Thank You Keith and Wink, New AFF Member

For the ASL vlog version, click here

Hello Everyone and welcome,

Today I want to announce something. You know my roster? Really there’s only one name on the AFF roster. Today I get to announce there’s a new name to add to it. Her name is Norma Boots. She provided the subject for my previous post. She had been reading a book when she came upon a comment the author wrote that was negative toward deafness. She looked up the author’s contact information and sent her a direct email. The author responded, becoming a discussion. Norma stayed strong and positive and did a lot to help the author understand Deaf culture. That’s the point of the AFF - to help eradicate Audism - that.

So the two of then discussed what name she wanted. My name is the CODA Kidd, with 2 d’s, because it looks more like a wrestler’s name. So we both thought on it and came up with ideas, but when we shared them we didn’t like them. So we did it again and man, what a waste. Finally, she had come up with one. She is the “Paladin of Justice”, but I prefer to sign “Justice” like this (the sign for equality as opposed to the one that relates to “court”). That’s cool! Her name is The Paladin of Justice! Yeah! So now it can be added to the roster, meaning there are now two people. I’m waiting for more, so who’s out there? Come on, I’m ready!

Recently my wife and I went to Brewer, Maine, for the Keith Wann and Wink show. I bought tickets for myself, my wife, niece, sister, (my mother), and my aunt. She is very special to me. Both of my parents are Deaf. No one on my mother’s side of the family ever really signed, and it was the same for my father’s side of the family, with one exception - his sister (my aunt). My father was the oldest of his siblings while my aunt was the youngest. There’s about 15 years separating them. So when she was a kid, somewhere between 4 and 6 years old, my father taught her ASL. He would show her the alphabet and some signs. She started to pick it up, and then just took off with it. That’s what makes her unique in their family - she is the only one who signed. Very nice. So we brought everyone to the show.

The first performance was the comedy show, which was Wink followed by Keith. It’s such a good experience, but I had seen the same show twice before in Boston and New Hampshire. Despite that, the show was still awesome. Anyways, during the break we looked around at the school the show was held in. It’s an elementary/middle school. The same aunt I just mentioned works there, and has her classroom upstairs on the second floor. She’s the special ed teacher, so it was cool to have her show us her room and the upstairs. 

When we came back down, I noticed my mother hanging around and chatting with the other Deaf people there. It was a very good time. It was so nice to see everybody, so many old faces I remember, but I couldn’t recall most of their names. It’s the CODA curse, maybe (what do you think?) because when you’re a little kid at the Deaf Club meetings with your family and you see all of the adults, and play with all the other CODA children, you get to know their faces, all of them - strong remember. But names? My god, I was just a little kid. I didn’t remember any names because no one ever spoke them. You can’t pick it up if it’s not mentioned - but their faces? Oh yes they’re etched in my brain. It was really nice to see so many people. 

Keith’s comedy performance was the same routine until the very end, where he added a sort of “thank you” to everyone who came. He wanted to show everyone, it’s hard to explain, really. It was beautiful of course, and it bent my heart. To be honest, it did draw a tear from my eye, but it’s ok, I am still a man here, alright? He performed a song and I don’t know its name, but it sounded a lot like country. The words on their own were very powerful, about each person having a candle representing their spirit, and how we should be responsible for finding those whose candles are out, go to them and help them by showing our own light, in hopes theirs will ignite. It was really how he signed it and told the story, though. It was so powerful to see this on stage and realize it was just like watching a music video, like the ones you see on MTV or other stations. When you watch a video, it has its story in English words, but the video itself tells a story, too, just like a movie does. Keith’s performance was just like that - a music video.

I just sat there, jaw on the floor in awe of what I was seeing. So Keith, I just want to say “thank you”. That performance really touched my heart, and that was a wonderful experience, so thank you.

