Why Great Sign Language Interpreters Are So Animated- Lydia Callis!

Dear Commons Community,

I don’t know how many of you have been watching Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s daily updates on the recovery efforts following Hurricane Sandy.   To assist the deaf, Mayor Bloomberg has an ASL signer, Lydia Callis, who is absolutely mesmerizing to watch.  Below is an email by a colleague at Hunter, Sudi Shayesteh, alerting us to an article in the Atlantic featuring  Ms. Callis and her work.

Tony

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Hello and my hope that you and your loved ones are safe and out of harms way.

A spot-on article in The Atlantic re. Bloomberg’s ASL-English Interpreter who has become a media sensation; and, for the uninitiated, provides sound and good explanations why ASL is a visually animated “language”.

http://m.theatlantic.com/health/print/2012/11/why-great-sign-language-interpreters-are-so-animated/264459

FYI, one of Bloomberg’s two interpreters, Pam Mitchell, is a graduate of LaGuardia’s ASL-English Interpretation Program and covers some of Hunter College classes.

Best,

Sudi

 

 

Paul Krugman: Sandy vs. Katrina!

Dear Commons Community

Paul Krugman examines the differences between the government’s response to Hurricanes Sandy and Katrina in his New York Times column this morning.  Given that Sandy’s devastation occurred last week, he specifically compares the two in light of the presidential election.    Here is a brief excerpt:

“As Sandy barreled toward New Jersey, there were hopeful mutters on the right to the effect that it might become President Obama’s Katrina, with voters blaming him for the damage, and that this might matter on Tuesday. Sorry, guys: polls show overwhelming approval for Mr. Obama’s handling of the storm, and a significant rise in his overall favorability ratings.

And he deserves the bump. For the response to Sandy, like the success of the auto bailout, is a demonstration that Mr. Obama’s philosophy of government — which holds that the government can and should provide crucial aid in times of crisis — works. And conversely, the contrast between Sandy and Katrina demonstrates that leaders who hold government in contempt cannot provide that aid when it is needed.

So, about that response: Much of the greater New York area (including my house) is still without power; gasoline is scarce; and some outlying areas are feeling neglected. Right-wing news media are portraying these continuing difficulties as a disaster comparable to, nay greater than, the aftermath of Katrina. But there’s really no comparison.

I could do a point-by-point — and it’s definitely worth it, if you’re curious, to revisit the 2005 Katrina timeline to get a sense of just how bad the response really was. But for me the difference is summed up in two images. One is the nightmare at the New Orleans convention center, where thousands were stranded for days amid inconceivable squalor, an outrage that all of America watched live on TV, but to which top officials seemed oblivious. The other is the scene in flooded Hoboken, with the National Guard moving in the day after the storm struck to deliver food and water and rescue stranded residents.”

Krugman’s conclusion is on target;

“Some Republicans have already started using Sandy as an excuse for a possible Romney defeat. It’s a weak argument: state-level polls have been signaling a clear and perhaps widening Obama advantage for weeks…

The fact is that if Mr. Romney had been president these past four years the federal response to disasters of all kinds would have been far weaker than it was. There would have been no auto bailout, because Mr. Romney opposed the federal financing that was crucial to the rescue. And FEMA would have remained mired in Bush-era incompetence.

So this storm probably won’t swing the election — but if it does, it will do so for very good reasons.”

Tony