About Me
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Alliance for Deaf Children Petition to the White House
It's been so long since I have posted, but life happens. Then today, I find out there is a petition to the White House requesting that President Barack Obama and the rest of the federal government recognize American Sign Language as a language and as the language of instruction for deaf babies and children. This petition was put together by the Alliance for Deaf Bilingual Children. It was brought to my attention in an e-newsletter from the Deaf Bilingual Coalition. In order to be recognized for consideration by the White House, there needs to be 25,000 signatures. They only need another 8000+ to reach that goal, and I am calling on all of you readers (regardless how few there really are on this little blog) to do your part and show your support for the Deaf community by telling the government that deaf children should be ignored and misled no longer. I will post a link at the end of this rant. It will require you to sign up for a whitehouse.gov account, but it seems to just be a way for them to account for signature verification. i just did it myself and it took only a minute.
I cannot stress the importance for this enough. We live in a country where signing for hearing babies has become a popular option for many parents, yet all this time and historically it has not been considered appropriate for deaf children (go Audism). Many schools for the deaf refuse to recognize ASL as their language of instruction. Nearly every audiologist in the country makes no referral of deaf children and their parents to meet someone who is culturally deaf so that they can learn about more than just assistive hearing technologies like hearing aids and cochlear implants. Audism such as this has created a gross imbalance in what parents of deaf children receive for information on all the options available to them. ASL and the Deaf community almost never get equal representation. This petition could be a huge first step in laying a foundation for equality to be built upon.
As I mentioned earlier, I could not say enough in support of this petition. I hope what I have said is enough to help you seriously consider clicking the following link and sign the petition. Here is the link
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/officially-recognize-american-sign-language-community-language-and-language-instruction-schools/CRPw2JLk?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl
Please show your support!
Until next time,
R. M.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Come on App Store, really?
Hello to everyone,
Long time, no time. My apologies. There will be some more book reviews coming, but not until sometime in November.
I am posting this via my mobile app. Not sure how to entirely use this, but as long as text will post, the blog will happen. I was looking at certain mobile apps that teach people American Sign Language. There were some made by people I recognize from DVD programe, etc. Others just looked flat-out awful. For the most part, I have to say I'm disappointed with what's out there.
One app description actually claimed that American Sign Language is a language for people who cannot speak or hear. My first thought was "Really? Only for those who can't speak or hear?" So, from one perspective it came off as this is something for those who are disabled. I don't know, it must just be the CODA in me, but that's a ridicuklous statement. If that's their approach and understanding to Deaf people and ASL I am scared to see what's inside.
This did get me thinking about other things, though. First, I need to do something to put something correct about ASL and Deaf awareness in the app pool. I'm thinking its about time I learn to develop my own apps and get them out there. This needs to happen. The current available apps for the most part, are giving Deaf culture and ASL a bad reputation. So I'm going to try and bend the curve the other way. Besides, the next best thing to a Deaf person making a good quality ASL app is to have a native ASL signing CODA do it. Perhaps there can be an app for other things, too. Time to brainstorm!
Until next time,
R. M.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Book Review: Armor of God - The Paladin by Tracy Lesch
Time for another book review. I do have to apologize again for the inconsistency in my posts as of late. Work has been very busy, and it affects everything else. So I guess just don't expect a weekly post for some time. I will do my best. The book to discuss is titled Armor of God - The Paladin by Tracy Lesch.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Book Review / Author Interview: War Outside My Window by Dea Dickinson / Christy Sloat
Today's post was a little bit late, and by that I mean perhaps a week or more. My apologies to anyone who may be reading. I had a short interview with Christy Sloat, author of The Brown House. I also recently read a short poetry book entitled War Outside My Window by Dea Dickinson. It seemed like a good idea to combo these two into one post so as not to come off to brief, and to possibly make up for the recent lack of posts. Let's have the interview first.
Until next time,
R. M.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Book Review: Picker by Chad Schimke
Time again for another book review. This is again, not a review of a work involved in the Global E-Book awards, more of those are still to come. This post in particular is a review of author Chad Schimke's Picker.
As for my take on this novel, I thought it was ok overall. There were some things I really enjoyed about the book, and it was mostly Schimke's descriptions of the New Mexico area, as well as when he touched on Native American life of tribes indigenous to the area. I found that Schimke has a knack for the historical aspect of fiction, which was refreshing for me, as I was pretty well parched out from many of the other books I have been reading recently. Schimke has a lot of potential as a writer.
