1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,147
(Suzanne Stecker)

2
00:00:02,147 --> 00:00:05,620
Our next presenter is Emily McCully

3
00:00:05,620 --> 00:00:08,596
and she's actually going to

4
00:00:08,596 --> 00:00:10,836
tell us her experience

5
00:00:10,836 --> 00:00:17,194
of going through the process

6
00:00:17,194 --> 00:00:20,637
of writing her book, "My Heart Glow."

7
00:00:20,637 --> 00:00:26,514
She received the F. Scott Medal.

8
00:00:26,968 --> 00:00:33,496
Emily?

9
00:00:33,496 --> 00:00:34,901
(Male Interpreter)

10
00:00:34,932 --> 00:00:41,026
Correction of the interpretation: She was awarded the Caldecott Award for her work.

11
00:00:41,026 --> 00:00:42,681
(Emily McCully, voice raspy)

12
00:00:42,681 --> 00:00:44,336
Thank you so much.

13
00:00:44,336 --> 00:00:47,286
I'm going to try to be heard

14
00:00:47,286 --> 00:00:49,921
so that I can be interpreted.

15
00:00:49,921 --> 00:00:52,253
I obviously need to be interpreted today.

16
00:00:52,253 --> 00:00:54,469
I'm very, very happy to be here

17
00:00:54,469 --> 00:00:56,720
and I've learned an enormous amount

18
00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,656
in the first half of the program.

19
00:00:59,656 --> 00:01:03,656
I wish I had known all of the things that I heard this afternoon

20
00:01:03,656 --> 00:01:06,140
when I wrote this book.

21
00:01:06,140 --> 00:01:11,074
I am a representative of the hearing community.

22
00:01:11,074 --> 00:01:13,889
I tried to be a bridge

23
00:01:13,889 --> 00:01:16,590
between the deaf community and the hearing community

24
00:01:16,590 --> 00:01:19,222
in creating this story.

25
00:01:19,222 --> 00:01:23,106
I was just telling that unfortunately

26
00:01:23,106 --> 00:01:27,705
some of the reviewers of the book in the hearing community

27
00:01:27,705 --> 00:01:30,475
were a little confused by it.

28
00:01:30,475 --> 00:01:34,756
And so, I think a lot more work has to be done

29
00:01:34,756 --> 00:01:38,789
to make ASL and Deaf Culture

30
00:01:38,789 --> 00:01:42,140
understood in the hearing community.

31
00:01:42,140 --> 00:01:44,574
Now, the reason that I told the story

32
00:01:44,574 --> 00:01:46,907
of Alice Cogswell and Thomas Gallaudet

33
00:01:46,907 --> 00:01:50,289
is that my son told me I should do it,

34
00:01:50,289 --> 00:01:52,906
and I listened to him.

35
00:01:52,906 --> 00:01:58,105
He is a linguist. He is fluent in Japanese--works in Japanese.

36
00:01:58,105 --> 00:02:04,105
He speaks Russian, French, a little bit of other languages, a little Chinese.

37
00:02:04,105 --> 00:02:07,425
And he got interested in American Sign Language

38
00:02:07,425 --> 00:02:09,657
and took a course.

39
00:02:09,657 --> 00:02:11,838
He practices it a lot.

40
00:02:11,838 --> 00:02:15,191
I have to say, he goes to bars to practice it

41
00:02:15,191 --> 00:02:19,492
with fluent ASL people

42
00:02:19,492 --> 00:02:23,656
and has met very, very wonderful people that way.

43
00:02:23,656 --> 00:02:27,240
He's been fascinated by Deaf History,

44
00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,657
and he knew that in making children's books,

45
00:02:30,657 --> 00:02:35,806
I always try to find a gripping story out of history

46
00:02:35,806 --> 00:02:38,423
and they often have involved girls and women

47
00:02:38,423 --> 00:02:43,356
whose stories are little known or else I invent them sometimes.

48
00:02:43,356 --> 00:02:49,256
But I want to tell the stories of underdogs, basically,

49
00:02:49,256 --> 00:02:52,889
because I think they have the most drama.

50
00:02:52,889 --> 00:02:56,324
And when he told me that American Sign Language

51
00:02:56,324 --> 00:02:59,706
and the very first school for the deaf in this country

52
00:02:59,706 --> 00:03:04,721
were created because a young man met a young deaf girl,

53
00:03:04,721 --> 00:03:07,773
I thought well, this is it, there's got to be a great story here.

54
00:03:07,773 --> 00:03:10,273
And I think it is a great story.

55
00:03:10,273 --> 00:03:13,673
Alice Cogswell was about two--

56
00:03:13,673 --> 00:03:15,857
she lived in Connecticut,

57
00:03:15,857 --> 00:03:20,106
she was the youngest child of a wealthy family.

58
00:03:20,106 --> 00:03:23,522
Her father was a doctor

59
00:03:23,522 --> 00:03:26,689
and quite a famous man in Connecticut.

60
00:03:26,689 --> 00:03:30,689
When she was two, which would have been, lets see,

61
00:03:30,689 --> 00:03:33,439
about 1805 I think--

62
00:03:33,439 --> 00:03:35,606
or no, she was born in 1805--

63
00:03:35,606 --> 00:03:40,241
1807, she came down with probably scarlet fever, but we're not sure,

64
00:03:40,241 --> 00:03:43,407
and became profoundly deaf.

