You're Deaf, tell me what it's like to hear. I'm hearing, I can NOT tell you what it's like to be deaf all day, every day. I see my son and his experience. I know what he can and can't hear, but it never occurred to me that deaf people could hear music despite not hearing. Jenny enlightened me in her comment:
Hi Jodi,
I apologize for my tone this morning. It was very early in the morning and I am frustrated at how these misconceptions keep coming up time and again - you have to choose between signs and speech/sound. That's so not the case. It's perfectly possible, and even better, in many cases, to give a deaf child everything - signs, access to sound/spoken language, etc. Why not? There's really no need to have to "choose."
To answer your question, yes, I'm deaf, do not wear hearing aids, and I don't have an implant. I still love music. Tunes get stuck in my head. Sweet Molly Malone was playing and replaying itself in my head just the other day. Dang, it just may restick itself in my head now! "Crying 'cockles and mussels a-live! Oh!'" *grin* Another current favorite is Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. I *love* that instrumental crescendo near the end and how masterfully it builds up to that point.
Furthermore, I'm not unique in the community. You may or may not know about Beethoven's Nightmare, an all-deaf rock band. Many of us enjoy signing songs, discussing music, swapping playlists, et cetera. One acquaintance is almost totally deaf, but she always cranks up her car stereo, buys CDs like crazy, and memorizes lyrics. Most of us have a natural rhythm. We dance. We go out to clubs shakin' our thang. We have ASL songs and poems.
Dianrez is right when she says that not all of us are into it. We also vary in how "into" it we are, just like hearing people. My very hearing mom isn't into music. She appreciates it, but she doesn't purchase anything musical. Her car radio is always set to the news or to talk shows. My very hearing cousin plays the piano and cannot be without music for one second (it's always on in the background). Between these two extremes, the other members of my family fall at varying points in between. The same is true for deaf people. Some are more musically inclined than others.
I hope this clarifies and answers your questions.
-Jenny
I will say this...ever since Jordan could walk, he would get out of the shower soaking wet and do the hoochy-koochy-shake-that-thang-neked dance, and I would look at him and think, "Well, strippers do make good money." I could never understand how he could be deaf and still have so much rhythm. Jenny, your comment really gave me a new perspective and now I understand how he can be deaf and still have "music in his ears." Beautiful.
Writing this blog has provided me with the opportunity to meet so many special people who enlighten my world on a daily basis. Reading other people's stories and writing, writing, writing is such a cathartic experience. As I've said before, one mom of a newly diagnosed deaf child, Christian, hits my nerves again and again because I see so much of myself in her words and experience. While we live the experience day in and out, we don't realize how much we suffer until we achieve success and see that our children will be okay. I am healing and growing, kind of meshing the Jodi that was with the Jodi that went through all of this experience in another language. I'm bringing the American back, but the Italian has so consumed me that it has meshed and I need to figure out who the hell I am...in Tweenersville.
Yesterday, an interesting thing happened. My husband sent me a text message asking, "Why do you write about everyone but me in your blog?...sexy iPod girl, I love you, Luca." Note: He saw the photo of the neked guitar man and I think got a little worried. I responded, "I didn't think you read my blog." He replied, "Don't be so sure."
Hmmm. Growing and evolving can be scary for a married couple. My husband has a fanclub here in Istia and throughout Grosseto, anyone who is my friend loves my husband, because their husbands don't do shit. Luca lives for our kids and our family's routine. He sends me hot text messages daily and does the laundry - he's obsessed with hanging clothes - I refuse. To give you an idea, I am the only one I know who has a dryer. *WTF???* It was a condition before moving here, that and a dishwasher. The lifestyle here is so far from anything you know and I have adapted, but certain things cannot be sacrificed. I'm starting to feel a lot of those sacrifices in this period, sacrifices I consciously chose to make and others that were thrown upon me...working through it.
And now, my husband is helping me. He sent me eight text messages today and we met for a coffee, a damn good coffee.
He wanted to know why I didn't blog about Valentine's Day. All I'll say is that I wore my leopard pumps again *smile*
And...
14 days later, the roses he gave me are still in bloom.