Afterwards was the second performance by Wink, entitled “My Father’s Gift”. It wasn’t really a comedy, but a more serious look at his parents, who are Deaf. It was really interesting to see at the beginning of his performance how he explained his parents’ backgrounds growing up (the family dynamic, what kinds of schools they went to, etc). I noticed it was very similar to my family. His father and mine both went to schools for the Deaf when they were 5 years old, so they got to be around other deaf children the entire time, signed, and interacted. The contrast was interesting to see that his mother and my own, when they were of age for school, were both sent to public schools by their own parents, with nothing more than some hearing aids and a push out the door with the hopes they would learn to speak. I’m pretty sure Wink’s mom was in the public school system through graduation. My mother was in public school until about 12 or 13 years old. Her parents noted that her improvement was insignificant, so they felt it was perhaps best to send her to a school or the deaf, and she finally got to go. To see how their stories were similar was really cool, and helped me to relate even more. 

He told the story of how his parents had met, how his father had fallen in love with her, and that was a beautiful story. Later on they had a baby girl (Wink’s older sister). Wink was the second child. In his performance he became both of his parents. The story truly broke my heart, but knowing how he survived, well, I have to say that his story, compared to Keith’s ASL song, it’s like this. Keith’s brought a tear to my eye. However, Wink’s story had me removing my glasses to wipe the many tears from my face and looking around to make sure no one saw me. That. 

The story was so powerful, seeing those Deaf have so much inner strength, love and everything else you could mention. It was during that time (part of the story) that his father’s strength was the solitary reason for Wink being born. Now as an adult this is how Wink thanks him. It really is his father’s gift.

I want to sum up here. Keith’s performance really touched my heart. Wink’s was so powerful, not only did it touch my heart, but at the same time, it ripped it open, and then healed it to be even stronger because of what happened in that story. His father’s strength, the love for his family, for his wife, that whole thing - wow - that - really made me feel inspired. It’s really a wonderful story about “Deaf Can”, “Deaf Strong”, and “Do Deaf Need Hearing People? No!” That was impressive. We CODAs carry around a “Deaf heart” inside of us, and that story touched mine, making such an impact that it will be in my mind and heart forever. That’s what I want to say, to Wink, “Thank you. I want to let you know that seeing your performance, your comedy show, and other experiences I’ve had with you whether it was the interview or just hanging out, you’ve left a mark on my life, and that’s a true inspiration for me. Thank you. To Keith, thank you as well. Both of you guys are awesome!

So all this rambling about the show and how it affected me by breaking my heart, mending it, yada yada, does have a purpose. I want all of you - those of you who haven’t yet seen Wink and Keith perform - to go online, right now. Well that’s just dumb of me, you guys are already watching this vlog (or reading this blog). So let’s do this. When this video (or blog) is finished, I want you to go to keithwann.com or winkasl.com. It doesn’t matter which one you go to, just search their page for a tour schedule. If you find that they are coming to your area, by all means, please, don’t be patient, and certainly don’t wait. Grab those tickets. Bring your friends and your family, everybody. Bring them all and watch the show. I know your hearts will be impacted the same way mine has been. 

Until next time,

R. M. 

R. M. Interviews Wink (Windell Smith, Jr.)

For the ASL version of this post, click here

Hello all and welcome! 

This post is my interview with Wink (Windell Smith, Jr.). I just want to say to you all that being able to interview Wink was quite an honor for me. He’s a very kind man with a ton of great ideas. He’s done so much work with ASL, interpreting (for the Deaf), and sharing his stories about growing up CODA. It’s amazing and he’s such a powerful performer. 

Well that’s all I had to say, so enjoy the interview. Here we go!

RM: Hello. My name is R. M. Fraser, and this is Wink. Maybe you know him from his website winkasl.com. Hello, Wink.

Wink: Hello everyone.

RM: So my first question. So I’m a CODA and I’ve always been fascinated by other CODAs family dynamics related to language. For example, in my family, my father was very strong and pure ASL, while my mother follows more old-fashioned signed English. It was an odd linguistic mix for me growing up. I’m curious about your experience. What are your parents like?