65
00:03:43,407 --> 00:03:46,873
She recalled that when she woke up one morning,

66
00:03:46,873 --> 00:03:49,624
she could no longer hear the church bells.

67
00:03:49,624 --> 00:03:52,338
She couldn't hear the sound of--

68
00:03:52,338 --> 00:03:55,474
she could see a carriage draw up to the door

69
00:03:55,474 --> 00:03:57,341
outside her family's house

70
00:03:57,341 --> 00:03:59,622
and couldn't hear any of the sounds that it was making.

71
00:03:59,622 --> 00:04:01,691
They subjected her to radical treatment.

72
00:04:01,691 --> 00:04:05,706
They poured horrible substances into her ears

73
00:04:05,706 --> 00:04:08,773
through ear trumpets.

74
00:04:08,773 --> 00:04:11,906
It was very painful. Nothing could be done.

75
00:04:11,906 --> 00:04:16,589
Her family feared that she was doomed,

76
00:04:16,589 --> 00:04:19,306
that she wouldn't go to heaven when she died

77
00:04:19,306 --> 00:04:23,723
because they couldn't teach her about the Bible.

78
00:04:23,723 --> 00:04:26,555
And in those days, that's what they thought--

79
00:04:26,555 --> 00:04:29,123
that her soul was lost.

80
00:04:29,123 --> 00:04:33,356
So, they loved her and they cherished her,

81
00:04:33,356 --> 00:04:36,472
but they didn't know what to do.

82
00:04:36,472 --> 00:04:38,940
And there were no schools for the deaf.

83
00:04:38,940 --> 00:04:42,055
Deaf people had absolutely no way to communicate

84
00:04:42,055 --> 00:04:44,456
with the rest of the world.

85
00:04:44,456 --> 00:04:49,306
I am sure that they spoke with what was called "home sign" then.

86
00:04:49,306 --> 00:04:51,471
And we heard this morning about the people

87
00:04:51,471 --> 00:04:56,017
of Martha's Vineyard, most of whom came

88
00:04:56,017 --> 00:05:00,273
in the 17th Century from one part of England,

89
00:05:00,273 --> 00:05:03,441
where almost everybody was deaf.

90
00:05:03,441 --> 00:05:05,790
So this was a case of genetic deafness.

91
00:05:05,790 --> 00:05:08,656
And those people settled in Martha's Vineyard.

92
00:05:08,656 --> 00:05:11,273
They had their own sign language,

93
00:05:11,273 --> 00:05:14,522
and the rest of Martha's Vineyard learned it.

94
00:05:14,522 --> 00:05:18,523
Everybody on the island, from the late 17th Century

95
00:05:18,523 --> 00:05:22,064
through the early 20th Century,

96
00:05:22,064 --> 00:05:26,756
spoke a sign language that was developed there.

97
00:05:26,756 --> 00:05:30,283
And of course deaf people were considered perfectly normal

98
00:05:30,283 --> 00:05:33,006
unlike what was the case

99
00:05:33,006 --> 00:05:35,190
in the rest of the country.

100
00:05:35,190 --> 00:05:40,923
Alice Cogswell and her sisters and brothers

101
00:05:40,923 --> 00:05:44,623
used a kind of home sign, but she wasn't taught to read

102
00:05:44,623 --> 00:05:47,423
she wasn't taught anything else.

103
00:05:47,423 --> 00:05:51,043
And when Thomas Gallaudet,

104
00:05:51,043 --> 00:05:54,689
who was in his early 20's when he met Alice--

105
00:05:54,689 --> 00:05:57,356
he had cast about for what to do with his life

106
00:05:57,356 --> 00:06:00,906
and finally he decided to go to theological seminary.

107
00:06:00,906 --> 00:06:04,189
And he wanted to minister to Indian tribes,

108
00:06:04,189 --> 00:06:06,606
which meant that he would learn

109
00:06:06,606 --> 00:06:09,623
a kind of sign language because Indians did.

110
00:06:09,623 --> 00:06:13,189
He graduated and came home to visit his parents in Hartford.

111
00:06:13,189 --> 00:06:16,673
They lived next door to the Cogswells

112
00:06:16,673 --> 00:06:21,140
and he saw Alice one day. And he felt terribly sorry for her

113
00:06:21,140 --> 00:06:23,941
because she was sitting by herself

114
00:06:23,941 --> 00:06:27,273
while her brothers and sisters played,

115
00:06:27,273 --> 00:06:30,272
and she couldn't join in the games.

116
00:06:30,272 --> 00:06:32,124
And he thought he would see,

117
00:06:32,124 --> 00:06:35,074
since she looked so intelligent and appealing

118
00:06:35,074 --> 00:06:36,824
and of course she was aware of him

119
00:06:36,824 --> 00:06:40,774
because her other senses were very highly developed.

120
00:06:40,774 --> 00:06:46,790
And he came over to her, and the story is

121
00:06:46,790 --> 00:06:51,073
that he scratched the letters H-A-T on the dirt

122
00:06:51,073 --> 00:06:54,390
and then put his hat on top of them and her face lit up.