Having said that now brings me to the not so good aspects of Picker. The story jumped around a lot, going from historical Native American settings, to Fernando's father's past, and to Fernando's present itself. There was a theme going on, and I could pick up on it, but it was very convoluted. There were so many things that Schimke could have done in his writing to explore the relationships and contrasts further. If he had done this, I would have been a much bigger fan of the story. Instead, what I read was something that felt way too short and needed so much more. Despite the strength of his settings, backgrounds, and writing style in general, it had too many gaps in the story and not enough ties. I can appreciate an author's attempt to not become lengthy and long winded, but in my opinion, a great author recognizes that it's the story itself that needs to be told, and that will dictate how lengthy it needs to be. My gut feeling is that Schimke wasn't quite there yet in this novel.
I do believe that Schimke has a high upside if he continues to write, so I hope he does. As for Picker itself, I am only giving this book 3 stars. It was ok. I hope he lives up to his potential in future books, and I plan to check in on one and find out for myself someday.
Until next time,
R. M.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Book Review: The Brown House by Christy Sloat
I had the opportunity to read and review The Brown House by Christy Sloat. The book is definitely not in a genre I normally like to read. There are very few YA books that I have ever gotten into. Paranormal is hit or miss for me. Romance novels are almost always out of the question for me, too. However, the reason I decided to take this on was for you readers out there. I have a very mixed crowd of followers, but I am aware that many of you book lovers who do read this are quite fond of YA, paranormal, and romance genres. This one has all three, so I figured as a "thank you", I'd swallow my aversion to these genres, and give it a read.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
CODA Not Acceptable?! Says Who?!
I would like for you all to take a moment and look over this picture I downloaded from Facebook. Just read through if you can.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
100 Followers!!! Call to Fight Audism from the AFF!
This is just an in-between reviews post. Today marks a milestone for me, as The Fraser File now has 100 followers! I'd say that's pretty good in less than a year's time. I want to thanks every one of you who have decided to follow the blog. Not sure how many continually read it, but that's ok. I'm getting enough comments from time to time to make this a worthwhile venture.
I guess the next question is, how do I celebrate this? Well, back when I reached either 20 or 25 followers, I held a giveaway of my ebook, Allesandra's Bequest, to five people. The only thing I have done this far is send messages to vintage books and KindleMom, who are my 99th and 100th followers. I have no way of knowing who was number 100, but as a thank you to them I have offered free copies of the same book.
So for the rest of you, I want to do something a little more interactive. You see the AFF logo on the right hand side of the blog? Previously I had stated that if anyone finds an Audism related ad on my page and reports it to me, I would make them the latest Superstar on the AFF roster, proving your worth as an Audism Fighter. It's a take-off of my a guilty pleasure of mine - professional wrestling. Also, check out The Frog's (his album cover at the bottom of the page is a link) album, T3RD, and hear his song "Professional Wrestling".
Ok, got off track there for a second. What I have noticed is that I have yet to see an Audism related ad since I started blocking them. I assume that so far, no one else has seen one. I could be wrong, but I go with what I have in front of me.
So here's the deal. If you find an act of Audism anywhere on the internet (should't be difficult if you are actively looking for it), leave a comment with a link to the website. I will break down all the horrible Audist aspects within it, and place you on the AFF roster, complete with cool wrestling nickname! This is also in addition to finding an Audism related ad on this site. As an additional thank you and in celebration of reaching 100 followers, the first 5 Superstars added to the AFF roster will also receive a copy of Allesandra's Bequest for free!
Again, thanks for following the blog everyone! I want to make one last comment about the petition from change.org that you can see on the right hand side of this page. The petition is intended to help stop St. Martin's Press from publishing Kristin Henson's Super Smutty Sign Language book. I have posted on this before, and it's Audist for sure! The petition needs 10,000 signatures to go forward. Initially this petition got a lot of signatures, but has slowed down immensely over the last few weeks. If you haven't done so, please sign it. If you have any friends that would like to help the cause, get them to sign it to. Clicking the ad on this page will link you to where you can sign the petition for yourself. The more signatures means the louder the voice will be telling St. Martin's Press and Kristin Henson herself that this book is offensive to culturally Deaf people everywhere. As CEO of the AFF, I urge you to sign the petition! Hahaha!
Until next time,
R. M.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Book Review: Milk and Oranges by Charlene Wexler
This week I am reviewing Milk and Oranges by Charlene Wexler. This a collection of short stories. Most, if not all, are from the author's own life. There were two stories that really got me. The fist was called "The Cruel Club". It was an amazing short that made me cry (yes, this guy does that once in a while). It dealt with grief and loss, more specifically mothers who have lost a child. In this case it was related to cancer. I found the emotional part of it gripping, to say the least.
