KISSFIST Magazine: Issue 11 by The Gallimores

KF ELEVENTH ISSUE

EDITOR IN CHIEF: FRANK GALLIMORE

MANAGING EDITOR : ROSA LEE TIMM

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KISSFIST MAGAZINE

Hello Readers! I know what you’re thinking. How long has it been since the last time we saw an issue of KISSFIST??!! My friends, it has taken many hurdles for us to get to this point. Dragons were fought. Nations were overthrown. And yes, another baby was born. Just seven short months ago, my very talented sister Rosa Lee introduced her new daughter Nuria to the world. Wish them well! Believe it or not, her first child Jace is almost three! As for my daughter, she just turned a whopping two years old herself, as did our brother’s very lovely daughter Julia. And as for this baby, our little magazine is now a budding four-year-old, well past its own terrible twos and tearing around this playground we call the internet. We hope she doesn’t make too much of a mess. In spite of the many pleasant obstacles in our lives, we’re overjoyed to see the release of our eleventh issue. We continue to feel surprised and intrigued by the quality of work we’ve seen flood our inbox over the last year. In these pages you’ll see another fantastic article from Franz Knupfer, this one about the adventures of globetrotter and Survivor Christy Smith. You’ll also enjoy some new poetry and art from some old favorites like Raymond Luczak, Paul Hostovsky, and Julia Cameron Damon. You’ll also be delighted by some new faces such as those of CODA artist Jennifer Leighton, Brandt Van Unen, and many more. Lastly, given our many delays, we’ve had to take a more realistic look at what we can produce while maintaining the quality we know you’ve come to expect of us. This will mean that, for the time being, KISSFIST will no longer be a quarterly magazine and, instead, will become a semiannual one. So you can still expect to see the same great art, literature, and stories from or about the signing community, only they will come two times a year instead of four. This will allow us—between burping babies and squealing toddlers, day jobs and night jobs—to still draw your attention to some of the most creative and exciting material our community has to offer! Thanks for hanging in there with us. Now, dig in and enjoy!

FRANK GALLIMORE EDITOR IN CHIEF

EDIT NO

TOR’S OTE

LAYOUT ARTIST: NANCY CRIEGHTON / ROSA LEE TIMM

ISSUE 11

DEVELOPER: DAMON TIMM

Signing to Lil Bea • Clare Cassidy • 06 Fashion Photos • Tommy Korn & Stacey Shipp • 08 Linotype prints, paintings, video • David Call • 10 Model • Kayla Saylor & Ruthie Ronin • 12 Smoking Kills • Dana Harman • 14 The Good News • Paul Hostovsky • 15 Photographs • Virginia Morford • 16 Henry’s Water Birth • Sarah Arana • 18 Submissions info • KISSFIST • 22 Fashion Photos • Matthew Vita • 24 Interview • Jules Dameron • 30 The Missing Link • Raymond Luczak • 33 Photogragph • Stephanie Gasco • 34 Champ • Jon-Lenois Savage • 36 Spiritual De’VIA • Ellen Mansfield • 38 Health & Fitness • FitnessZeal • 40 Photograph • Tammy Murphy • 42 Paintings • Jenn Leighton • 44 Photograph • Steven Walsh • 46 Artwork • Arnaud Balard • 48 Vocal Conundrums • Ayisha Knight-Shaw • 49

Body

The Peckham Invalid

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ABOUT THE COVER “Brevity of a Childhood” by Clare Cassidy, a deaf photographer from California. The boy in the picture is Eitan Kulchinsky

TABL CONT

Photograph • Billy Dobson • 50 ypainting • Julia Cameron Damon • 52 Photograph • Julie Bourne • 54 ds; Interview • Howard Hardiman • 56 Photographs • Virginia Morford • 60 Take Charge! • Pearlene Utley • 62 Artwork • Jonathan Savage • 65 Artwork • Arnaud Balard • 66 Artwork • Jonathan Savage • 68 Handgloves • Raymond Luczak • 69 n’s Nightmare • Debbie Rotkowitz • 70 Traitors • Raymond Luczak • 73 Touched Finished: From Survivor: Amazon to Surviving India • Franz Knupfer • 74 af Women Trivia • Keri Ogrizovich • 77 Photograph • Nick Ogrizovich • 78 Deaf City • Kara Gournaris • 80 Sunset Silhouette • Diane Parrot • 82 Contributors • bios & photos • 84 Forest No. 102 • Brandt Van Unen • 91

LE OF TENTS

Tammy Murphy Deaf Photographer Canada

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Clare Cassidy Deaf Photographer California

Model: Tommy Korn @ Rossi Talent Management Photograher: Stacey Shipp Photography @ SSPhotography.com Wardrobe: TANDA Showroom

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JAMES DEAN

"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today."

DAVID CALL

Linocut prints and the following page shows paintings by David Call

eyehandstudio.com

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“My mission as the teacher of the Deaf is to help countless Deaf students with similiar situations as mine to discover their Deafhood and help them set their Deafhood butterfly free when they come to my classroom.” - DAVID CALL

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Art Teacher at California School for the Deaf , Fremont

Photo credit: Ruthie Ronin

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Kayla Saylor Deaf Model Arizona

Artwork by Dana Harman

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THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is you’re wrong. About everything. The bad news is not what you thought. The good news is not what you thought. That’s the good news. And it’s greater than you know. And it’s greater than you can imagine— you can’t imagine being wrong about everything. That’s why the good news is so unimaginable. For starters, you’re wrong about who you are— about what you are, and where you are, and what you are doing, and what you think is being done to you. I don’t know about you but for some of us that’s very good news. I’m not what I thought. You’re not what I thought. You’re not what you thought either. And neither is your mother. You needn’t figure it out. You needn’t bother. You need do nothing but plead ignorance at every turn, and keep returning, keep opening to the great good news. by Paul Hostovsky KF POETRY

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Virginia Morford Deaf Photographer Washington, DC

HENRY’S WATER BIRTH BY SARAH ARANA

“WHAT?” “Are you crazy?” “You’re endangering yourself and the baby!” “The hospital is the safest place to have the baby!” “Why would you want to go through the pain without drugs?” “You’re brave!” “I could never do this” “Why would you take these risks?” All of these comments were thrown at me when I announced I was planning to have a water birth with my first child. I looked at them confidently and explained that having a water birth at home was the best choice for me, as I knew it was the best and safest place for me. Giving birth is a natural process, NOT a medical process. Water birth at home always struck a chord with me since my college days. I remember growing up thinking I would never want to have a baby at a hospital. It seemed so impersonal; medicalized; and I didn’t want doctors telling me what I could not do. I didn’t want to be strapped down on the hospital bed, being hooked up to the machines and have the doctors keep an eye on the clock. Giving birth is a natural process, NOT to be rushed.