123
00:06:54,390 --> 00:06:56,806
She was already understanding

124
00:06:56,806 --> 00:06:59,505
what reading would lead her to.

125
00:06:59,505 --> 00:07:01,824
And he began working with her

126
00:07:01,824 --> 00:07:03,826
trying to teach her to read.

127
00:07:03,826 --> 00:07:07,390
And she was very, very receptive

128
00:07:07,390 --> 00:07:09,090
and delighted.

129
00:07:09,090 --> 00:07:13,706
And at this point, Dr. Cogswell thought that

130
00:07:13,706 --> 00:07:17,307
he must reach not only Alice, but other deaf children

131
00:07:17,307 --> 00:07:20,956
and found a school for them.

132
00:07:20,956 --> 00:07:24,357
So he asked Thomas if he would go to Europe

133
00:07:24,357 --> 00:07:27,307
and learn how to teach the deaf.

134
00:07:27,307 --> 00:07:29,241
And Thomas agreed to do this.

135
00:07:29,241 --> 00:07:33,173
The Cogswells raised enough money to send him

136
00:07:33,173 --> 00:07:35,472
to England, where he knew that there was a school

137
00:07:35,472 --> 00:07:37,956
in London and another one in Scotland,

138
00:07:37,956 --> 00:07:41,473
operated by a family called Braidwood.

139
00:07:41,473 --> 00:07:45,590
Gallaudet left Alice behind

140
00:07:45,590 --> 00:07:48,723
but first he said Alice really should go to school

141
00:07:48,723 --> 00:07:51,022
with her siblings.

142
00:07:51,022 --> 00:07:52,973
So this was arranged.

143
00:07:52,973 --> 00:07:55,074
The teacher at this school

144
00:07:55,074 --> 00:07:57,291
was named Lydia Huntley.

145
00:07:57,291 --> 00:08:00,522
She was later married to Mr. Sigourney.

146
00:08:00,522 --> 00:08:03,457
So she became Lydia Huntley Sigourney,

147
00:08:03,457 --> 00:08:07,339
a rather famous poetess of the day,

148
00:08:07,339 --> 00:08:10,023
but at this time she was a young teacher.

149
00:08:10,023 --> 00:08:12,927
Alice joined this little school

150
00:08:12,927 --> 00:08:15,340
and everybody in the school learned to fingerspell --

151
00:08:15,340 --> 00:08:20,321
that is, they had signs for each of the letters of the alphabet

152
00:08:20,321 --> 00:08:23,673
and they would painstakingly spell out words.

153
00:08:23,673 --> 00:08:26,856
So Alice learned a little bit more.

154
00:08:26,856 --> 00:08:28,540
She learned to read

155
00:08:28,540 --> 00:08:30,540
and she learned a little bit of history

156
00:08:30,540 --> 00:08:32,873
and a little bit of geography and so on,

157
00:08:32,873 --> 00:08:36,406
but she was not learning a language.

158
00:08:36,406 --> 00:08:39,491
Meanwhile in London, Thomas was having a hard time.

159
00:08:39,491 --> 00:08:43,156
The Braidwood family insisted on

160
00:08:43,156 --> 00:08:47,722
teaching deaf people to talk.

161
00:08:47,722 --> 00:08:49,790
There was no sign language used -- in fact, it was forbidden.

162
00:08:49,790 --> 00:08:56,471
The Braidwoods told Thomas that they would teach him

163
00:08:56,471 --> 00:08:59,023
their method, but he would have to stay in England

164
00:08:59,023 --> 00:09:01,540
for two years and it would cost a lot more money

165
00:09:01,540 --> 00:09:04,756
than they had raised for Thomas's trip.

166
00:09:04,756 --> 00:09:07,423
So, something wonderful happened --

167
00:09:07,423 --> 00:09:09,824
completely unexpected:

168
00:09:09,824 --> 00:09:12,839
Thomas met an Abbot from Paris

169
00:09:12,839 --> 00:09:16,157
and his young assistant who was deaf.

170
00:09:16,157 --> 00:09:19,856
And the Abbot's name was Abbé Sicard

171
00:09:19,856 --> 00:09:23,256
and his assistant was Laurent Clerc.

172
00:09:23,256 --> 00:09:27,456
And Laurent Clerc, of couse, was deaf

173
00:09:27,456 --> 00:09:31,123
and a fine teacher at a school in Paris

174
00:09:31,123 --> 00:09:35,105
where they used sign language to teach the deaf children.

175
00:09:35,105 --> 00:09:38,557
And Gallaudet went to Paris

176
00:09:38,557 --> 00:09:43,207
and was taught how to use this method,

177
00:09:43,207 --> 00:09:46,023
but he was getting terribly homesick

178
00:09:46,023 --> 00:09:48,140
and he was running out of money.

179
00:09:48,140 --> 00:09:50,190
So, he knew he had to go back to Hartford,

180
00:09:50,190 --> 00:09:52,456
but in order to teach and to start a school

181
00:09:52,456 --> 00:09:54,542
and teach deaf children in America,

182
00:09:54,542 --> 00:09:56,742
he was going to need help.

183
00:09:56,742 --> 00:09:58,574
So he persuaded Laurent Clerc

184
00:09:58,574 --> 00:10:00,056
to come with him,

185
00:10:00,056 --> 00:10:02,606
and this was extrordinary.