Wink: It’s really interesting that you took in both ASL and English. Growing up in my family, ASL was my father’s thing. It was taught at the school for the deaf where he grew up. My mother grew up with an oral background in a mainstream program. Sometime after they (my parents) were married, she was involved in an accident. She lost everything upstairs and had to relearn. She mixed ASL and English. I was very close to my father. I left school in 2nd grade and was home schooled from there. When I grew up, I was with my father at his handyman business. I would be there, and just pay attention to his language. He would always explain how to fix things. He used a lot of classifiers and I took all that in. I never really got the hang of fixing things and that stuff, but I saw and was constantly exposed to that language. From my exposure, I incorporated his way of using classifiers and handshapes, etc, and that’s what comes out of me. 

RM: You do “Winkshops”, you perform, and other things. How long have you been doing this?

Wink: Aaaahh. I’ve been teaching workshops for about four or five years, and I’ve been performing for about three or four years, too. The workshops did happen first before the performing. 

RM: Since you’ve been performing, with all the humor in your stories, and I’m sure these are real life experiences, or at least in part.

Wink: Well, yes, but in my comedy show I tend to take what happened and tweak the whole thing. For example, the stories I perform in my comedy show about my father, the story about ‘red’, my father DID say that to me about the SEE sign ‘red’. He DID bang pots and pans and made a lot of noise to to annoy me. But him knocking the door off its hinges and pushing me out of the way DIDN’T which I think the average person can assume which parts are my imagination and fiction. I like to look at these situations and be more creative with the ASL. As for the dramatic performances I do, they are 100% true, but the time frame spans a few decades, I mean, from 1980 something -- well, really it begins when my parents were born right up until more present day. I have to condense all that into a two hour show. So I’ll take things from different times and combine them into one. So everything is real, but the delivery isn’t exactly chronological it’s condense to present the feeling, but it’s still honest. 

RM: So some experiences may be mixed up. When you think back on growing up, what was the funniest thing that happened that you haven’t shared with the audience? 

Wink: Umm (long pause), I think of one of the interesting things with my father. He was always very honest with me. My parents were open socially, and always discussed things in front of me, even at age 8! I mean, why? As far as remembering specific stories, well, not really, but I always remember their honesty. They were so open, and if I had a question, they would always answer. They were never vague about anything, Sometimes they were too blunt, and at 8 years old that would kind of confuse me, but it’s interesting, anyway.

RM: So you’ve made DVDs that relate to your “Winkshops”, right? And it’s really for developing ASL and a bunch of other things. I’m curious because I work in deaf education, and I have been through bilingual education training and I’ve learned that some really good theories involved with education for deaf children involve a media room, with a camera that can record their expressive (language) and make it ‘static’, so they can watch it repetitively. So I’m curious, how do you feel about its importance to deaf education?

Wink: Do you mean its importance for... what do you mean?

RM: Media use and its importance for deaf education.

Wink: Oh yes. Media, wow. Well, deaf education aside, in general education, media has failed because of old practices from the 1900s that continue today. It really hasn’t grabbed a hold of media yet. And this ASL group hasn’t either. Honestly, they’re still teaching ASL through books, which is stupid. There needs to be an increase of media when teaching deaf children so it can be seen in 3D instead of on paper. When they (student) don’t understand, it can be modeled. No doubt in how media could really improve this. My company, Winkshop, we focus on that, how to deliver it to Deaf, and hearing people learning ASL. Those two things are very important.

RM: So “Winkshops”, do you have a sign for that?

Wink: No, I just tend to spell Wink -- (RM: That’s ok, its fine) But really the company is named Wink, and its funny because my name is WInk, I guess it’s one entity to me, or that is how I see it.

RM: So do “Winkshops” really only focus on interpreting, or do you get into more than that?