I knew I wanted to give birth in any position I felt comfortable with, and if I wanted to squat on the floor or in the tub, then I wanted to do that. I didn’t want the doctors telling me not to do that. I wanted them there on the floor with me, period. I didn’t want anyone to tell me I couldn’t eat, drink or not to move around. I didn’t want to use drugs, which could lead to medical interventions. Women know their bodies best, and women have been giving birth naturally for thousands of years. Our bodies are designed to give birth naturally and to experience the extraordinary labor and birth dance without any drugs or medical interventions. Home. What do you feel when you think about home? Imagine being at home; walking around for miles throughout the house; welcoming contractions with visualizations and affirmations. Eating comfort food. Wearing your favorite boxers. Lavender oil being massaged on you. An intimate, joyful and cozy birth with your invited guests and your midwives with all of the comforts at home. Why not? So. After I found out I was pregnant with my first child, I was so excited and researched everything

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“It is important to keep in mind that our bodies must work pretty well, or there wouldn’t be so many humans on the planet.” —Ina May Gaskin about home birth and water birth. I studied Michel Odent and Ina May Gaskin. They’re the gods of water birth and home birth. I read up on Janet Balaskas’ Active Birth. I knew I wanted to OWN my birthing experiences…by being active in labor and birth. I knew the risks and benefits for a low-risk and healthy pregnant woman who wanted to have a home birth. The benefits clearly outweighed the risks for me and I knew I was “at home” when I made the decision to have a water birth. We selected a wonderful midwife. We agreed that a water birth was what we wanted…especially because being in water was like a natural pain relieving version of Pitocin. Water helps women relax, lowers blood pressure, lessens perineal tears, shortens labor, allows you to find your favorite position, is more gentle for the baby and more comfortable. Why not use these advantages? I love hot baths, so it was right up my alley. I was very fortunate that my husband Xavier was on board 120%! I practiced yoga and exercised throughout my pregnancy. Fast forward to this scene…my water breaks at Whole Foods store (buying castor oil to start labor!) and it’s definitely not fun to walk outside

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in 20 degrees weather with soaking wet pants to the car to drive home. My lovely midwife Brigette was at my house doing some work as we had lunch and an appointment together just before I went to the store. (Yes, you get to have meals and hour-and-a-half-long appointments with your midwife, which I greatly loved. ) I run into the house, into the bathroom, and strip off my clothes. She tells me to go ahead and drink the castor oil. It is very effective to induce contractions. She then leaves the house to visit her friends while Xavier and I do our birth dance alone together. Xavier fills up the water birth tub half way and we check the temperature. 100 degrees. Perfect. I start to feel more crampy under my belly and keep walking around the house. Eating food to conserve energy. I check on the homemade vegetable soup to eat after the birth. All looks good. Waves (contractions) start happening at 8:30 pm. I decide that the best and most comfortable position was to kneel over the armrest of the sofa. Ah. Feels great. Xavier rubs my back and hips over and over. I visualize the word, “strength” over and over. My parents stop >>>>> page 20

by and are surprised to see the quick progress of labor. They say they will be back with the Gone with the Wind movies and a homemade birthday cake for the baby in a while. Keep walking. Keep breathing. Welcoming the waves. Each wave brings the baby closer and closer. No fear. Just excitement. Soon I can’t walk anymore. Prefer to squat. Go to the bathroom and relieve myself. A sign that the baby is coming soon. Order Xavier to call Brigette. He questions whether it’s too early? I say, “NO, the baby is coming soon!” and promptly vomit into the sink. Transition stage—birth is imminent anytime! 9:20 pm. Brigette is on her way but it will take half hour. Xavier notices that my hips become wider and wider and feels the shape of my back changing as he touches my back. All of sudden, Brigette’s cool hands land on my hand. I tell her I am opening up and can feel the baby descending. She asks me if the waves are like high peaks. I nod. 10:15 pm. She asks if she can check me. Groan. I don’t want to get on my back. She checks quickly, and says “I can feel the head! Get in the tub!” OH. MY. GOD. The warm temperature felt fantastic. Why didn’t I get in sooner? I instantly relax and place my head on the support side of the tub. I look up and am surprised to see our

invited guests and they all are grinning at me. They are saying, “WOW, you’re doing GREAT!” Where did time go? Had I descended into another time? I see my doula yelling at our birth photographer, John, to get in the room pronto as he struggles to set up his props. 11 pm. Brigette kneels down and looks at me directly in the eyes and tell me I can start pushing and to trust my body. Xavier gets into the tub, smiles at me lovingly as he faces me. I decide the squatting position is the best for me. Deep breathing then bear down and then pant pant pant. Push. Breathe. Pant. Blow. Look at our interpreter, Maria. Look at Xavier. Look at Brigette, who is saying I am doing fantastic. Very relaxing and peaceful. Drinking Gatorade after each wave. The head moves down…wow, what an amazing, unforgettable and SENSORY experience! Brigette tells me to feel the head, and I do. So smooth and soft. Xavier feels it too and he grins. All of a sudden, I feel something between my legs— the head! Whoosh! The baby’s body slides out immediately and I move around to receive my baby. 11:28 pm. Xavier and I both see the baby at the same time, and Brigette lifts the baby into my arms. Skin to skin contact and head. Feels glorious. Wow. A head full of black hair! We look down….

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“It’s a BOY! It’s HENRY!” So overjoyed. So exhilarating. So beautiful. So high on adrenaline. So euphoric. We get out of the water birth tub and into our bed. So cozy. So good to be in my beloved ratty red plaid old bathrobe from my college days. Everyone gets teary and jubilant. Henry, a very alert chocolateeyed baby gazing around at us. Hours quickly go by as we all drink champagne to toast our son’s birthday, excitedly chatting together, taking turns to hold Henry and reliving the magical birth experience. Only three hours of labor and birth! Brigette keeps telling me to eat my vegetable soup and get some sleep! Finally at 4:30 am, we go to sleep with Henry in our bed. Four and a half years later, we welcomed our second child, a wonderful daughter named Caroline, into the warm waters again, and her papa caught her with his hands with a different midwife watching behind. Again, the birth was quick. I had been experiencing

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prodromal labor for the past few days prior to the birth. This time, I had too many people at my home. I kicked them out. Exactly half an hour later, the waves slammed into me as I was sleeping and I knew I had to rush into the water birth tub. Xavier texted the midwives to come. She was born 15 minutes later…with a head full of black hair and a scowl on her face. It was lovely to see how calm and peaceful she was in the water. I am forever grateful that I have had two wonderful water births and they are among the best experiences of my life. I can’t imagine having it any other way except to be at home. That’s me. Women need to be empowered to make the best choices for themselves…be active, not passive. Ask questions and find out what fits you the best. Educate yourself by reading and researching. Take an active role with your bodies and ask more questions. We deaf women are strong-- we need to trust ourselves and our own bodies. Believe in yourself. Go in confidence. Be empowered and informed. Birth is a natural process of life! *

KISSFIST For submissions & advertisements, email us at submissions@kiss-fist.com

FRANKGALLIMORE.COM

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ita Productions, running for two years now, is all about styles in Asian fashion and modeling. Xita Production’s goal is to recruit and help promote Asian models within the industry. It strives to make a name for itself in the industry as well.