186
00:10:02,606 --> 00:10:05,540
Clerc had to leave his parents behind.

187
00:10:05,540 --> 00:10:07,606
He had to get permission to go.

188
00:10:07,606 --> 00:10:11,506
Fortunately, he was a very adventurous young man

189
00:10:11,506 --> 00:10:15,977
and had always wanted to see more of the world.

190
00:10:15,977 --> 00:10:18,589
So they sailed to America.

191
00:10:18,589 --> 00:10:19,824
It took almost two months

192
00:10:19,824 --> 00:10:23,106
and during that time,

193
00:10:23,106 --> 00:10:25,992
Gallaudet taught Clerc English

194
00:10:25,992 --> 00:10:28,990
and Clerc taught Gallaudet

195
00:10:28,990 --> 00:10:32,373
more of the signs that they were using in the school.

196
00:10:32,373 --> 00:10:36,022
Now, that school in Paris

197
00:10:36,022 --> 00:10:40,973
had adapted a kind of home sign

198
00:10:40,973 --> 00:10:44,106
that French children naturally--

199
00:10:44,106 --> 00:10:46,524
French deaf children--used with each other.

200
00:10:46,524 --> 00:10:52,023
The teachers at the school saw that sign language

201
00:10:52,023 --> 00:10:54,241
was being used by these children

202
00:10:54,241 --> 00:10:56,706
and they knew that it was a good method,

203
00:10:56,706 --> 00:10:59,056
but they thought that it needed help.

204
00:10:59,056 --> 00:11:01,439
They thought they needed to make it grammatical.

205
00:11:01,439 --> 00:11:04,941
They didn't realize that this natural sign language

206
00:11:04,941 --> 00:11:07,456
already had a grammar.

207
00:11:07,456 --> 00:11:10,022
So the kinds of misunderstandings

208
00:11:10,022 --> 00:11:11,722
that people have always had about ASL

209
00:11:11,722 --> 00:11:14,006
were there with its very founders.

210
00:11:14,006 --> 00:11:18,348
Thomas Gallaudet also didn't realize that

211
00:11:18,348 --> 00:11:25,005
home sign or methodical sign, it was called,

212
00:11:25,005 --> 00:11:27,505
already had a grammar.

213
00:11:27,505 --> 00:11:29,922
And as we heard earlier today,

214
00:11:29,922 --> 00:11:31,954
people didn't realize that

215
00:11:31,954 --> 00:11:34,554
until the 1960's, when American Sign Language

216
00:11:34,554 --> 00:11:37,155
was finally analyzed by linguists.

217
00:11:37,155 --> 00:11:41,654
It's this grammatical complexity--

218
00:11:41,654 --> 00:11:45,506
this whole language aspect of ASL--

219
00:11:45,506 --> 00:11:50,871
that is so important for hearing people to understand,

220
00:11:50,871 --> 00:11:54,305
and, of course, for deaf children to learn

221
00:11:54,305 --> 00:11:59,590
because it stimulates the language capacities

222
00:11:59,590 --> 00:12:01,304
of the brain.

223
00:12:01,304 --> 00:12:05,237
And if they learn ASL, they learn English much more easily.

224
00:12:05,237 --> 00:12:11,470
And, as we all know, ASL was suppressed

225
00:12:11,470 --> 00:12:13,772
for a long time all over the world.

226
00:12:13,772 --> 00:12:17,604
I believe the Milan Conference was mentioned

227
00:12:17,604 --> 00:12:21,422
this morning. I think that's where it happened.

228
00:12:21,422 --> 00:12:24,423
And so, for a long time, deaf children

229
00:12:24,423 --> 00:12:26,472
in their schools would sign to each other

230
00:12:26,472 --> 00:12:28,455
but it had to be secret.

231
00:12:28,455 --> 00:12:31,807
They weren't allowed to use ASL.

232
00:12:31,823 --> 00:12:34,687
I didn't put that in my book,

233
00:12:34,687 --> 00:12:36,972
but I think it's important that I knew it

234
00:12:36,972 --> 00:12:39,672
because it was part of the story.

235
00:12:39,672 --> 00:12:43,521
When you tell a story in any kind of book,

236
00:12:43,521 --> 00:12:46,422
you may not put everything about the story

237
00:12:46,422 --> 00:12:50,196
into the book, but you have to know it.

238
00:12:50,196 --> 00:12:55,017
And this bridge to the hearing community--

239
00:12:55,017 --> 00:12:57,505
that's so important;

240
00:12:57,505 --> 00:13:00,438
and having enough materials in libraries

241
00:13:00,438 --> 00:13:04,496
for deaf children is terribly important.

242
00:13:04,496 --> 00:13:07,205
This book, "My Heart Glow,"

243
00:13:07,205 --> 00:13:10,388
whose title was suggested by Harlan Lane,

244
00:13:10,388 --> 00:13:15,104
whose book I used in much of my research.

245
00:13:15,104 --> 00:13:18,489
And I contacted Harlan Lane

246
00:13:18,489 --> 00:13:21,239
at the suggestion of Gary Wait,

247
00:13:21,239 --> 00:13:23,321
who is the archivist

248
00:13:23,321 --> 00:13:25,755
at the School for the Deaf in Hartford--

249
00:13:25,755 --> 00:13:29,121
a very wonderful man who was a tremendous help to me.

