Robyn Girard

unity. community. diversity.

Thu, 04 May 2006 12:32:24 -0500

A lot of people have been asking me what's up at Gallaudet lately.

A lot, actually.

More than meets the eye, and believe me, there's a lot to look at.

things to do when you're in new york...

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 22:35:56 -0500

New York City is a vibrant place. It is one of these living creatures that come up from the depths, stretch towards the sky and envelop you in such a massive outburst of energy that you're literally knocked to your feet. New York is only New York. I'm addicted to the pulse and flow of the city, but it's an addiction that perhaps only manifests itself when I'm actually in New York, and going through the streets, walking in the middle of a massive crowd of multiculturalism that is actually what America is supposed to be, not a segregated slice of racist dogma that exists in films like Crash.

Times Square, baby!

lawyering your way to a guilty verdict...

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 22:43:09 -0500

Let me quote from fellow GBlogger Trevor:

"On April 7th, fellow Gblogger Robyn Girard and I will be squaring off in a courtroom.. Relax, I’m not suing her for all that torture she inflicted on me as a freshman.. [The guilt on Robyn’s soul is enough ;)] Robyn and I were both involved in Mock Trial this semester, and as a member of the prosecution she will be trying to convince an all deaf jury that my poor client is guilty. I wish I could take pictures of the event, but sadly they have a strict ban on camera’s in the courtroom, however I will be sure to post what happens."

rockfest and all that jazz...

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:25:40 -0500

Some other bloggers have written about our lovely tradition with RITers, having a Rockfest party here every even year and a Brickfest thing over at RIT every odd year, and then you think.. what's it all about? Is it all about partying your head off while being intoxicated and looking for the next person you can sneak up behind and "booyah!" their lights out?

diorama number nineteen-forty-eight...

Thu, 23 Feb 2006 21:35:40 -0500

This weekend in Washington, there's a great thing going on over at the Hirshhorn Museum. A collection of Hiroshi Sugimoto photographs has descended on the museum, gracing it with a mystical and elusive presence.

Sugimoto, born in 1948 Tokyo, has made a living out of making inanimate, 'dead' objects real. He brings to mind the visual innovators of bygone eras, with his evocative experimental photographs. In typical fashion, he fiddles with whatever variable he can get his hands on. Here, Sugimoto kept the camera aperture open for the entire length of a film, just to see what the results would bring.

Cabot Street Cinema, Massachusetts, 1978 (photograph from a private collection)

the space goes down, down baby, down, down the roller coaster...

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 22:06:01 -0500

the space goes down, down baby, down, down the roller coaster. sweet, sweet baby, sweet, sweet, don't let me go. shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. shimmy, shimmy, rock. shimmy, shimmy, cocoa pop. shimmy, shimmy, rock. I met a girlfriend - a triscuit. she said, a triscuit - a biscuit. ice cream, soda pop, vanilla on the top. ooh, Shelly's out, walking down the street, ten times a week. I read it. I said it. I stole my momma's credit. I'm cool. I'm hot. sock me in the stomach three more times.
-david moscow (josh) and jared rushton (billy) in Big, 1988

every little absence is an age...

Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:11:50 -0500

I was absent at the moment I took up the most space.
- albert camus, french philosopher & writer, nobel prize winner

Very true, very true. I realize now with my absence from blogging, and everyone pestering me to blog, that I only blog when I have some things to talk about, or some topics I want to run away with from the top of my head. All my previous blogs take up much more space than I actually realize, and I only notice when I'm not blogging how much I have to say about specific things that might not actually relate to my current and present life, or the Gallaudet mini-orb of society, so hey-ho, why not?

mr. santa goes to washington...

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:11:57 -0500

So, I ranted and raved in my last entry about American holiday commercialism. Now let's do a show-and-tell thing about Christmas in Washington!! I was recently out and about DC a couple of weeks ago, and took these pictures...

Charity, our fellow gBlogger, standing in front of the Norwegian Christmas tree at Union Station.

american holiday commercialism...

Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:09:37 -0500

A lot of cities are famous for their holiday displays. Look at Chicago and their shockingly famous Marshall Field's Christmas store window displays- they're amazing, and they've been a tradition for Chicagoans for 150 years now. Unfortunately, this year is the last year flocks can gather around the thirteen window displays of Marshall Field's, because of a recent acquistion by Federated Department Stores, Inc. The store will be re-christened Macy's, instead of keeping its' original name.

Marshall Field's, on Chicago's State Street

two intertwined mediums do not a medium make...

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 21:19:03 -0500

Film and video have, since the late 1920s, have been considered almost completely integrated with sound and music. But what happens when you explore the differences between Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing audiences in respect to their response to sound in film? You can sorta see two mediums that are generally considered convergent in today’s society, and how they become almost totally divergent with Deaf and hard of hearing film viewers.

Jaws and sound? Read on...

visual music and the new video ipod...

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 17:49:11 -0500

I want the new video iPod. You would not believe the discussions I've already had with several people about how Deaf people would benefit from the use of a new video iPod.

the closest thing american poetry has to a rock star...

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 16:49:06 -0500

american poetry is such a convoluted thing. but one person is to american poetry what mick jagger is to the institution of rock. this one person is none other than jorie graham. indeed, you might not have heard of her. but then you might have. i can't allow myself to run the risk of over-explaining jorie graham, so i'll just let her work burn itself through your head, like an old 16 mm reel projector. i just wanna bring her poetry to the masses, not necessarily because i like it, but just to get a literary thing going. i won't quote her in her entirety, just in small slatherings, and if something touches you, go out and read her poetry.

every day has its dog...

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 20:39:30 -0500

You've heard the saying, every dog has its day. Of course, maybe you haven't really seen "every day has its dog". But the theory is perfectly applicable. Even more so at Gallaudet, actually. We denizens of Gallaudet have our ups and downs, and they're usually hilarious or just really hideous. Every morning, when the sun decides to rudely slither through the trapdoor of my unconsciousness, swinging it wide open and incorporating the day as part of the urban sprawl of my life, I wake up thinking this day is the first of the rest of my life. Okay, not really. I usually look directly at my ceiling, thinking absolutely nothing. And then I really, seriously, wake up, climb out of bed, and paddle in a pair of flip flops over to the bathroom, where I turn on the lukewarm water in the shower, and find something to do for the next 3.3 minutes as the water slowly heats up to an all-time record of seventy-two degrees. Arr, ye mates, avast! Raise ye sails... My medulla oblongata reverts to some kind of state between the conscious and not-so-conscious that reminds me that I have things to do, places to be, and blogs to write. Thus begins my day.

feng shui & college: a match made in heaven, part two...

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 14:09:12 -0500

So, having read my previous entry, you decide you wanna make over your digs. Good. Now, a few tips on how to get from point A to point B. Let me introduce *drum roll* the Swedish god of the Feng Shui universe, IKEA. The home furnishings emporium was founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943 Sweden. A little known fact- IKEA is an an acronym for Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. But that has nothing to do with Feng Shui, you say. No, actually, you're right, it doesn't have anything to do with Feng Shui- except that IKEA is the place to go for streamlined furniture with a spiffy look.

feng shui & college: a match made in heaven, part one...

Sat, 27 Aug 2005 01:05:02 -0500

Feng Shui. \F[^e]ng"-shu`i\, n. [Chin. feng wind + shiu water.]
A system of spirit influences for good and evil believed by the Chinese to attend the natural features of landscape; also, a kind of geomancy dealing with these influences, used in determining sites for objects, houses, graves, etc.

College. col·lege (klj) n.
1. a. An institution of higher learning that grants the bachelor's degree in liberal arts or science or both.
b. An undergraduate division or school of a university offering courses and granting degrees in a particular field.
c. A school, sometimes but not always a university, offering special instruction in professional or technical subjects.
d. The students, faculty, and administration of such a school or institution.
e. The building or buildings occupied by such a school or institution.
f. Chiefly British. A self-governing society of scholars for study or instruction, incorporated within a university.
g. An institution in France for secondary education that is not supported by the state.

2. a. A body of persons having a common purpose or shared duties: a college of surgeons.
b. An electoral college.
3. A body of clerics living together on an endowment.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary