize lesser wordsmiths. I want her to translate the marriage proposal that I deliver to my lady even though I’m sure there won’t be a hearing impaired individual within a square mile. Not for nothing, but I’m going to start putting Michael Bloomberg speeches on my DVR.
Oh, before I forget, peep the part where the Mayor starts speaking Spanish. Ms. Callas shuts down her sign language on some “Yeah, that’s a bridge too far” shit. Absolutely hilarious.