250
00:13:29,121 --> 00:13:33,304
And he also sent word about the book

251
00:13:33,304 --> 00:13:35,304
out through the community--

252
00:13:35,304 --> 00:13:37,422
to Alice in particular,

253
00:13:37,422 --> 00:13:40,039
who was so good in making it known to people.

254
00:13:40,039 --> 00:13:46,188
Gary Wait's resources at the School for the Deaf--

255
00:13:46,188 --> 00:13:48,471
he has the library there,

256
00:13:48,471 --> 00:13:51,738
which is almost like a little museum of deaf history.

257
00:13:51,738 --> 00:13:54,654
It was so important to be there

258
00:13:54,654 --> 00:13:57,323
and see all that material.

259
00:13:57,492 --> 00:14:00,713
He told me that I should not include anything

260
00:14:00,713 --> 00:14:02,529
about the suppression of ASL--

261
00:14:02,529 --> 00:14:06,079
that this story, "My Heart Glow,"

262
00:14:06,079 --> 00:14:11,029
should be a story of triumph over nothing --

263
00:14:11,029 --> 00:14:13,328
of the creation of something

264
00:14:13,328 --> 00:14:17,112
when there had been nothing.

265
00:14:17,112 --> 00:14:20,279
So, armed with the materials I learned from him,

266
00:14:20,279 --> 00:14:23,796
with a lot of reading of what books there are

267
00:14:23,796 --> 00:14:25,696
about deaf history,

268
00:14:25,696 --> 00:14:27,879
with Harlan Lane's book in particular,

269
00:14:27,879 --> 00:14:30,413
I wrote this story.

270
00:14:30,413 --> 00:14:32,296
It was published.

271
00:14:32,296 --> 00:14:35,179
It was acquired by an editor, who was fired

272
00:14:35,179 --> 00:14:37,545
about a few weeks later.

273
00:14:37,545 --> 00:14:40,779
So it was shepherded through the publishing process

274
00:14:40,779 --> 00:14:43,029
without an advocate.

275
00:14:43,029 --> 00:14:46,729
It was published without any help at all

276
00:14:46,729 --> 00:14:49,414
by this company, that more or less ignored it.

277
00:14:49,414 --> 00:14:51,713
And then it was reviewed by hearing reviewers,

278
00:14:51,713 --> 00:14:54,480
many of whom were confused

279
00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:57,596
by the syntax in Alice's letters,

280
00:14:57,596 --> 00:15:01,873
and I had read Alice's letters at Hartford,

281
00:15:01,873 --> 00:15:07,236
so I knew that the syntax was the product of her mind--

282
00:15:07,282 --> 00:15:10,051
of the way she was thinking.

283
00:15:10,051 --> 00:15:12,596
They didn't understand that,

284
00:15:12,596 --> 00:15:14,347
even though I said so in the author's note.

285
00:15:14,347 --> 00:15:17,363
So there was some confusion, which was unfortunate.

286
00:15:17,363 --> 00:15:21,771
And I was so, so gratified--so happy--when I learned

287
00:15:21,771 --> 00:15:25,407
that the deaf community embraced the book.

288
00:15:25,453 --> 00:15:29,754
And not only that--after it had gone out of print,

289
00:15:29,754 --> 00:15:37,945
I heard from ASL Tales that they wanted to do a DVD of it

290
00:15:37,945 --> 00:15:43,343
and try to get it back into the world with signing.

291
00:15:43,343 --> 00:15:46,293
And I thought it was a fabulous idea

292
00:15:46,293 --> 00:15:51,877
and Janice's work on this DVD is so brilliant,

293
00:15:51,877 --> 00:15:55,710
and of course, the quality of storytelling

294
00:15:55,710 --> 00:15:59,045
that is possible with ASL

295
00:15:59,122 --> 00:16:04,010
is just beyond anything else that's available to anyone.

296
00:16:04,010 --> 00:16:05,045
So, I think

297
00:16:05,045 --> 00:16:08,279
deaf children and hearing children will both

298
00:16:08,279 --> 00:16:12,602
benefit enormously from this kind of product

299
00:16:12,602 --> 00:16:15,877
and from all of the others that I hope

300
00:16:15,877 --> 00:16:20,783
are going to be available in libraries everywhere.

301
00:16:20,783 --> 00:16:24,206
Maybe there will be questions for me?

302
00:16:24,206 --> 00:16:26,484
I don't know. I think that's about all

303
00:16:26,484 --> 00:16:29,183
I can pump out of my throat today.

304
00:16:29,183 --> 00:16:32,100
I thank you so much for having me here

305
00:16:32,100 --> 00:16:36,883
and as I say, it's been extraondinarily illuminating for me,

306
00:16:36,883 --> 00:16:41,350
and I love being with you all today.

307
00:16:41,350 --> 00:16:44,116
Are there any questions?

308
00:16:44,116 --> 00:16:49,116
[applause] Thank you.

309
00:16:49,116 --> 00:16:50,915
No? Okay.

310
00:16:50,961 --> 00:17:00,988
Thank you again.

