I never considered that my inability to whistle could be because of my deafness. Ocean brought up whistling and the deaf. My family told me where to place my tongue, how much to open my lips and all that. All that comes out is noisy air and sometimes spit, not a note. I can’t even remember if everyone in my family can whistle, but I believe my parents and two siblings can. They’re hearing.
If you read some of the comments in Ocean’s blog entry, you’ll see a few deaf people can whistle. I always try the puckered lip method as the two finger or “F” shape method always ends with spit all over my fingers and terrible noise. Several said they can whistle backwards. It sounded like a good possibility since I’m left-handed. So maybe I need to do things backwards. I tried and it didn’t work.
Another commenter used the grass blade trick. I had forgotten about this one. I remember trying it and not succeeding. Then BEG referenced bottle whistling — although I think it’s more like humming — and that’s one thing I can do! Ha, I wrote this before I read another person’s identical comment.
Deaf258 made me laugh by sharing other abilities including tying cherry stems into knots using the tongue. I can’t do that, but I can roll my tongue or make a U shape.

Believe it or not, Deaf people enjoy music. Each experiences music in his own way. Some play music like Beethoven’s Nightmare. Some turn up the stereo and feel the vibrations. Some listen through hearing aids and cochlear implants. This applies to songs not originally written for ASL.
Growing up, I loved musical theater music. I still do. Following the storyline was easier than a movie or play because of the dancing, colorful scenes, period costumes and the songs. My parents took me to many shows at Casa Mañana where I picked up favorite songs. I worked at Casa for two summers setting up the scenes.

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Wow! The Pittsburgh Pirates have captioning at their home games! No wonder the stadium scored the number one spot for accessibility. I can’t wait to tell my dad this — he’s the big baseball fan in the family and rubbed it off on me. I’m thankful I can still tell my dad something after he had his stroke a month ago. He’s still hospitalized, but he understands what’s going on.
We’re Brooklyn Dodgers fans. How can we be fans of a no longer existing team? No law against that. Dad grew up in Brooklyn and I love the team’s rich history. Dave … the Pirates may be lousy, but at least they have a great past to speak of unlike the Texas Rangers. The Rangers have had some of the best players and pitchers, but never make it far into the playoffs.

In Reading to Students, I discussed a bad experience in reading to my daughter’s second grade class and how reluctant I was doing it for my current second grader (for four more days). I e-mailed the teacher who said I could talk to the class on Thursday, May 17.

And so I did. Those of you responding to that post — thanks for the encouragement. I collected stuff to show the students and printed cards with the fingerspelling alphabet and numbers. The talk began with an introduction and my background. Then came show and tell including a yellowing TTY, Sidekick III, hearing aids, and my cochlear implant.

I opened the floor to questions. I loved this one from one student, “Do you have to eat special food?” It goes to show how important it is to educate people on differences. However, some with Meniere’s Disease find that eating or restricting food can improve their condition. I also told the story of Paul riding an elevator with a new co-worker who hadn’t met me yet but knew I was deaf. The co-worker asked if I could read braille, which I can’t. I’m amazed how people can feel the different dots.

I even shared my bad experience with my daughter’s second grade class. My son interrupted that story — the kids asked me to finish the story. After answering questions, I passed out the fingerspelling cards and the kids practiced fingerspelling with partners. They looked like they were enjoying themselves. I felt awkward sitting there while they partnered up. But the alternative scared me more — going around and asking them if they need help. I asked the kids near me and couldn’t understand what the girl said. So I stayed put until it was time for lunch.

My youngest, a four-year-old, has been learning fingerspelling and grabbed a card for himself. It’s cool watching him make letters. I may not speak ASL, but I appreciate fingerspelling and my family telling each other I love you in sign language.