TOP CLASS is a project that thinks outside the box, a departure from Xita’s previous works, and it’s the first big project to involve such a talented creative team. Our creative team consists of a diverse and talented group of people that are from both the Deaf and hearing communities. Those who were selected are videographer Storm Smith, who is hard of hearing and works at Gallaudet University as the marketing team videographer, and the two models Dylan Thai and Cliford Ortman, who are both hearing and know ASL from having worked with Xita on previous projects. Dylan is currently an ASL 3 student at the Montgomery College Rockville campus, and was the interpreter for the team during the shoot. Although he is skilled at ASL, his major is in Information Systems. Whereas Cliford is a beginner at sign language, he’s able to understand some. Also on the team, a hearing hairstylist and a hearing makeup artist, Melissa Collazo, who also knows a few signs. Everyone in the team is unique, having brought his & her own touch to make this editorial project a success. It was a great experience working with everyone. The inspiration for this shoot comes from Korea’s famous male artists G Dragon and T.O.P from a popular boy band named Big Bang. With Korean pop culture becoming more known, why not portray K-pop in a shoot? The ideal look blended well with the embellished bow ties and various embellished accessories made by DT Productions. This shoot contained not only high fashion, but it was edgy and had a mysterious factor to it. TOP CLASS doesn’t necessarily represent the rich and high class society, rather, it represents more the top class of fashion! The two models are portraying gentlemen of top notch fashion, men of poise and wealth. However, they are also two gentlemen that are mysterious and have different personalities from one another. They’re not the typical “snobby”, high class kind of people, rather, they’re more like people of temperance and fashion.

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An Interview with

JULES DAMERON KF: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE AND DIRECT BEYOND ESSAYS?

There are many reasons I wanted to create this film. First off, I had gotten to know Kalen Feeney and Amber Zion for their skill level, and I loved them so much that I wanted to write a story that worked for both of them. In addition, I had always wanted to do an experiment that involved my strong philosophy on the process involving American Sign Language and acting, combined. The usual process is that when a Hollywood film or a television show hires a deaf actor, their dialogue is scripted in English so the actors usually have to translate the dialogue themselves. There are two problems with that, 1) these actors are not usually writers, so they don't always create the proper dialogue, look, character, to complement the project itself, and 2) it takes away from the magic of being an actor. Creating a translation for ASL dialogue "busies" the mind while also trying to figure out

the character and the acting method for their particular role. So, overall, the quality of the work is brought down. And this is why I wanted to do Beyond Essays—to create a new approach to acting that takes the translation work away from the actors and just lets them do what they're supposed to be focused on: acting. KF: HOW LONG DID IT TAKE FOR YOU TO WRITE THE SCREENPLAY?

Actually, I had rewritten the short script several times over the course of three years, and finally came up with the final draft about a week before the shoot. Yikes! Probably not a great idea, but I like to think it worked out in the end. We were thrilled to learn that “Beyond Essays” won the Audience Award from the “Girls on Film” program at the 2011 Valley Film Festival. KF: WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR THE ASPIRING DEAF FILMMAKERS WHO STRIVE TO GET THEIR FILMS RECOGNIZED IN HEARINGCENTERED FILM FESTIVALS? >>>>> page 32

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u Photo credit: Amber Zion

Honestly, I think all deaf filmmakers should not hold back from submitting everywhere. They would be surprised at how a lot of places can warmly accept your film, and how much you could learn from having an audience respond to your film. KF: HOW DID YOU FIND THE FUNDING TO BACK YOUR FILM PRODUCTIONS SUCH AS BEYOND ESSAYS, GLEE! RAW, AND SO FORTH? For each project, it's different. For Beyond Essays in particular, I had a good purpose behind this project (i.e. the ASL experimental approach) so I used Kickstarter to raise at least $2,200 in funding, which is pretty much a shoe-string budget for a two-day shoot. I would not recommend going that low, but we made it work, and we loved what we did.

Mainly, most of my short film work, the earlier ones in particular, are what I call my portfolio work. I saw those films as an opportunity to improve my craft in all stages of the production and basically, I invested my own work into it. I did most of the work for free, while trying to find good deals and people to work on the project who had the same goals I did—trying to share our talent out there. KF: WHAT IS YOUR FIVE-YEAR PLAN?

Five-year plan? How about a lifetime plan? I'm not quite sure. I just know I want to form a routine of making narrative feature films as my way to make a living, and that's on my way. As a goal, I want to direct a feature by the end of 2012, and start making more features in 2013. I'm looking forward to it! *

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THE MISSING LINK Charles Darwin suggested that we descended from apes. Over 250,000 years ago we first appeared. How? And why? No one knows. Evolution is a mysterious creature. Its DNA won’t give us all its secrets. It laughs at our pathetically dense textbooks, trying to explain away “the missing link.” Our DNA is 95% the same as apes. It stands to reason that we’ve evolved. But have we truly evolved into something better? Language alone cannot be sufficient. Should the concept of language ever transcend mere words and grammar, we will find there are more languages than possible overpopulating the entire planet. Researchers are finding that many species have their own languages, easily recorded but barely translatable. The way these creatures think are so foreign to us. Perhaps there is a reason for their inscrutability. They do not want to devolve into creatures like us, the ones who destroy their food, land, weather. Someday we’ll have all the answers. But for now, poetry will have to do. By Raymond Luczak

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stephanie gasco

Photograher: Donna Frank, Deaf Wardrobe: Stephaie Gasco, Deaf

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JON-LENOIS SAVAGE

JON-LENOIS SAVAGE Jon-Lenois is a deaf artist, filmmaker, actor, and a man of many talents. He lives in California with his wife and and two kids.

jonsavagegallery.com

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Ellen Mansfieldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artwork calls for a grea

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Ellen was born Deaf in Manhattan, New York, and grew up in New Jersey. She earned a BFA in illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City with a background in drawing, painting, batik, ceramics, and many other mediums. Ellen has had commissions for handpainted tiles for mural decorations, kitchen backsplashes, fireplace mantel surroundings, and murals behind ranges over the last 20 years. She led many workshops in ceramics, drawings and paintings for over 200 Deaf children, children of Deaf parents, and adults.