Wink: Well, as I just mentioned, the Winkshop company and I are one in the same. I have many goals and that’s why I set this company up. The reason is that I can’t be the one to address all those goals alone. It’s impossible. There’s not enough time, and someday I will die. So I brought people into the company so it can continue in the event of my passing. I’ve communicated this to them, what to do, etc. So it’s not only geared for hearing people, but in general, too, for Deaf, deaf education, deaf children, Deaf adults in all sorts of genres as well, entertainment, educational, etc. I really go in-depth on all of these goals. In a few months, there will be a broader approach of a new industry that hasn’t really been tapped yet that focuses on Deaf in general. I can’t discuss it yet, but that’s why I set up this company, so that we can do all these things, and if we can, I want to do it all in one place. 

RM: That would be nice to see, for sure.

I saw you perform before in Boston. I really enjoyed it, and felt like I laughed through it nonstop. My belly couldn’t catch a break, but the amount of humor you put into your experiences for the audience, how important is that? (Wink: involve what?) To involve humor in your performances.

Wink: Umm... I feel humor is quite powerful. You can say something that’s powerful, but if you add humor to it, it goes to the back of your head while you’re laughing and lingers there for a while and becomes something more that you analyze and try to derive other meanings from it, which is interesting. So, if I can convey something to others that is important and they can grasp, and add that humor in it that makes them laugh, it’ll stick and they’ll really get the message later on. So they’re willing to accept it at first, and later on really get its full meaning. 

RM: I’m curious. How did you meet Keith (Wann)? How did that happen?

Wink: I forget the name of the strip club, no... We didn’t meet as “performers” He was well established as a performer before we met. I was just starting out as a dramatic/comedy performer with my one man show, I have also been a workshop presenter prior to that. Keith saw me from some of the stuff I put up on YouTube and of course we all know his stuff on YouTube. But how we first “met” was back when I was a director of outreach for a sign language interpreting agency. We reached out to Keith’s company at the time “CallVRS” in regards to a few business propositions between companies and a non-profit, we didn’t discuss performing at the time. Keith and I were involved with lots of organizations and projects and always found excuses to incorporate one another in the projects which he was gracious enough to always agree to. Eventually Keith asked “Hey you have been doing this drama stuff for awhile, you ever think about doing comedy?” I didn’t really know how to answer, but then in his very nonchalant way, “Come out next month with some material for a show.” By that time I have learned to just accept and take the offer regardless, just take it! So I went and did a short set of 10 minutes and was off the stage before I knew it. However, one unkind thing Keith did to me was he assembled a powerhouse performance group of Himself, Crom Saunders, and The Peter Cook, he put me after Peter which made me wet my pants because he is just amazing! Wasn’t fun going after somebody who brought the house down, so I half expected everyone to go to the bathroom during my anemic set. However, one thing I must say is that Keith Wann is incredibly supportive! He’s always on the look out for new young performers (I mean as in up and coming) and those that are willing to be apart of the group he will be their first and biggest fan and will show you where you need to go and even work on your bits with you. There are a scat few performers out there with the generosity to do that. 

RM: For yourself, when you look into the future, do you see yourself continuing this work or do you want a change? You said that you want to add more to Winkshop to focus on other goals, but do you think you’ll continue to perform?

Wink: I feel I’ll always go on with performing because I enjoy it so much, I know when I get up on stage there will be someone in the audience who will be impacted, and that’s important to me. I also enjoy creating jokes and seeing how, why, and why not it may work and plow through that and break it down mentally, I love that process. So I think that’ll continue, and the business will expand, so it’ll be those two things.

RM: So where can people find you on the web? Where can they find your website> This is your time for shameless self promotion, so go ahead.

Wink: My website is WinkASL.com. You can find me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, email. It’s all there on WinkASL.com. And if you search WinkASL on YouTube, Facebook, etc, you will find me. So I think that’s the easiest way to find more information. My website has a newsletter and you can be notified if I come to your area to perform, or do a workshop or whatever. So thanks for watching. Oh, and thank you R. M. Fraser!. It was an honor to be interviewed and have this exchange. I really enjoyed it. 

RM: Thank you. I feel honored, too.

