Since becoming the youngest recipient of an Oscar Award for Best Actress at age 21 for her first film, Children of a Lesser God, actress and author Marlee Matlin has continued to work on significant film and television projects, most of which have powerful messages. She currently stars on NBC's award-winning series The West Wing and the children's program Blues Clues. After delivering her and husband Kevin Grandalski's third child last July Matlin is back making movies: the feature What the $! Do We Know!, Sound and Fury-based on the Oscar-nominated documentary-for Showtime and Eddies Million Dollar Bake-Off, which she's producing for the Disney Channel. In What the $! Matlin stars as a photographer. "The character wasn't written deaf, but they're making it fit me," she explained.

Matlin lives in Los Angeles with Grandalski, a police officer whom she wed nine years ago, and her three children. Last summer, Sarah and Brandon welcomed 6pound, 10-ounce baby Tyler with open arms. "They love him!" Matlin exclaimed. "Sarah is likes little mom to him. When I'm in the middle of doing something and may not see the light flashing to tell me he's crying, she always brings him to me. And Brandon will tap me on the shoulder and say, 'Tyler is crying.' They're great!" Sarah is fluent in sign language and Brandon is learning it-plus Spanish from his bilingual nanny.

"Work and family are entirely two different areas for me," Matlin said. "I love my work, and I love what I do. At the same time, I also love being a mom, and I cannot imagine trading motherhood for anything else. The best thing about being a mom is hearing your children yell out "Mom!" It just sends chills through me. I am an actress, a wife, a daughter and community activist but I am most proud to be "Mom.""

Evelyn Zola, a Deaf comedian, is performing at Wood Creek High School in Roseville, CA on May 17th. The show begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be her first appearance in the Sacramento area. Zola is said to be "an awesome storyteller' and plans to give the audience a night of stories, skits, and monologues. The event is a presentation of "A Show of Hands" which will be voice interpreting

for hearing audience members. For more information, contact Angelene Fowler at 916/729-4220 (TTY) or 916/ 247-8859 (Voice).

To Jimmy Libman, the sweet aroma of success smells like chocolate chip walnut, oatmeal raisin, and about 17 other flavors of freshly baked cookies. He is the founder and owner of Gimmee Jimmy's, which bakes 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of cookies per week. The cookies are handmade and based on his mother's recipes. They sell for $8 per pound (or about 50 cents per cookie) to car dealerships, banks, Kings Super Markets, and a growing number of Internet shoppers. The 46-year-old West Orange native has been in business for 20 years. Libman, who has congenital hearing loss, employs two bakers and one driver who are also deaf. "We're all in the same boat, and they make wonderful cookies," he said. "I found them through an organization that helps deaf people get jobs." The company's headquarters in West Orange, N.J., is a 3,000-square-foot brick building fitted with strobe lights so that Deaf and hard of hearing employees can communicate more effectively. The lights flash different colored signals to alert employees that a customer has walked in or that the oven timer is buzzing.

Libman tried a number of career paths before discovering the cookie business. He first attended Rochester Institute of Technology to study photography. But an allergy to the chemicals used in developing forced him to find another passion. Next, he wanted to pursue data processing, but the program was full, so he decided to study eyeglass making. He graduated from RIT and went to work making glasses, but that career didn't last long. "It was too easy," Libman says. So he enrolled at New York University and took night classes in business management. At that point, Libman's mother suggested he set up a cookie business. After surveying the competition, primarily at local malls, he decided his mother's cookies were much better, and in 1983 he dropped out of NYU and set up shop in his parents' West Orange home. He sold the cookies, packaged in bags, to local delis and beauty parlors. "Many people loved them not just liked them," Libman said. "So I made the decision that it would be good idea to go into the cookie business."

Libman said his busiest time is around Christmas. "We do between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds of cookies per week. The total this year was over a million cookies. We work in two shifts to keep up with the flow and use a staff of 40."