Ellen keeps a home stu in Frederick, Maryland. low and high fire tiles f the range of 1922 and of aesthetic and techni carved plaster blocks, t tiles are finished in a w ware glazes.

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ater understanding of diversity and

ality. Through her work, she seeks

Deaf History

udio called Ellenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TileStroke Studio . The studio has a kiln for firing both from greenware to final glazing in 2174 degrees. She works in a variety ical styles including sculpted relief, tile presses and mosaic tiles. All the wide palate of earthenware and stone-

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Fitnesszeal is passionate about improving quality of life through fitness and health. We provide information and services to help motiviate others into gaining healthy lifestyle.

Jaimie Valencia

BA in Physical Education MA in Deaf Education Biked across America twice Deaflympics Basketball athlete US Basketball World Cup athlete Full Ironmen competitor Personal Trainer

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fitnesszeal.com

Sabrina Valencia

BA in Communication Studies MA in Deaf Education Rathskellar Performer Austin Scale Crusher Team Coach NPC Bikini Competitor Fitness Model Personal Trainer

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Tammy Murphy Deaf Photographer Canada

Jenn Leighton is an Oakland, CA based CODA artist and art educator. She has earned a BFA in painting and a MA in Art and Religion. She teaches art at Castro Valley High School and conducts private lessons in her studio. Her current passion is spending time with her new baby boy and to explore texture and design through the media of encaustic collage. Layers and texture are important elements in her work revealing a variety of materials. Inspiration is found within natural elements, vintage drawings and playful child inspired designs. Most of her work are painted on 6x6 wood panels using mixed media encaustic (beeswax, resin, pigment). JENNLEIGHTON.COM

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JENN LEIGHTON

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Steven Walsh Hearing artist Sign Language user

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Artwork by Arnaud Balard KF ARTWORK

VOCAL CONUNDRUMS Lips trying to contort themselves around this conundrum will find their jobs in jeopardy because gibberish will jam cell phone lines and all high speed systems operating in diminished capacity will shut down in silence. Archaeologists digging through the rubble of Babel’s towers will discover that faces stained by nature, speak volumes without saying a word. Faces carved by sound waves expecting harmonious clichés and chords of sensual synonyms are about to experience the revolutionary ripples of visual stimulation. Confusion will cause heads to cock, botoxed foreheads to wrinkle, and plucked eyebrows will do a 180 heading south to the bridge of upturned noses which can smell the fiber optic broadband burning as we speak. Reality?

I stand here crucified on the cross between insanity and reality by doctors who lament I must be mental because I am the sun who worships the moon and in her cyclical phases I see the shapes of language being created by lunatics who reacted to their loss of power by calling me hysterical. Like the tide I refuse to edit my philosophy that time and language are just illusions that go both ways. You see, a tongue tied diet deserves to be severed and when alphabets seek to silence my abilities, I start speaking in reverse and when the puns spun out of control, women saw the truth written in my anagrams. Standing here at the crossroads of yesterday and tomorrow resting on the wings of the seraphs, I listen to God’s phrases and remember that nothing can erase the fact that I’m a seer because I am the cross between energy and matter. By Ayisha Knight-Shaw

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Billy Dobson Self Portrait Gallaudet U.

Billy Dobson, an aspiring deaf model from Gallaudet University

JULIA CAM

have been creating art ever since I can remember. It’s my waking passion and focus and a way for me to connect with and celebrate the people in my life. My formal training consists of a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting and another degree in Education with a focus on K-12 Art. I love doing portraits, murals, costumes, sets, any kind of painting, and my most recent focus has been the body and face as canvas. I make my living as a Certified Massage Therapist and so the body as vehicle for my artistic ideas just seems like the next natural step in bringing all of my interests and visions together. My favorite thing about this medium is, you are working on the surface with the aim and hope of something beautiful, and interestingly enough what often manifests is the person’s inner landscape, a nuance of their personality not necessarily seen in the light of day. The shadow and recesses of the person’s psyche often come into play. It never fails to touch me how the many personas we all have within reveal themselves in the paint and flesh. www.CamroseArtesInfinitae.com

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MERON DAMON

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Left: Tamara Weiner Above: Elena Ruiz

Love, Clarity, Vision 53

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Julie Bourne Pictured: Tobias Lockhart, 3, Deaf Maryland

Set in Edwardian Lond follows the lives of six who, whilst physically endowed with incredib that set them apart fro society. Combining ele realism, period drama hero comic and a hea cial politics, the comic at the mid-to-late teen upwards, and deals w power, love and defian of adversity.

Although the comic de of disability in general, the plot revolves aroun teenager (with super-h strength), and her inter interpreter, Kitty. The c ily features sign langua are plans to release a on finger-spelling in the brief introduction to BS are not familiar with the

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AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHORS

don, the story x young girls impaired, are ble super powers om the rest of ements of magic a, straight superalthy dollop of soc series is aimed ns age range with themes of nce in the face

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KISSFIST: Can you tell us a bit about your background, what brought you to comic art? What brought you three as a team together? HOWARD: I think it’s the typical story of boy meets comics, boy goes to art school, boy learns sign language in the pub while doing his dissertation, boy panics about making art, loves working with Deaf people for a decade, then suddenly remembers he went to art school. I went back to art school when I’d started making little comic stories for myself that had it totally surprised me that anyone else liked and I worried that I should go and learn my craft a little more, so did an MA in illustration to build up my confidence in what I was doing while going out to conventions with the little stories I’d been making, which was how I met the others... JULIA: Well, I’ve always been drawing since I can remember, really - even though at university I took a turn and decided to study film instead, I got back into drawing pretty much as soon as I graduated. I’d been getting into comics through webcomics and manga as a young teen, and slowly started getting exposed to more independent titles - when I started working at a comics shop after uni, I started meeting people producing their own small press zines and decided to give it a go with a couple of friends and joined the convention circuit, where we all met and made that connection which brought us to working together. SARAH: As for me, I’d always been an imaginative kid, the kind who always had a pad of paper and a pencil nearby for scribbling ideas down on. If I didn’t have any paper, then a nearby school textbook or the back of my mum’s bank statement would do just fine. Even if I got into trouble for it later. When I hit my teenage years I started to post a lot of my drawings and stories on various online art sites like Deviantart, Elfwood and a blogging site called Livejournal. I found that people really liked what I did, so I just kept practicing and putting more stuff up. Eventually I decided I should go to art college, so I moved to London and studied Illustration for three