Wink: Great Work :)

Until next time,

R. M.

RM Interviews Keith Wann - SuperCoda

Hello Everyone,

I want to say first that I apologize for not having a video of my interview with Keith Wann. I stated previously that all English blog posts in the future would have a corresponding ASL vlog to go with it. The interview began last year and slowly completed a few weeks ago, all via email, so unfortunately no video was taken. With that in mind, I want to say a few things about Keith before the interview. 

Early on after my first few blog posts I quickly realized that one of my goals was to give insight to hearing people about the Deaf community. As a CODA, I am very familiar with Deaf culture and my local Deaf community. I am still and always will be a part of it. One of the things I know is that most hearing people don’t get it. Please don’t take offense to that if you are one of those hearing people because it’s not your fault. You just never had any experience with it. But if you read these posts and get something meaningful from them, then I have accomplished that goal. This is where Keith Wann comes in. He is a CODA like me and very involved in his Deaf community. 

Anyone who has seen one of Keith’s performances, or watched any of the plethora of videos he has online can tell that ASL and Deaf culture are huge parts of his life. Through his work he is doing the same thing I am, and reaching a much bigger audience, I might add. He does it in his way, through humor, performing, and storytelling. I have been watching him now for several years and wondered if I could convince him to take time to let me interview him. So, I found him on Facebook and sent him a message, asking him for an interview. His exact response was this - “sure thing! I would be honored - let me know what I need to do!”

Well over the last year we have finally completed this thing. Keith is a very busy person who wears many hats, and almost all of those hats involve Keith giving his time to others. Whether through performing/touring, his ASL radio program (which I just learned is no longer airing), his work with LegalShield, or with his family, he is giving everything he has of himself to other people, and that’s an invaluable contribution to humanity. I have a very deep respect for him, especially after meeting him recently. Anyways, I’ll end my ramble here and get on with the interview. Here goes....

RM: Are both of your parents Deaf?

Keith: Yes.  My mother became deaf at the age of three - german measles and pneumonia.  My biological father is hearing, (we) never met.  The man who I call dad who raised me was born deaf.

RM: As a CODA, and knowing other CODAs, we have all had some similar experiences growing up. Could you speak of these and how they affected your childhood?

Keith: I believe having similar experiences allowed me to have more empathy as a person later in life. I could hear someone and even if I didnt have that same experience I could understand that was their world and what they experienced.  For me this came as a lesson to me at the CODA Conference Hawaii 2004 - when I was asked to get on stage and do a bit of my show.  I said sure!  and then I was asked to voice and not sign...which blew me away...I always sign my show.  Then I was told there were codas in the audience that didnt know sign language so I had to be accomodating to them.  I was floored... I thought all codas had the same experience as me, deaf and ASL.  Lesson learned. For those that did have the same experience I always feel that kindred spirit.  The stories I do in my show are not all mine - they are OUR stories.

RM: What is your funniest Deaf related experience or story growing up?


Keith: Can't really name one - made a career out of sharing millions of the childhood stories - I do remember my parents buying me a radio and telling me to listen and learn to talk - they didnt know about the dial tone and didnt teach me either, so I listened for days to a station that played country that wasnt exactly on the dial - so the static was louder then the music.  Week later (an) older coda came over, and saw the radio and gave me the "lesson".

RM: What got you into, and when did you start doing ASL storytelling/comedy?


Keith: I was just flapping my hands as an interpreter and one night after bombing the gay and lesbian comedy festival since at that time I had no background in teabagging and tossing salads I decided to try out for a local asl improv group.  From there we traveled up and down the state of california until one night we were asked to each do a 10 minute solo from our childhood - my first story was the unplugging the vacuum story and the rest is history.

RM: I think it's safe to say that Peter Cook is considered one of the best ASL storytellers today. What is it like to work with him?


Keith: I still cannot believe that Peter is my personal mentor. He is such an inspiration and support that I now try to be with others that I work with. He has set the bar for ASL performing.  To have him treat me like an equal and ask my opinion on how he should change his story is an awesome feeling. To be able to travel with him and see how he thinks, how he treats people, and to see how genuine he is about life, I am one of the luckiest people. He became a close friend, was the pastor at our wedding. His work ethics is outstanding and something all of us need to strive for!

RM: What is the one piece of work you are most proud of?


Keith: Anything that one person takes away and it changes them. I can be proud of one particular piece but it might be for another reason, a simple statement, sign, or story that another person takes and it changes them. Gary Sanderson gave me a gem early in my career and he wasnt aware of it, and I was so happy I was able to talk to him years later and thank him for it. I had someone approach me a year later after one of my shows and say "thank you for pulling my sister up on stage (a silly improv asl song I do) - I am deaf and she is hearing and after you involved her she jumped into ASL and now we have regular sister -sister conversations without mom having to interpret." I get those kind of thank yous all the time and that is what I am most proud of.

RM: Tell us what Audism is in your own words.


Keith: Seems to be if a deaf person can talk they feel they are higher in the pecking order since they are 'closer' to hearing.

RM: Describe your ASL radio show.

Keith: A way for the hearing world to hear more about our ASL world.

RM: What is your biggest fear?

Keith: That I go blind.

RM: What can we expect from Keith Wann in the future? 


Keith: More behind the scenes stuff and ASL children's book literature - my 10 years of being America's funniest ASL comedian has been a great ride and I have no problems helping the next generation of ASL performers like Wink and Austin Andrews have their 10 years...there is plenty of room for 100 more ASL coda performers - My show was never about me, but us.

RM: Is there anything that you would like to let the readers know?


Keith: I look forward to learning, growing, and sharing more with our ASL Community.

I was saddened to learn recently that the Keith and Wink ASL Radio Show is no longer happening. Its concept was great and its delivery medium was original, to say the least. Hopefully the good people of Florida got a lot out of it. Awareness of the Deaf community among hearing people is, in my opinion, the best way we can fight Audism. Power to the Deaf and ASL!

The above picture is (hopefully obvious) myself and ELF with Keith at his show in Cambridge, MA. The other performers, "Wink" Windell Smith, Jr., and Gregg Spera, both put on exceptional performances. They had us laughing all night long. I was able to make a connection with Wink, and we set aside some time before their next show in Manchester, NH (April 26) to do a video interview. That post should be coming within the next month. It could be a while. I need to go back through and translate all the signing for the hearing people who don't know ASL. Once that is more finalized I will let you all know of a date for that post, so keep checking back!

I want to personally thank Keith for the time he gave to this interview and the inspiration he has been to many of us. Don't stop performing. People need to know, and laugh about it, too! Find him at keithwann.com, and watch any of his many videos on youtube. It's great stuff!

Until next time,

R. M. 

A Wonderful Night With Three Great Performers

Hello everyone,

It has been forever since I have posted anything on this blog. Much of what has been taking my attention away from writing is finally over, which gives me some much needed free time. So this post is me spending some of that time so I can share with you a wonderful experience that ELF and I had about two weeks ago.

Ever since I heard the term CODA, it gave me a sense of belonging to something. For the most part, that tie is to Deaf people. Deaf people who use ASL, but mostly my family, my parents’ Deaf friends, and the many Deaf friends I have made here in the Boston area. There is another tie, just as strong and as unique to my tie with Deaf people. It’s the tie to other CODAs, and it’s uniqueness comes from our common shared experiences. 

It’s because of these ties that I have become increasingly interested in ASL performances. Most everything I have seen has been via the internet, watching ASL poems, storytelling, and comedy routines. One of my favorite performers has been Keith Wann. Any CODA reading this likely knows exactly who I am talking about. He may be one of the funniest performers I have ever seen. It’s been a dream to see him perform live, and two weeks ago I finally got to when he came to perform at Harvard University. 

The first surprise came after ELF and I parked the car in a local garage and began walking towards Sever Hall where the show would be. On our way down Quincy Street I had noticed and pointed out to ELF two Deaf women just ahead of us on the sidewalk. We had no idea where Sever Hall was, but knew they were on their way there, so we decided to follow them. In about another 200 feet, one of them got into a car, and the other one turned around to make her way to the same vehicle. That’s when I recognized her face. As a young child, my family spent a lot of time with hers. Her father and my father were good friends all through school. 