311
00:17:00,988 --> 00:17:02,455
(Female Audience Member)

312
00:17:02,455 --> 00:17:04,887
Hello there. I just wanted to tell you how delighted

313
00:17:04,887 --> 00:17:06,270
I am that you've made this book possible

314
00:17:08,393 --> 00:17:13,366
and many more works such as these.

315
00:17:13,366 --> 00:17:17,148
I'm inspired by the fact that this book is there.

316
00:17:19,210 --> 00:17:24,565
(Emily McCully)

317
00:17:24,565 --> 00:17:26,935
Thank you so much.

318
00:17:27,182 --> 00:17:28,539
(Female Audience Member)

319
00:17:28,539 --> 00:17:34,022
My question is how long did it take you to complete that book?

320
00:17:34,022 --> 00:17:35,467
(Emily McCully)

321
00:17:35,467 --> 00:17:39,819
Well, this one... of course there's the research

322
00:17:39,819 --> 00:17:43,487
and the reading process was several weeks,

323
00:17:43,487 --> 00:17:45,552
and I don't usually have an advisor.

324
00:17:45,552 --> 00:17:49,535
Gary Wait was my advisor on this one,

325
00:17:49,535 --> 00:17:52,652
so we communicated back and forth.

326
00:17:52,652 --> 00:17:55,019
And the trip to Hartford--that had to be scheduled,

327
00:17:55,019 --> 00:17:56,354
and so on.

328
00:17:56,354 --> 00:18:00,769
So, I would say two or three months for that.

329
00:18:00,769 --> 00:18:05,352
And then, sitting down and doing a picture book

330
00:18:05,352 --> 00:18:07,170
requires doing a "dummy,"

331
00:18:07,170 --> 00:18:10,820
which means that I write the text

332
00:18:10,820 --> 00:18:13,719
at the same time that I'm creating a little pretend book.

333
00:18:13,719 --> 00:18:17,119
And the little pretend book is absolutely necessary

334
00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:20,553
because a picture book is unlike most other books

335
00:18:20,553 --> 00:18:23,235
in that it's like a little movie that's in my head,

336
00:18:23,235 --> 00:18:25,920
and I have to get the movie down on paper

337
00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:30,219
The movie is not projected. It involves the reader.

338
00:18:30,219 --> 00:18:33,520
The book cannot be read

339
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,802
unless the reader wants to turn the page,

340
00:18:35,802 --> 00:18:40,403
so I had to figure out how much material to put on a page.

341
00:18:40,403 --> 00:18:45,202
I put so much on...well, I'll do it with this.

342
00:18:45,202 --> 00:18:47,687
I make a dummy that looks sort of like this,

343
00:18:47,687 --> 00:18:49,770
but it's just black and white sketches.

344
00:18:49,770 --> 00:18:52,404
I put so much material on this page

345
00:18:52,404 --> 00:18:54,653
so that the reader will want to know what happens.

346
00:18:54,653 --> 00:18:57,403
The reader lifts the page, and for a few seconds

347
00:18:57,403 --> 00:18:59,836
anything can happen!

348
00:18:59,836 --> 00:19:03,884
Turns the page, more information--not too much,

349
00:19:03,884 --> 00:19:06,921
just enough to create enough tension

350
00:19:06,921 --> 00:19:09,452
so the reader wants to turn the page

351
00:19:09,452 --> 00:19:11,599
and advance the story.

352
00:19:11,599 --> 00:19:15,233
So, it's a complete collaboration with the reader.

353
00:19:15,233 --> 00:19:17,315
And I have to figure out with the dummy--

354
00:19:17,315 --> 00:19:20,283
I play with how much I put on this page and that page

355
00:19:20,283 --> 00:19:22,252
and I go back and forth.

356
00:19:22,252 --> 00:19:24,532
I tend to make little rough sketches

357
00:19:24,532 --> 00:19:27,733
and tape them down, or tape down the words

358
00:19:27,733 --> 00:19:29,415
with scotch tape

359
00:19:29,415 --> 00:19:31,501
and then lift them up and move them around

360
00:19:31,501 --> 00:19:33,550
if I have to.

361
00:19:33,550 --> 00:19:37,100
And that process takes, oh maybe two or three weeks.

362
00:19:37,100 --> 00:19:39,381
And then I send it to the publisher,

363
00:19:39,381 --> 00:19:43,815
and the editor figures out what else I have to do

364
00:19:43,815 --> 00:19:46,683
and what isn't working and what is working

365
00:19:46,683 --> 00:19:48,600
and tells me and sends it back.

366
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,365
I make revisions--

367
00:19:50,365 --> 00:19:54,700
that can take two or three more weeks--

368
00:19:54,700 --> 00:19:56,834
when I finally get to the point

369
00:19:56,834 --> 00:19:58,417
where I do the finished work.

370
00:19:58,417 --> 00:20:01,800
And my emphasis in my books is

371
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:06,033
I want everything to look as if something is happening--

372
00:20:06,033 --> 00:20:09,482
I want it to have a sense of action--

373
00:20:09,482 --> 00:20:13,183
so I, to try to make things look spontaneous,

374
00:20:13,183 --> 00:20:17,433
I make, for example, color choices as I'm painting.