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years. Comics seemed like an inevitable step for someone who doesn’t just like drawing, but likes writing their own stories too, so I started going to conventions and self-publishing. Howard and Julia were doing the same thing too, which was how we became friends and started to talk about doing a project together. KISSFIST: What led you to decide to set the story in 1906 England? Many of our readers are familiar with the rather volatile history of the American Deaf community in that era, however they may not be so familiar with what life was like in England at the time. What elements of that era made it ripe for this particular narrative?

positive momentum, certain people inevitably ended up falling through the cracks. Most social reform that was taking place was catering towards those deemed “fit for purpose” by the standards of the day. That usually meant that deaf, blind or disabled people were still labeled as invalid cripples. Though looked on with a certain patronising kindness, those who were unable to work (or conform to the norms of the time) were treated as charity cases at best, but were often consigned to the psychiatric asylums and work houses meant for the lost causes and dregs of society at worst.

This nasty habit of sweeping difficult people under the carpet resonates with the some of the problems threatenSARAH: It’s such a fascinating British society toing period in British social day. Okay, so people history. Not just for Deaf aren’t being bundled people, but for absolutely into mad houses for everyone. At first glance, being Deaf anymore, the 1900’s may just look like but with the recession an era full of Mary Poppinslooming heavily overhead style dresses and afternoon and the UK government tea on the lawn, but abproposing sweeping cuts solutely enormous social to badly needed welfare changes were happening. funding, lots of people are The women’s suffrage feeling increasingly disposmovement was just getting sessed and unable to do started, everyone was arguanything about it. It sort of Emily, a deaf character from the graphic novel, ing about whether Ireland made sense to us to take “The Peckham House for Invalids.” should be a separate counthis period - full of enortry or not, the London Underground is being mous change and uncertainty - and use it to built and the foundations for Britain’s welfare explore those contemporary feelings of powerstate are being laid. There was a general (rather lessness and power. pompous) sense of Britain being a Great Nation, forging its way forth into the twentieth century, KISSFIST: Creating a period comic must have for the greater good of everyone. required some research. Howard, how did your experience as a sign language interpreter The trouble with this is that, despite all this inform the writing and how much of it was

All the need o anyon

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research? Did you find that research dictated certain aspects of your storytelling, swaying it in some way, or did the story mostly dictate the research?

like the comic? Did you find you had to handle the panel-to-panel storytelling differently from other comics you’ve done involving hearing characters?

HOWARD: I think it’s inevitable that there’s a certain amount that my experience as a sign language user, having Deaf friends and working with Deaf people has shaped how I’ve approached this. My politics are very much shaped by this, so I think when I went into the research phase for writing the story, I was already thinking about how marginalised Deaf people were, and how sign language was being suppressed and the lives of Deaf people were being controlled by people who thought they meant well, but had no understanding of the

JULIA: It was difficult in one sense, which is that I can’t really sign. Howard has so far taught me a couple of words and the alphabet, but that obviously wasn’t really enough - so Howard had to send me little videos of himself signing out the dialogue, which I would watch over and over and pause at a point that seemed most representative of the sentence. In a way it’s no different than doing normal dialogue in a comic, because you need to decide what point, what facial expression, what gesture you want to use in that one panel which best represents what could be a whole paragraph in the speech bubble above.

e disabled people you see in comics are victims in of saviours … It’s all a bit of a slap in the face to ne for whom those things are real experiences…

OOK

community, its language or its culture. As I went into it, I had an idea of the story I wanted to tell, and as the characters came to life, it was more a case of seeing how they would react to the things the research threw up around them. Realising just how entrenched the ideas about bettering society were, regardless of how badly that disadvantaged people who were different just made me angry and to see that echo the experiences of Deaf people in recent years was just heartbreaking, and I’ve just wanted to fill the world of The Peckham Invalids out with more parallels between the times. KISSFIST: Was it difficult to depict sign language, body language, and Deaf facial expressions in a two-dimensional sequential form

5. Can you tell us a little about why you chose young disabled girls to take on the roles of superheroes in this comic? What do you hope deaf readers will take away from their experience of your work? And hearing readers? HOWARD: Well, at the time I started writing The Peckham Invalids, I was busily being scanned on an almost weekly basis while having seemingly-inexplicable seizures and had only just started to recover from a badlytrapped nerve in my arm that’s left me with very little feeling in one of my hands, so I think that as well as my sense of having been a part of the Deaf community in Britain for a long while, there was also the sense of having to come to terms with my own experience of impairment. I think it’s no accident that I was craving some heroic representations of disabled people. >>>>> continue page 84

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Virginia Morford Deaf Photographer Washington, DC

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TAKE CHARGE The Beachbody Way to Personal Success

by Pearlene Utley

OACH

“Failure is not in the falling down, but in the staying down.” ou and I will fail everyday, which should be expected, but how do you get up from failing?

You walk out of that building with no money for your upcoming bills or even more importantlyyour meals.

How do you learn from your daily failures and apply to success?

Initially you thought you were taking care of yourself or your family by just having a job... that isn’t always so. Relying on an employer to supply a steady paycheck in your bank account nowadays is not always given, due to economic jitters we are going through. What to do? TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE!

How do you deal with failure when confronted that may seem impossible to rise from? It can be personal growth, it can be health related, or academically. What about having a job? Now, let’s talk about “employment” which I’ve always thought that it meant sitting on my butt at an office desk and listening to somebody bark down to me what to do-for merely a paycheck, which may not even be enough. Although even if the job title may sound so exquisite it may be mediocre and you stare at the computer screen ticking away your time until clocking out... is that how you want to live out your life? Then one day they don’t need you. “We will miss you.”

Grieving and sticking to some more grieving shouldn’t be an option. PUSH yourself to MOVE on to the next thing. Now that you have moved forward one step, what will your next step look like? It is critical to make goals, only you can make your days worth waking up to! You should feel addicted to your work. It should be something that you are passionate about, waking up daily full of energy and purpose to your work.