The other story was entitled "Motorcycles are Dangerous". It is somewhat related to "The Cruel Club". It's about her dying son (leukemia), who wants a motorcycle. It's a very short bit, but the emotion is again raw and I found it interesting.
Unfortunately these are the only good stories from this book. For me, the remaining thirty-three stories were not good. I found many of them to be poorly written, and not because of poor editing (editing was good) or poor command of the English language. It was just that the stories were relatively boring. If there was something special about these stories they were lost on me. Maybe "I had to be there", or something like that. I find it somewhat difficult to say that an author should have gotten more in depth when it comes to short stories, but a little more wouldn't have hurt. If Wexler wants to make these more interesting to the reader, they need a little more punch or something. I just wasn't seeing it. There was also a slight hint of "holier than thou" attitude in some of the stories. It wasn't present in all of them, for sure. But it reminded me of one of my aunt-in laws and how she is always keeping up appearances. It's weird, but it didn't sit right with me. It actually made me kind of dislike the author.
I wish I could give this book more than two stars, but I can't. That's where it is. If "The Cruel Club" and "Motorcycles are Dangerous" were their own book apart from the other thirty plus stories, I'd give it four stars. So if you really want to read those two stories, I'd say go get her e-book. I believe it is available at most online e-book retailers. Otherwise, if your reading tastes are anything like mine, good luck.
Until next time,
R. M.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Update and Dragon Naturally Speaking
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Audism Experiment and Book Review Update: Red Leaves and the Living Token by Benjamin David Burrell
I wanted to update all of you in regards to the Audism Experiment posts, which were done to show how Audism is such a deep seeded part of every day life by seeing what happened with content related ads presented by Google AdSense. I have looked into options for blocking those sites that promote Audism and/or that are Audist in nature (my apologies if Audi car ads still show up). What I found is that I can block whole categories of ads.
So what I decided upon for now was to block everything health-related. The medical profession is one of the worst Audism offenders out there, and it seemed that most, if not all, of my Audism related ads were from that group type.
I understand that this will likely be far from a fool-proof plan, and that more Audist ads will leak their way onto the page. I will be regularly checking the site myself for these ads, but more sets of eyes are better than just mine, so I need the help of all of you readers. Anyone who informs me of an Audist ad on my page will be forever memorialized on this blog for all readers to see as an "Audism Fighter". Just imagine, you could kind of be a superhero, with unheard of fame (seriously, there's only 96 followers right now)! Still cool in a nerdy sort of way if you ask me, though, and I'd be proud to put your name up. I should make an Audism Fighter logo to go with it. It could be something like a badge for everyone who makes the page! Cue symmetrical H-As repeating away from my maniacal laughing Joker face! It can be combined with my favorite guilty pleasure, professional wrestling! Instead of TNA or the old WWF, it can be called the AFF - the Audism Fighting Federation! We can all be superstars with great nicknames! Mine can be "R, The Mallet, Fraser", otherwise known as "The Audism Smasher" (kind of like what Gallagher did in his stand up routine). Or how about "The CODA Kidd"? That would be so cool! My finishing move could be boxing someone's ears to make them go Deaf! BWAHAHAHAHA!
I do have one other update. This in regards to Benjamin David Burrell's novel, Red Leaves and the Living Token. After posting my recent review, he contacted me and gave me some new excerpts that is currently being added into the book as a revised newer addition. I had an opportunity to read through them, and they helped to round out the story in certain small areas of the book. I wouldn't consider it enough to change my review of the book, but I am very excited to read book 2 of the series now. previously I had been trying to weigh the book as it was with what I hoped would be a better writing effort shown in the sequel. The fact that Burrell went out of his way to show me these excerpts tells me that he is very serious about his writing, which is all the proof I need to know that he has a good upside in his future writing career. At some point I will be purchasing book 2 of this story, and I have a gut feeling I won't be disappointed.
Please remember to report any Audism related ads that you might come across on my page. The AFF will soon be on the map!
Until next time,
R. M.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Book Review: Red Leaves and the Living Token - Benjamin David Burrell
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Guest Post: Sadie Forsythe
Please welcome guest poster for today, author Sadie Forsythe. Sadie has written The Weeping Empress, which is her only work thus far. I asked her if she would do a post here, and I now know what this post will be about. I'll let her say the rest.
Until next time,
R. M.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Book Review/Interview: The Weeping Empress by Sadie Forsythe
Finally, the Alfred Hitchcock style ending was the perfect finishing touch to the story. It took me to a place I did nit expect to go, but once I was there it fit as though anything different would have been a disappointment.