375
00:20:17,433 --> 00:20:19,282
I don't do color sketches,

376
00:20:19,282 --> 00:20:21,366
I wait until I'm doing the finished paintings

377
00:20:21,366 --> 00:20:24,616
and they take another six weeks.

378
00:20:24,616 --> 00:20:29,615
Then I send that off. My work is done.

379
00:20:29,615 --> 00:20:35,266
The book is separated. The colors are all separated

380
00:20:35,266 --> 00:20:38,933
and printed - each color separately.

381
00:20:38,933 --> 00:20:42,432
Probably these days in Asia.

382
00:20:42,432 --> 00:20:45,965
The book doesn't come out for a full year

383
00:20:45,965 --> 00:20:50,099
after I have finished my work.

384
00:20:50,099 --> 00:20:51,667
And by that time, in this case,

385
00:20:51,667 --> 00:20:53,882
the publisher had forgotten about it.

386
00:20:53,882 --> 00:20:57,515
So, that can happen--

387
00:20:57,515 --> 00:21:00,682
that's not such a good story.

388
00:21:00,682 --> 00:21:08,016
So, I hope that this ASL Tales version has...

389
00:21:08,016 --> 00:21:11,100
I hope it's going to have a lot of momentum

390
00:21:11,100 --> 00:21:14,033
and will really reach as many people as it can.

391
00:21:14,033 --> 00:21:18,950
Once again, thank you so much, Deaf Community,

392
00:21:18,950 --> 00:21:24,334
for embracing it.

393
00:21:24,334 --> 00:21:46,974
More questions?

394
00:21:48,343 --> 00:21:50,477
(Male Audience Member)

395
00:21:50,477 --> 00:21:53,594
I'm curious if you've had the experience...

396
00:21:53,671 --> 00:21:55,833
oh sorry, one moment...

397
00:21:55,833 --> 00:21:59,327
I'm curious if your work on this book

398
00:21:59,465 --> 00:22:02,881
has made you inspired to learn more

399
00:22:02,881 --> 00:22:06,968
about the deaf community and deaf culture?

400
00:22:07,168 --> 00:22:13,119
(Emily McCully) Yes it has. Very much.

401
00:22:18,627 --> 00:22:21,375
(Female voice, offscreen)

402
00:22:21,375 --> 00:22:28,877
I believe we have two questions off to the side.

403
00:22:28,877 --> 00:22:31,406
(Alice Hagemeyer)

404
00:22:33,711 --> 00:22:34,917
Hello there.

405
00:22:34,917 --> 00:22:38,189
For some of you who may not know,

406
00:22:38,189 --> 00:22:40,993
her book is the very first book

407
00:22:40,993 --> 00:22:45,308
written for children that is talking about deaf history,

408
00:22:45,308 --> 00:22:47,425
and I applaud you for that.

409
00:22:47,425 --> 00:22:49,425
I'm not sure if even you knew that.

410
00:22:49,425 --> 00:22:50,843
Did you know that?

411
00:22:50,843 --> 00:22:52,444
(Emily McCully)

412
00:22:52,444 --> 00:22:54,692
No, I knew it was the first one about Alice and Thomas.

413
00:22:54,692 --> 00:22:56,925
I didn't know it was the first, period.

414
00:22:56,925 --> 00:22:59,058
That's amazing. That's terrible.

415
00:22:59,058 --> 00:23:00,292
(Alice Hagemeyer)

416
00:23:00,292 --> 00:23:02,525
Right, it's the first historical work for children--

417
00:23:02,525 --> 00:23:04,909
first historical fiction book for children.

418
00:23:04,909 --> 00:23:09,996
And also, it's very fortunate, and I'd like everyone to know

419
00:23:10,010 --> 00:23:12,408
that the School for the Deaf has a museum,

420
00:23:12,408 --> 00:23:17,789
which in the past, people weren't really cherishing

421
00:23:17,789 --> 00:23:20,784
their heritage and the artifacts

422
00:23:20,784 --> 00:23:24,644
and so oftentimes, things weren't preserved well

423
00:23:24,644 --> 00:23:27,976
until Gary Wait, also a good friend of mine

424
00:23:27,976 --> 00:23:30,758
got involved with their museum program

425
00:23:30,758 --> 00:23:33,342
and made some drastic changes.

426
00:23:33,342 --> 00:23:35,509
And having that material preserved,

427
00:23:35,509 --> 00:23:37,626
made your research, I'm sure, much better,

428
00:23:37,626 --> 00:23:40,342
so our thanks also have to go out to Gary.

429
00:23:40,342 --> 00:23:42,909
Now, any of you who want to write

430
00:23:42,909 --> 00:23:44,793
something like this,

431
00:23:44,793 --> 00:23:46,976
I have to let you know about what wonderful resources

432
00:23:46,976 --> 00:23:49,027
these deaf archives are.

433
00:23:49,027 --> 00:23:51,026
Many places around the country don't have these

434
00:23:51,026 --> 00:23:53,826
kinds of resources available as well.

435
00:23:53,826 --> 00:23:56,292
And also I know deaf people are quite surprised

436
00:23:56,292 --> 00:23:58,560
that a hearing author has written this,

437
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,691
rather than a deaf author.