Something that is CHALLENGING to do but the rewards that come with it will be beyond words. You should work on something that you continually benefit from, not only just a paycheck. Set goals to raise the bar every time you succeed. This is why I decided to stay at home and work as a Beachbody coach. A COACH?! Yep. I learned so much about this different approach to working - Network Marketing. It is one way of taking charge of your future. After ordering one of their “best on the market” Meal Replacement Shake called Shakeology and a workout program, TurboFire, I staretd to lose weight and become healthier. From there, I started to get requests from friends, asking for support with their fitness goals. I made decision to plug in and became an actual coach instead of just a coach taking advantage of the discounts. The passion grew and grew as I continued to help others become educated of their choices. Before I knew it, I am now earning monthly more than I had earned when I was working for a corporation . It was a really eye-opening experience how you can put your mind to it and succeed. This inspired me to help people to focus on their goals and to try new things, whether it be your outfit, new hobbies, daily routine, food choices and so forth. Changing your health does not simply mean your diet. Setting your goals are important. When I started, I had no intention of owning a business even though I had a degree in Business Administration, Organizational Behavior and Human Resources. I wanted to stay behind the scenes and just do some paperwork because filling out forms can’t hurt me- except maybe a few paper cuts! But now, as a coach, I am coming up with new goals on a daily basis and they have kept me going but my most important goal is to stay healthy and balance work with my family life, and I hope the same for you.

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When I worked as a corporate recruiter, I did a lot of job carving for qualified Deaf applicants because the job market out there usually do not give them opportunities. However, I did not enjoy giving jobs to them that could be easily taken away due to budget cuts or lack of revenue. With Beachbody, I enjoy investing my time and resources on helping people change their lives and do something positive on a daily basis, not for some X company. Educating yourself with knowledge is the most powerful thing you can do. Here are some tips to get started: • • • • • •

Google up your questions Ask others Read books Type keywords in a search box such as Youtube, Instagram, and so on to learn more Be passionate Be full of energy

You will hit roadblocks or obstacles, that’s part of daily life. It is okay to fail but it is how you GET UP from failure that will determine your success. Be your own life coach because failures happen EVERYDAY. *

PEARLENE UTLEY

pearleneutley.com Pearlene Utley is a deaf Beachbody Coach and a mother of two from California

Artwork by Jon-Lenois Savage

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Arnaud Balard Deaf Artist France

Artwork by Jon-Lenois Savage

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HANDGLOVES 1. In the classroom, when we typists had to master the kingdom of the lettered keys so stiff-jointed that we had to push down hard, we had to decode the alphabet in a pangram: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Our fingertips became adroit and nimble as foxes jumping through hoops and escaping the grubby fingers of the beet-faced clock on the wall overlooking us novice typists. 2. Typeface designers think long and hard about each element of the glyph: baseline, height, median, thickness, serif, metric, ligature, and proportion. “Handgloves” is the one word that suggests the font’s legibility potential in a single glance. The “a” and the “g” reveal most of a font’s character: how low, how slender, how loud. 3. In the blizzard of too much misunderstanding, I run out of the house and cast off my parka. I take off my turtleneck sweater and toss it away. The fierce snow pelts tiny daggers into my skin. I’m not the only one wailing on the streets. Here and there are strangers, naked as I am, wearing only gloves lined with fire that comfort our bodies in a halo of warmth. Together we sing entire carols with clarity. By Raymond Luczak

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t was at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC where the three original deaf musicians, Ed Chevy, Bob Hiltermann, and

Steve Longo conjured up the musical scenes. They formed a first all-deaf band, The Funk, and gained foundation in rock and roll by performing at various university functions, such as rock festivals, fraternity and the ultimate senior graduation party, as well as at local clubs.

After college, they reunited in San Francisco and the band evolved into Beethoven's Nightmare.Â This became the most successful version of the band, during which they originally composed their own music and released their first CD titled "Turn It Up Louder".

Since then, Beethovenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nightmare has successfully been performing for all ages and has sold out many concerts across the United States. Thousands of cheering fans have witnessed this history-making band and enjoyed the evening of fun-filled entertainment.

Photo credit: Debbi Rotkowitz

beethovensnightmare.com/joomla/

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TRAITORS in ASL gloss

Class room look-like what? War land. Many years hearing practice their eyes same s-p-e-a-r-s boom-shoot hands-signing spear-through-palm h-o-l-e same Jesus. Heal never. Hearing family support-support no sign but problem, deaf know inside something not right. Canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t explain how know inside. Before, youth innocence become tough-as-nails bitter, hate hearing. Hearing teachers, speech therapists, parents over and over again speech important! These people not realize their faces same land strewn misunderstanding, dead bodies. Lipread lies eyes hurt, body language truth, both-in-conflict. Before young o-k support speech, think nothing o-k. Then realize inside truth, hands-signing t-r-e-a-s-o-n more dangerous, powerful destroy talk-talk winds-blow-away. Home country peace. By Raymond Luczak

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TOUCH-FINISHED: FROM SURVIVOR: AMAZON TO SURVIVING INDIA BY FRANZ KNUPFER

n many ways, Christy Smith is the ultimate survivor. She was born premature and weighed just two pounds at birth. When she pulled her breathing tube out as a baby, she became deaf due to oxygen deprivation. Later, she became the first Deaf person on reality TV when she starred on the Amazon edition of CBS’ popular reality TV show Survivor in 2003. She lasted thirty-three out of thirty-nine days before she was ousted and finished sixth. Christy is more than just a survivor. She’s also an adventurer, a world traveler, and an advocate for Deaf communities everywhere. In 2006, she brought all three of these passions together when she co-founded Discovering Deaf Worlds with friend, and ASL interpreter, David Justice. Their goal was to spend a year meeting Deaf communities around the world. “We brainstormed, talked about traveling to about 30 countries, then we agreed we were going to do it,” she says. She went home, sold her stuff, and left her job. They had enough money for about three months of travel in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, and they hoped to stretch that money out for a year. During their year abroad, they focused on Asia and the Pacific, including visits to India, Nepal, Laos and China. Some of their projects included

making a documentary about a home for disabled children in Calcutta, trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal with a Deaf guide, and going to the Australian Deaf Games. Christy returned to the U.S. in 2008 with a strong desire to work with international Deaf communities. When asked what memories stood out most from her year abroad, she didn’t mention the Great Wall, the Himalayas or any number of other memorable sites she had the chance to visit. “I get flashbacks of different faces of people we met,” she says. “I think of the deaf people we met that didn’t know their names.” She said meeting deaf adults who had never learned language made a profound impact on her, “which is why I went on to get a Master’s [degree] so I can understand how deaf education works.” She wanted to know if it was still possible to educate deaf adults who had been deprived of language all their lives. Over the past two years, she has focused on her graduate studies in Secondary Education at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which she recently finished. While Christy went on to graduate school, David Justice and others continued to expand Discovering Deaf Worlds. Since its inception,

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Discovering Deaf Worlds has connected with more than 200 deaf schools and organizations in 40 countries. It now has a board of directors and a full-time volunteer staff. The organization is working to increase global deaf awareness, provide resources and project development to deaf communities in developing countries and organize Discovering Deaf Worlds journeys, which provide unique opportunities to combine travel with learning about a host country’s Deaf community. Upcoming journeys include Costa Rica and Cambodia. “I am so deeply grateful for co-founding the organization,” Christy says of Discovering Deaf Worlds. “What a great gift to create something that started with a vision to travel the world and discover deaf communities.” ^lives. Over the

past two years, she has focused on her graduate studies in Secondary Education at the Rochester Institute of Technology, which she recently finished.

