gBlog - How we see it …

Okay, that wasn’t necessary in the worse sense of things. When I got back to Maryland/DC after 2 1/2 weeks in Michigan, it somehow felt like I’d been gone for 2 months… like a typical college summer vacation. Weird. That was nice in the sense that “made” my summer a bit longer! School begins again in only 2 weeks. Wow.

Michigan wasn’t too shabby, nonetheless. I kept myself insanely busy with the pageants, family gatherings, a short mother-daughter trip to West Virginia to visit family, and spending time with local friends. I was able to cram a lot in that time, including a couple visits to the lake-beach that resulted in a nice tan, so I was content with that!

The pageants… Wow. Insanely busy. I began my involvement with the Miss Deaf Michigan Pageant Association (MDMPA) in 2005 when Kenya Lowe, the director that never gets any sleep and keeps our abs taut with constant laughter, convinced me to compete with 13 other women. That was a great experience (even with all the stress that follows Kenya everywhere)… and I somehow stayed on board since then- as much as I could while living in DC during most of the year. I went with Miss Deaf Michigan, Jonelle Thames, to NAD and the Deaf America pageant in Cali last summer as her chaperone. SO glad I had that opportunity! Last fall, I co-directed the first Junior Miss Deaf Michigan pageant with a fellow former contestant… 9-12-year-old girls. They were just AWESOME and I loved working with them, even only for two short weekends. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to volunteer for this year’s dual pageants - Miss Deaf Michigan pageant and the first Teen Miss Deaf Michigan pageant.

The group (both staff and contestants) was a GREAT one this year. This group had their own characteristics that made them unique from the 2005 group and just as fun. I loved getting to know the contestants and meeting more Deaf women from Michigan. I’ve read somewhere that Michigan actually had the 3rd largest population of Deaf people… and that was so hard to believe because I only knew a small number of them. Later, I realized that a large number of this population were mainstreamed or raised oral so their own interactions with other Deaf people weren’t much so it just seemed that Michigan had a small Deaf population. Blame my ignorance, of course In the past several years, I’ve been meeting more and more Deaf people from Michigan, especially here at Gallaudet- it seems more and more Michigan Deaf people are coming to Gallaudet. Represent!

From Saturday to Tuesday, the staff and contestants met up at a staff member’s home way out in the country in western Michigan for a camping retreat. Magic word: CAMPING! I was thrilled but many of them weren’t- especially when the gung-ho retreat coordinator forbad the use of showers, deodorant, toothbrushes… Her key word for those 4 days: SURVIVAL! Ha. We camped right behind the house and there was a luxurious porta-john placed near our campsite (i.e., paper towel, hand sanitizer, small mirror). Survival, alright.

During those 4 days, the contestants went through team-building activities and worked together to make sure they, ahem, survived (i.e., setting up tents together, cooking on a campstove, keeping the fire going)… and of course, got to know each other very well. I loved it this year because we didn’t have that two years ago- two years ago, we all met up at the hotel and got right to work so we were stressed from the beginning and didn’t have much time to get to know each other. This year, they had that opportunity to get to know each other in a relaxed environment so that was wonderful. I hope MDMPA will do it again in 2009.

After fooling the contestants into thinking we’d extend the retreat for another day (”WHAT?!? I need to SHOWER and SHAVE and BRUSH my teeth!!!!!”) we went to the hotel in Kalamazoo on Tuesday and spent the rest of the week there. Tuesday through Friday was a blur of constant mess-ups that we had to fix, stressed people, nonstop rehearsals, great workshops presented by influential Deaf women in our community, and taking part in several Michigan Deaf Association conference events that were ongoing at the same time. Whewwwww.

Miss Deaf America, Chelsea Tobin, arrived Thursday and stayed until early Sunday morning. I had already met her at NAD last summer and she was a visiting student at Gallaudet last fall, so I was thrilled to see her again and get to know her better. She brought a lot of GREAT positive energy to the weekend

The pageant night was Saturday night and it was held in this olllllld state theater a couple blocks away- GORGEOUS stage! It turned out to be a lonnnnnng night and with sisters winning both titles (congrats Jillian and Karlee!). The next morning was a blur of packing, checking out, and trying to meet up for one last time before everyone left, but so much was happening that the final gathering didn’t happen. I ended up having lunch with my good friend from high school and left for the 3-hour drive back home. I was SO tired I had to pull over after an hour and sleep for half an hour. Wow. I CRASHED that night.

It was a hectic but valuable week. I thought a lot about what I’d like to contribute later in the future. Kenya had been persuading me to take up a bigger role in MDMPA. Although I doubt I’ll return to Michigan, I’ve been thinking about whether that’s in the cards for me wherever I end up. I DO know from the Junior pageant experience that the business aspect is NOT my thing… but I LOVED being busy and working with the girls during the actual retreat and pageant week/weekend. I like direct contact with the girls themselves so I know I want a role in young Deaf women’s development in that aspect. I’ve always known that, but this was sort of a confirmation of the fact I remember wanting older Deaf women role models when I was a teen myself and I don’t want other young Deaf women to miss out on that… as well as meeting more Deaf peers from their own state. That seems to become more and more important in Michigan, and I’m sure that applies to other states as well.

I didn’t take many pictures during the week, but here’s a few. Check www.mideaf.org for more pics and info about MDMPA

The 2007 Miss and Teen contestants with Miss Deaf Michigan 2005. The Miss contestants have the blue sashes while the Teens have the red sashes.

Junior Miss Deaf Michigan 2006-2008 (Yemaya), her friend and Junior co-contestant (Marina), Miss Deaf America 2006-2008 (Chelsea), and Miss Deaf Michigan 2005-2007 (Jonelle).

The new Teen Miss Deaf Michigan 2007-2009 (Karlee) and Miss Deaf Michigan 2007-2009 (Jillian)… be sure to say hello and congrats to Jillian when you see her at Gallaudet this fall as a freshman!

The entire group during the retreat - at Lake Michigan.

I think the contestants were secretly thrilled during this picture because they realized that a real shower is awaiting them the next day at the hotel

Lake Michigan… One of Michigan’s true gems. Visit it