His most popular flavor is chocolate chip, followed by chocolate chip walnut and oatmeal raisin. He adds new flavors from time to time. "For ou r 20th anniversary, we're working on a 20th flavor," Libman said. "Maybe a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips." The slow economy has affected some of his business customers, but telephone orders and orders through his web site (gjcookies.com) keep him very busy.

Thanks to a grant from the Ziegler Foundation, up to four Deaf students may attend the Brandeis Collegiate Institute (BCI) June 17 to July 13 session with interpreters and free tuition. Rabbi Scott Aaron, Director of Education, says that one Deaf student has already signed up. For information and application, go online to http:// www.thebbi.org/bci. BCI is a program of the Brandeis Bardin Institute, 1101 Peppertree Lane, Brandeis, CA 93064.

Lawrence "Larry" Newman, a retired Deaf teacher and administrator in California, is being honored with a testimonial brunch at the Ontario Airport Marriott in Ontario, Calif. on June 29th from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. after the California School forthe Deaf-Riverside Alumni Association (CSDRAA) reunion. The brunch event is hosted by Friends of Larry Newman with proceeds going to the National Association of the Deaf (NAD). Deadline for registration is May 15th. For more information contact: Friends of Larry Newman, c/o Bob Greathouse, 2191 Elsinore Rd., Riverside, CA 92506.

Erick Posner completed the 26.2-mile Los Angeles Marathon on March 2nd with a time of 7 hours, 2 minutes, 44 seconds. He accomplished this after two decades of a self-described sedentary lifestyle. Changing his lifestyle began soon after Posner, age 29, had just moved to Visalia, Calif. He knew no one, and spent his days in front of a computer or the television. One night in June last year, Posner got a sign that he needed to change his life terrible shooting pains in his legs. Posner decided to exercise and began using a treadmill in the small gym at his apartment complex. At first it was just walking. Later the walking turned to a jog, that jog to a run. By October, he was running three to four days a week. When Posner decided to try a marathon, he looked to longtime friends and avid runners Robert and Terrylene Manganelli for training help.

Soon Posner was running four miles, three to four days a week. Every other weekend he traveled to Santa Monica to train with Terrylene Manganelli, running increasing distances. After overcoming problems with controlling his breathing and finding a good-fitting pair of shoes, Posner was ready for his first marathon. Or so he thought. Twelve miles into the race, blisters started forming on Posner's feet. His legs started cramping. Stopping at first aid tents, Posner had liquid skin poured on the blisters and ice packed on his legs. For the next 14 miles, he hobbled along in pain. He had come this far; he was not going to quit. "I will ... finish this marathon no matter if I have to crawl," he said. Crossing the finish line he went immediately to a first aid tent. In addition to blisters, he also had second degree burns on his shoulders from seven hours in the sun. "I was therefor30 minutes recovering," Posner said. "I did console myself with the fact that I pressed on to finish the marathon with the knowledge that I will do better next time." Next time is the 8-mile Bay to Breakers run in San Francisco in May. He also plans to run in the Seattle Marathon in November of this year.

Our Way, an Orthodox Jewish organization for Deaf Jews, has published Part I of The Toras Hacheresh Guidebook, A Practical Guide to the Use of Electronic Hearing Devices On Shabbos and Yom Tov by Rabbi Mordechai Shucatowitz. Rabbi E. Lederfeind, Our Way's founder said, "There are many people who know Halacha and there are many people who know deafness, but very few who know both. Rabbi Shucatowitz has been sent to us from Heaven! He has been a source of inspiration and guidance to many many Orthodox families that have deaf children. In order to publish his works he had to do a tremendous amount of research and consultation with rabbis here and in Israel. He really understands how a hearing aid and cochlear implant work. The problem with these things are the use of batteries and the flashing lights on Shabbos. He resolves all these issues." The 23 page booklet is $10 postpaid from: Our Way, 11 Broadway, 13th floor, New York, NY 10004, Att: Batya Jacobs.

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