While Christy went on to graduate school, David Justice and others continued to expand Discovering Deaf Worlds. Since its inception, Discovering Deaf Worlds has connected with more than 200 deaf schools and organizations in 40 countries. It now has a board of directors and a full-time volunteer staff. The organization is working to increase global deaf awareness, provide resources and project development to deaf communities in developing countries and organize Discovering Deaf Worlds journeys, which provide unique opportunities to combine travel with learning about a host country’s Deaf community. Upcoming journeys include Costa Rica and Cambodia.

Christy’s Tips for Deaf Travelers

“I am so deeply grateful for co-founding the organization,” Christy says of Discovering Deaf Worlds. “What a great gift to create something that started with a vision to travel the world and discover deaf communities.” *

www.miusa.org/ncde/stories/distype/deaf www.miusa.org/ncde/tipsheets/deafservicesoverseas www.discoveringdeafworlds.org/

•

Learn the local sign language.

•

Refrain from signing in ASL.

•

Respect the culture of the country. American Deaf culture is not the same as other deaf cultures. For example, “NO hugging in Japan. None. Zip. Do not do that.”

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DEAF WOMEN TRIVIA Questions developed by Keri Ogrizovich

Which of the following Deaf women married her teacher? A. Sophia Fowler B. Eliza Grace Symonds C. Elizabeth Boardman D. Mabel Gardiner Hubbard True or False: Sophia Fowler and Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet had a daughter name Alice Cogswell. True or False: The first group of students to attend the National Deaf-Mute College (now Gallaudet University) in 1864 was all men. True or False: The National Deaf-Mute College women’s basketball team was formed ten years AFTER the men’s team. The National Association of the Deaf did not allow women to vote until more than how many years after women in general were allowed to vote in the US? A. 5 B. 10 C. 30 Which of the following Deaf women was the world’s first licensed Deaf pilot as well as the first female pilot in her home state of South Dakota? A. Teresa de Cartagena B. Nellie Zabel Willhite C. Annie Lashbrook D. Olga Anderson Which of the following Deaf female actors was homeschooled? A. Juliana Fjeld B. Phyllis Frelich C. Marlee Maitlin D. Michelle Banks Answers on page 89 KF TRIVIA

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Nick Ogrizovich Deaf Artist Vermont

A ING K L A W F O , T K M N A A E B DR E, R U O O T Y YS R L E HAVE A C T O I R P EG OS H H T E H O T R INT O , P G O N H I S S E U S A W COFFE E E? ON G Y A R E U V NG A L AND E N IG S N A E? IC U R E R T M E A B O T OD O G O TO

BY KARA GOURNARIS

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t Western Oregon University we held an event we called Deaf City. Deaf City was the final project of an “ASL Mentoring” course I taught last summer. This course prepared students to become teachers/mentors of American Sign Language. Anne Marie Perdriau, a senior at the time, said, “Deaf City is a service learning project to teach and mentor students not familiar with Deaf Culture and its language, American Sign Language. It is an event for students and faculty who…want to learn more about Deaf Culture and ASL.” Another former student, Whitney Stine, said “The goal of the event was to reverse the situation a Deaf person experiences on a regular basis in the hearing world. We also wanted to make the event beneficial for younger signers.” During the event participants had the opportunity to visit various places around Deaf City. There was a bank, school, theater, DeafBlind store, jail, hospital and coffee place. As participants visited each stop they experienced a little of what it is like to be Deaf. Each stop along the path had a specific purpose. For example, the bank reinforced the ASL rules of number production. Danyel Peduto, a senior at the time, worked at Starbucks and they donated coffee for the event so participants could sign or write their order. The Deaf-Blind grocery

store gave students a chance to be blindfolded and reach into various bags and try to identify objects, giving them practice with tactile signing. This is something many people never experience and it really makes them move past their comfort zone and try to understand more about what it would be like to be Deaf-Blind. This event was a total role reversal for many people who have never thought about what it would be like to live in a society where they didn’t understand much of what was going on around them because they didn’t share the same language. The only overriding rule of the event was that there was no voicing allowed. If someone voiced they would be sent to jail. For new signers or those who saw the event and wandered in, pens and paper were ready to help them communicate as necessary. The day just wouldn’t have been complete without our own rendition of the Bison song performed by Anne Marie and Kalaya Cook. The reaction was overwhelming. We had over 100 people from all walks of life and sign language proficiency come and enjoy our event. This will become an annual project for the mentoring class because it helps to develop leadership skills and a better appreciation for Deaf Culture and American Sign Language. We might not be able to take an entire city and change it, but we can take our small corner of the world and make a change. *

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Diane Parrott Deaf Photographer California

CONTRIBUTORS

SARAH ARANA Sarah hails from the Midwest, where she lives with her husband Xavier and their two active and curious children. Sarah graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Professional and Technical Communication from RIT in 1997. Her passions in life are: traveling; family and friends; yoga; farm to table food; interior design; women’s wellness/health care; reading books and anything with turquoise.

ARNAUD BALARD Arnaud is a deaf artist from France who created the Surdism Art Movement in 2009, in Brussels. He wrote a manifesto, to propose artistics exchanges on all Deaf subjects and experiences. Identity, History, Bilingualism, Biculturalism, Audism, Deafhood, all expressed by the emergence of a Deaf Art, is the goal of Surdism. The Surdism’s manifesto can be read on Facebook Art profile: le surdisme par arnaud balard. Title of his artwork on page 64-65 is “Handsbird.”

JULIE BOURNE Julie is a deaf mother from Maryland. Julie is quite practiced at sneaking up with her Canon Rebel T1i or iPhone to snap photos of kids nowadays. Thanks to her incessant phototaking, her three kids are on a smile strike.

CLARE CASSIDY Clare is a deaf mother of three deaf kids from California. “Capturing moments is a passion of mine. I get an incredible amount of satisfaction when creating memories for you to keep. My personal favorites always are the ones with the sun in play.” clarecassidyphotography.com

DONNA FRANK Donna is a deaf artist from Maryland. “Art has been an inspiration throughout my life, and photography is just one way of expressing art. The lens is my canvas and the photograph is the finished work of art.” donnafrankphotography.com

KARA GOURNARIS Kara is the American Sign Language (ASL) Studies program coordinator and a full time ASL instructor at Western Oregon University. Kara taught ASL for the past 8 years in secondary and post secondary settings. She received her MA in Experiential Education from Prescott College where she studied nontraditional education as it relates to educating Deaf students. Kara is a native ASL user as her family is also Deaf. Kara currently resides in Oregon with her partner, two children, and 5 pets.