I waved her down and introduced myself. Before I could finish spelling my last name, her face lit up in surprised recognition and she immediately began to relay it through the car windows to her friends inside. The group turned out to be her husband, who had been a more recent fishing buddy of my father’s, her mother whom I haven’t even seen since childhood, and another couple who were also good friends with my parents and hers. They had made the four hour drive from Bangor, Maine to Boston just for the show. We had a great conversation on the way to the hall and while waiting inside before the show began. 

It was great catching up with all of them, and before I knew it, one of them expressed his thoughts to me on my father, his good friend, and what it meant for him to miss him. His little speech on this caused me to choke back some nearly uncontrollable tears on the verge of crashing down in front of everyone. It was a very thoughtful gesture, and I’ll never forget his words. Loosely translated, he said that he really missed my father, would always remember his laughter, and pointed out that I must miss him dearly. That’s when the flood came for me, and as I was nodding yes he hugged me out of nowhere. I hadn’t seen this man since my father’s funeral service over five years ago, and I’m pretty sure we didn’t even hug then, but it was a very welcome thing nonetheless. I mean, where else can one find such a small community closeness? For me, there isn’t really any other place that lives up to that Deaf community standard. 

Well, anyways, after that it wasn’t long before we were allowed into the lecture hall for the show. It was a small audience, maybe about 100 people or a few more. It turned out to be a great show. I was surprised to see one Gregg Spera perform an opening act (very good one-of-a-kind performer, by the way) before another man named Wink performed. If you’re familiar with Keith’s work then you may recognize Wink as well. They have been working together for some time now on an ASL radio show in Florida. The show broadcasts over the radio for the hearies and podcasts on the internet for all the ASLers. Wink is a CODA as well, and his stand up routine had me laughing almost constantly. 

When Keith went up to perform it was no different. The man is incredibly funny, and between the two of them I identified with so many CODA experiences. Everything they said and did was funny, but to relate to it so well just made the laughter all the more special. I really felt at home, so to speak. After the show ELF and I hung around to meet them, and to our surprise we were invited to hang out with them at a local restaurant. 

This second surprise was something I couldn’t turn down, despite how late it was and the fact that ELF and I had to be up early the next morning. So we threw caution to the wind and had ourselves a good time. I do want to say that Keith seems like an incredible guy, and he was very down to earth. We just hung out and ASLed for a couple of hours, occasionally attracting the attention of hearies trying to figure out what all this hand-flying around stuff was all about. One guy literally stopped outside a window to look in on us with his mouth wide open. Well whatever, I’m used to that, I suppose. 

What turned out to be an amazing evening of surprises had just one more for us  after we parted ways. Keith and Wink returned to their hotel room, Gregg went home, and the other person who was there led us back to the path to our garage. Enter surprise number three; the garage was locked and the security doors down. No way in or out while raining in late March at twelve-frickin-thirty in the morning. So we did the only thing we could do - I called a friend out of bed to come pick us up and bring us home. Thankfully he answered the call. It even turned to snow for a short time before he finally made it there to pick us up. 

It didn’t damper the experience at all, however. It was quite a stamp to put on at the end of the day, but we had a great time. The only thing that made it better that it already had been was the fact that not at any single moment did ELF need anything interpreted. She has come such a long way, and I am so proud of her.

There is one other piece of news that I wish to share with you all. About one year ago, I contacted Keith Wann in the meager hopes that he would agree to do a blog interview. Well, he agreed to it on the spot, and that was a wonderful surprise. I mean, the CODA Brothers didn’t respond at all, and here was this guy ready to go. So I sent him some questions via email, and over the course of the past year, we finally found time to complete the thing. I will be posting this interview 28 days from now, on May 5th. Not sure by what time, but look for future posts either here or on facebook. If I decide on something, it will be mentioned either here or there. 

Until next time,

R. M.