Matlin To Speak At CHOICES

Deaf activist/actress Marlee Matlin, Oscar winner for "Children of a Lesser God," and most recently featured on "West Wing," will give a speech at the Feb. 19 Allied Jewish Federation's CHOICES Luncheon in Denver, CO. The event is an annual big-league funder for the group.

She replaces actress Goldie Hawn who had canceled all her upcoming talks through March due to a movie deal in India. Organizer Susan Kramer said, "The real stars of CHOICES are the women who gather to celebrate our Jewish community." About 1,300 women are expected at the luncheon, the biggest turnout on record, beating the total for previous hit speakers Dr. Ruth and Joan Rivers.

 

Deaf Actress Honored

A Jewish woman who was born profoundly deaf has scooped the "Best Actress" award at the first ever Deaf Oscar ceremony in the UK. Fiona "Fifi" Garfield won the Remark film and television award for her performance in TV soap "Switch," which is part of BBC2's "See Hear" program for the deaf, in front of an audience of 800 people at London's International hotel.

When asked if she was surprised to win, Garfield said, "I was speechless because I didn't expect it to win! How did I feel? I can't say anything but that I was gob-smacked! I wanted to scream and say, "We did it!" I was really proud. My heart was beating really fast, but I was smiles all night long!"

Switch also won in the category of Best TV Drama. It has the same kinds of plot twists and cliff-hangers as a conventional soap opera. The show began in 2001 to mark the 20th anniversary of See Hear.

Fiona plays Fran, a woman who has left her husband and endured the accidental death of her only child.

Garfield's mother, Rita Koten, who attends Kenton United synagogue in northwest London said, "Fiona has always been interested in drama and I'm very proud of her. In spite of having this handicap she has persevered and not let it hold her back."

Sue Cipin, executive director of the Jewish Deaf Association in London, is very proud of Fiona's achievement. She said: "It's good to see how programs for deaf people have developed in the last few years. We wish Fiona lots of luck for the future and are thrilled for her."

The 36-year-old has been acting with the London Deaf drama group since 1986. Her big acting break came when she was chosen out of 20 girls to star in a British Telecom television advertisement before earning her part in "Switch" at an open audition.
 

Jewish Deaf Congress Conference

The next Jewish Deaf Conference will be July 3-10, 2005 at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay Hotel in Tampa, FL. Keep an eye on the website, www.jdc2005.com for upcoming announcements on planning, tickets, and other information.

 

Deaf Reservist Ordered to Serve in Yesha

A deaf IDF reservist who has never fired a weapon has been called for reserve duty in a Yesha area, Ma'ariv online reports. Repeated requests from the reservist to cancel the assignment have been rejected. His attorney has turned to the IDF ombudsman who is investigating the situation, the report adds. "Yesha" is a Hebrew acronym for the regions of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

 

Caption "Bloopers" Amuse PA Woman

Shirley Glassman doesn't consider herself a couch potato, but she regularly watches CNN, FoxNews and local news broadcasts. The East Torresdale, PA resident, who lost most of her hearing from a childhood disease, uses closed-captioning to find out what's going on in the world. Over the last several years, she has noticed obvious spelling mistakes, especially during live broadcasts like television news.

"It was annoying in the beginning", Glassman said, "Then I focused on them in a more humorous light." Recently she was watching a report about "Iraq Kiss." It should have read "Iraqis", she said.

Glassman, 77, keeps a notebook with her and jots down the more comical mistakes. She said, "it became an unexpected, interesting hobby." Her new pastime has gained her attention from the Deaf community as well. For the

last three years, Deaf Digest, a free Deaf news mailing list, has published the bloopers she found while watching TV. One of her Internet friends told the Deaf Digest editor about Glassman.

A few months ago, Signews, a new monthly national newspaper written by CSD of South Dakota, also asked her to send bloopers. The newspaper prints the bloopers in its humor section as a comic strip. No wonder her nickname is "the blooper lady."

Glassman is a graduate of Gallaudet College (now University), the world's only liberal arts university for the Deaf. She has taught sign language at numerous schools and colleges, including the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, Holy Family University, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and other day and night schools including Northeast High School. Now retired, she still works as an editor. She was a consultant on the revision of a sign-language book in 1971 titled "A Basic Course in Manual Communication," which was published by the National Association of the Deaf. She also helps proofread and edit the Hebrew Association of the Deaf (HAD) newsletter.

Glassman says she finds the majority of closed-captioning errors during live broadcasts. The reporters are talking so fast that the person typing the captions has a tough time catching up. Sometimes, she has found, entire words are missing. A few of the memorable mistakes she has caught include stewdents (students), eye sickles (icicles), Poke Knows (Poconos) and cereal killer (serial killer).

While many deaf people like Glassman can read lips and catch the mistakes in the closed captions, she explained that "lip reading isn't one-hundred percent anyway," especially when the person on TV is not facing the camera. Despite the mistakes made by captioners, closed captioning has opened the world of television to people in the Deaf community. Glassman's husband, Leon commented, "For years, it was a tragedy for deaf people to watch TV and feel left out."

 

Young Jews Visit Israel

Naomi Weinstock already knows many of the things she's hoping to bring back with her from Israel: plenty of pictures, memories of time spent with her sister who's studying in Jerusalem, and a stronger connection to Judaism.

That strengthened connection to her religion is what Birthright Israel, which paid to send 19-year-old Weinstock and 34 other young people from the Rochester area to Israel, is all about.

Rabbi Robert Morais, executive director of Hillel of Rochester Area Colleges, explained that a number of years ago, some very influential Jewish philanthropists decided that one of the ways to help young adults connect to the Jewish culture was to have them visit Israel.

Birthright Israel groups go at various times but the most popular times are at winter break and just after classes end in the spring. During winter break 2003, 10 students from Rochester Institute of Technology, including six students from the National Technical Institute of the Deaf; nine from the University of Rochester, including Weinstock; and one each from Eastman School of Music, the State University College at Geneseo and Monroe Community College, went to Israel for a 10-day trip from December 23rd to January 5th.

Weinstock was excited that she would be able to see everything. She looked forward to every stop, especially the old city of Jerusalem and the Western Wall.

She's heard that people really can float on the Dead Sea, and she just might try. She said, "I hope to be able to come back and sit down with people and show them my pictures and say this is an amazing place and there's no reason to be scared."

The six Jewish Deaf students at National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, N.Y. were: Gloria Farr, Mark Farr, Donald Slate, Adam Stone, Michael Pearlman, and Jesse Maleh)

 

New Email Address for TBS

Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf has a new email address: tbs@socal.rr.com


 

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