438
00:24:00,691 --> 00:24:04,291
But, it brings to bear the point that we must all work together--

439
00:24:04,291 --> 00:24:06,324
that our communities have to work together.

440
00:24:06,324 --> 00:24:09,442
I thank you so much for getting this story out there

441
00:24:09,442 --> 00:24:12,441
and accessible to our deaf children.

442
00:24:12,441 --> 00:24:16,458
And also, I have to applaud Janice Cole and

443
00:24:16,458 --> 00:24:20,508
her company's work to put these in ASL versions.

444
00:24:20,508 --> 00:24:25,374
This is a story that will never be outdated. Never.

445
00:24:25,374 --> 00:24:28,008
(Emily McCully)

446
00:24:28,008 --> 00:24:30,092
Thank you very, very much.

447
00:24:30,092 --> 00:24:32,176
Yes, I meant to say earlier

448
00:24:32,176 --> 00:24:35,108
that history is absolutely vital for everyone.

449
00:24:35,108 --> 00:24:38,398
If you don't have a context for your life in the present,

450
00:24:38,398 --> 00:24:41,717
you really don't have anything to stand on.

451
00:24:41,717 --> 00:24:45,041
Often, when I'm talking to school kids,

452
00:24:45,041 --> 00:24:47,476
I quote Cicero, who said,

453
00:24:47,476 --> 00:24:52,259
"To not know what happened before one was born

454
00:24:52,259 --> 00:24:54,953
is to always be a child."

455
00:24:55,123 --> 00:24:58,125
So you know, in order to grow up,

456
00:24:58,125 --> 00:24:59,959
children have to know history.

457
00:24:59,959 --> 00:25:02,144
Especially their own history.

458
00:25:02,144 --> 00:25:05,617
So, yeah, there has to be more of it.

459
00:25:05,617 --> 00:25:07,292
Thank you.

460
00:25:07,323 --> 00:25:08,704
(Margie English)

461
00:25:08,781 --> 00:25:11,951
I have one small question if I may?

462
00:25:11,954 --> 00:25:13,438
(Emily McCully)

463
00:25:13,438 --> 00:25:15,433
You're entitled.

464
00:25:15,433 --> 00:25:17,152
(Margie English)

465
00:25:17,152 --> 00:25:20,983
As a person who has published a number of works

466
00:25:20,983 --> 00:25:25,633
and illustrations. With this text, "My Heart Glow,"

467
00:25:25,633 --> 00:25:29,918
and that one has not been widely marketed

468
00:25:29,918 --> 00:25:32,916
and you said the reviewers weren't sure

469
00:25:32,916 --> 00:25:36,650
quite how to take the book and the use of syntax by a deaf person

470
00:25:36,650 --> 00:25:39,800
in the expression of the deaf person's thinking process.

471
00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:42,733
Now in terms of future publishers of deaf works

472
00:25:42,733 --> 00:25:45,183
by deaf authors, what would you say

473
00:25:45,183 --> 00:25:47,680
to those future publishers

474
00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,118
and these future authors,

475
00:25:50,118 --> 00:25:52,633
that they could do to improve this process

476
00:25:52,633 --> 00:25:55,402
so that it's more readily accepted?

477
00:25:55,402 --> 00:25:57,483
And educate those reviewers as well,

478
00:25:57,483 --> 00:26:00,299
so that it would be more appropriately received?

479
00:26:00,299 --> 00:26:02,050
(Emily McCully)

480
00:26:02,050 --> 00:26:05,500
Well, I think my publisher should have

481
00:26:05,500 --> 00:26:08,683
provided something, I think, for reviewers

482
00:26:08,683 --> 00:26:10,933
but they did not.

483
00:26:10,933 --> 00:26:13,916
I thought and I hoped that the author's note

484
00:26:13,916 --> 00:26:17,279
would suffice, but apparently it didn't.

485
00:26:17,325 --> 00:26:20,983
Now, I'm saying only one or two people did this,

486
00:26:20,983 --> 00:26:25,385
but it was significant that they didn't understand.

487
00:26:25,385 --> 00:26:29,251
So, yeah, there has to be support of the book.

488
00:26:29,309 --> 00:26:34,650
In the storytelling process, I didn't want to interrupt the story

489
00:26:34,650 --> 00:26:39,267
with editorial comments or, you know, references to facts

490
00:26:39,267 --> 00:26:42,169
or anything like that.

491
00:26:42,169 --> 00:26:45,968
I wanted the story to flow, as a story must.

492
00:26:45,968 --> 00:26:48,933
So it was up to the publisher, I think,

493
00:26:48,933 --> 00:26:51,300
to provide the support material

494
00:26:51,300 --> 00:26:53,733
that reviewers needed.

495
00:26:53,733 --> 00:26:55,733
You know, adult books are often published

496
00:26:55,733 --> 00:27:02,234
with reader's guides, guides for book clubs and so on.

497
00:27:02,234 --> 00:27:05,200
So that kind of thing

498
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,500
that goes along with the book

499
00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:09,333
but doesn't have to be part of the story

500
00:27:09,333 --> 00:27:12,518
would be very helpful.

501
00:27:12,518 --> 99:59:59,999
Thank you Janice.

502
99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999
[end of segment 4. go to segment 5]