I grew up in a mainstream program that had only one other deaf person, and luckily enough - my parents fought for interpreting services way back in the 80's and got us some darn good interpreters. I went from first to twelfth grade with pretty much the same people I knew most of my life, and that's part of the reason I had to leave. Everyone grows up in SLO, goes to college in SLO (Cal Poly), gets married in SLO, and then their kids perpetuate the cycle :) So, I decided to go on a college tour. So off I went to UCLA, CSUN, UCSC, UCSB, UCSD, The Art Center, Parsons, RIT, NYU and Gallaudet. Gallaudet had some pretty stiff competition from those schools, but here I am! Gallaudet offers what no other college can - complete immersion in the Deaf world - with faculty and peers that communicate in a visual language that everyone learns to understand and embrace. I wouldn't have that at any of those other colleges.

I'm a self-professed semi-expert in a few things, but what I love and will never surrender is my love for main titles. That's usually the first question people ask - "what are main titles?" They sound sort of suspicious until they realize that they've seen them thousands of times over, in many different disguises. When I explain that they're just the opening credits you see in films, then people either decide to drill me like I'm this greenhorn on my first day of boot camp, or they look at me quizzically and proceed to eat the block-of-the-day delicacy they've ordered from Rathskellar (one of our beloved campus eating areas).

I sure hope you're one of the questioning types. That's the kind of open mind I like to see, and often get to see at Gallaudet - intellectually stimulating conversations that always end with more questions than answers, just the way I like it. Okay, so questions, questions.. "What do I plan to do with my self-professed love for main titles?" I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. No, I know I am.. I've known what I've wanted to do for as long as I can remember. I mean, of course, I went through that stage at, like, 6 or 7 when I thought I really, passionately, with all my heart, wanted to be a vet... until I realized that when I brought out a needle, all animals great and small would run, scurry, fly, crawl or swim for their lives when they saw me. That idea went out the window pretty quickly, as you might guess.

One day, I will be a successful main titles designer working for a firm somewhere in either New York or California, with two BAs from Gallaudet (one in Film, the other in Graphic Design). Actually, I could end up with possibly three if I go for another one in Art History, but I'll leave that up to the Fates and proceed along with my life until I actually decide what to do with three bachelor degrees. When I graduate, I'll be taking my BAs with me and frolicking off to either New York University (NYU) or New School University (NSU), for either a MA or MFA in a motion-design related field.

I've been involved in a lot of things at Gallaudet, and you can usually find me running around campus doing this or that. I've been involved in the Class of 2005, am a Student Congress Senator, worked hard for Election Week, was the SBG Director of Projects, am a Student Ambassador and am the Student Representative for the North-Eastern Region of the National Collegiate Honors Council, in addition to being involved in Orb Films and the former Ernest Marshall Association. I don't think that actually covers it all, but that's all right... In one of my future blogs, I'll probably explain what all that means ;) Hey, come to think of it, that's another thing I can thank Gallaudet for - organizations, organizations, organizations! If you can't find an organization for you at Gallaudet, you probably can't find one anywhere else - but here, you can just start one up yourself! I could probably list 500 different ways to get involved here at Gallaudet, and just getting involved is the way to the heart of Gallaudet.

Actually, I find myself walking around campus in this stupefied state these days. If someone took a Sharpie and wrote across my head "10 DAYS LEFT" I probably wouldn't notice, or I'd scrub it off fervently, hoping for a reprieve from all the last-minute flurries of activity floating around campus. It IS Final Week, after all. I'll have to blow off all the dust bunnies on top of my 'fridge, pack it up, and store it somewhere for the summer.. because, baby, it's off to Europe after graduation! I'm part of yet another amazing opportunity you can only find at Gallaudet.. a three-week Italian Studies trip all over Italy! After I finish up my three weeks, I'll be touring Europe for a month and a half, but more about that later. *sips Tropical Punch Caprisun* hmm, I like Pacific Cooler better... Who's for Pacific Cooler?! Ooh, would you look at the time? Argh, I gotta jet because I've got two take-home finals to work on (for what, you say? modern art and Italian studies... yeah, thanks for wishing me luck.. I'll need it). Sayonara!