CONTRIBUTORS

DANA HARMAN Dana is a deaf artist from Oklahoma. “Art is my love. This piece was done in charcoal in about 2 days.”

PAUL HOSTOVSKY Paul is a published poet from Massachusetts. He makes his living as a sign language interpreter at the Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

AYISHA KNIGHT-SHAW Ayisha is a Boston based poet, photographer, actress and has released the first music spoken word album featuring the works of a Deaf writer.

FRANZ KNUPFER Franz is a deaf writer who graduated from Johns Hopkins University. Currently, a Oregon resident, he has developed a collection of short stories, learned Nepali Sign Language, and volunteered at Deaf schools.

RAYMOND LUCZAK

VIRGINIA MORFORD

Raymond is a deaf author and an editor of 15 books, including the poetry collections Road Work Ahead (Sibling Rivalry Press) and Mute (A Midsummer Night’s Press). Handtype Press recently reissued the tenth anniversary editions of This Way to the Acorns: Poems and Silence is a Four-Letter Word: On Art & Deafness. Sibling Rivalry Press will publish his fifth collection How to Kill Poetry in March 2013.

Virginia is a deaf photographer from Washington, DC. She enjoys taking candid pictures because it gives her an opporunity to see the world through her own eyes. “To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” by Elliott Erwitt

raymondluczak.com

CONTRIBUTORS

TAMMY MURPHY Tammy is a deaf photographer who has spent a lot of her time in solitude on her farm, growing up with nature, animals and very few people. Now she lives in a fast-paced lifestyle, it became hard to capture precious moments With lens in her hand, she can now relive her childhood memories. 4matam.wix.com/photogallery

NICK OGRIZOVICH Nick works at the University of Vermont in IT, and coordinates the activities of the Universal Design Technology Lab. Always an artist, Nick has delved into SLR photography in the last few years and really enjoys doing long exposure shots. He lives in Fairfax, Vermont with his wife Keri and three sons.

DIANE PARROTT Diane is a Deaf photographer from California and a mother of two deaf twin boys. She has Associate degrees in Photography & Multimedia. Currently, she works full-time as a wedding and family/ children photographer in Southern California.

DEBBIE ROTKOWITZ Debbie is a professional photographer originally from New Jersey and now based in Los Angeles. She received her B.A. in photography and theatre from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA in 2006. Currently she is studying to becoming an American Sign Language interpreter at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, CA.

STACEY SHIPP Stacey is a deaf portrait, fashion, and lifestyle photographer based in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. She enjoys capturing and telling lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story through pictures.

MATTHEW VITA Matthew is a deaf photographer who enjoys working and capturing various Asians and to help promote them in the industry with unique looks and Asian styles.

staceyshippphoto.com xitaproductions.com

STEVEN WALSH Steven graduated from Stony Brook University in 2009, and during his senior year, he took 2 semesters of ASL and loved it. A few months after graduating, he began dating a deaf man and he brought him into the signing community.

>>>>> continued from page 53

All the disabled people you see in comics are either victims in need of saviours, or plucky heroes whose heroic mentality has somehow blessed them with a power that completely makes their impairment irrelevant, like Daredevil’s meaningless blindness or Echo’s comically irrelevant deafness, or the number of times we’ve seen Professor X get cured. It’s all a bit of a slap in the face to anyone for whom those things are real experiences to say “look, here’s someone who could be a role model for you, but they’re better than you because they’re not really disabled or deaf after all and that’s why they’re a hero!” I’d rather see a blind superhero who has to feel her way around an unfamiliar room, or a Deaf superhero who can’t understand anyone who doesn’t sign. It would have been easy to have Ms York, who has no arms, to have telekinesis, or to give Veronica, who is blind, a sensory power, but that’s disrespectful to the real experiences of disabled people. I’m not, for a moment, saying there’s anything heroic about having seizures where I get confused or forget things or pass out, just like I don’t think there’s anything heroic about being Deaf - I’d rather it was treated as being a normal thing that people have as a part of their story and their character. I think it’s that which I’d like hearing readers to take from the story, just to see Deafness in a slightly more real manner, to see the ridiculous prejudices that Deaf people faced and often still face, and to read Emily’s deafness as just one strand of her character and the overall story. I’d love Deaf people, particularly younger Deaf readers, to be able to see a recognisable young Deaf character in a comic, and to see

someone who stands up for what she believes in and is proud of her family’s language and knows the strength she possesses. If I was going to write a superhero story, the focus would always be around power, and I think that it’s far more interesting to take it out of the domain of billionaire inventors who’ve always had wealth and white, straight male privilege. That’s why I’d much rather see what would happen if you gave those powers to people who were in one of the most socially disadvantaged positions. So the superheroes are young, they’re female, they’re poor, they’re not educated, they’re from a mix of ethnicities and they’re disabled. Imagine what they’re going to do with a chance to stand their ground. KISSFIST: Thanks so much for your time! What other future projects do you have in mind? HOWARD: I’m still working on The Lengths, my comic about a dog-headed male prostitute in London, which is approaching the end of the story this Summer, then I’ll be looking to expand the world of The Peckham Invalids, so I’m hoping we can look for ways to fund that and to bring in more writers and artists to tell stories in that world, particularly getting more Deaf and disabled people to research and tell stories there. I’ve also got a queer love story I want to tell that’s set in post-apocalyptic Berlin and there’s still a story about a pterodactyl and a polar bear that’s nagging at me to get made, but I’ll need to give myself a little breathing space once The Lengths is done to get everything in order! It’s all really exciting and I’m looking forward to seeing where it all turns up! *

PAPER PRINT VERSION COMING SOON 2013

Brandt Van Unen Inked Forest is Brandt Van Unen’s webcomic as a platform to corrupt the world with his sense of humor.

1 ALL OF THEM — A: Sophia married Thomas Gallaudet; B: Eliza married Melville Bell (A.G. Bell’s father) who invented “Visible Speech” (informally taught her); C: Elizabeth married Laurent Clerc; D: Mabel married A.G. Bell. 2 TRUE 3 FALSE: Two women enrolled as preparatory students (Emma Speak and Annie Szmanu). 4 TRUE 5 D: Women were allowed to vote in 1931 but NAD did not allow women to vote until 1964. 6 B 7 A

KISSFIST