Libraries, Access and ASL Literature Part 4: Emily McCully "The Making of "My Heart Glow." The Deaf Community Shares it's not so silent stories

In this segment, author Emily McCully talks about the writing of the first historical fiction book for children about deaf history, her book "My Heart Glow"
On Sunday, June 27, 2010, in conjunction with the American Library Association Annual Conference, which met in Washington, DC that weekend, the DC Public Library and the District of Columbia Association of the Deaf co-sponsored an afternoon seminar: "Libraries, Access, and ASL Literature: The Deaf Community Shares Our Not-So-Silent Stories." The goal of the seminar was to help librarians create libraries that support the deaf community's efforts to be understood as a cultural and linguistic minority, and to have resources on the shelves that would accurately reflect the deaf community's culture and language.

(Suzanne Stecker)

Our next presenter is Emily McCully

and she's actually going to

tell us her experience

of going through the process

of writing her book, "My Heart Glow."

She received the F. Scott Medal.

Emily?

(Male Interpreter)

Correction of the interpretation: She was awarded the Caldecott Award for her work.

(Emily McCully, voice raspy)

Thank you so much.

I'm going to try to be heard

so that I can be interpreted.

I obviously need to be interpreted today.

I'm very, very happy to be here

and I've learned an enormous amount

in the first half of the program.

I wish I had known all of the things that I heard this afternoon

when I wrote this book.

I am a representative of the hearing community.

I tried to be a bridge

between the deaf community and the hearing community

in creating this story.

I was just telling that unfortunately

some of the reviewers of the book in the hearing community

were a little confused by it.

And so, I think a lot more work has to be done

to make ASL and Deaf Culture

understood in the hearing community.

Now, the reason that I told the story

of Alice Cogswell and Thomas Gallaudet

is that my son told me I should do it,

and I listened to him.

He is a linguist. He is fluent in Japanese--works in Japanese.

He speaks Russian, French, a little bit of other languages, a little Chinese.

And he got interested in American Sign Language

and took a course.

He practices it a lot.

I have to say, he goes to bars to practice it

with fluent ASL people

and has met very, very wonderful people that way.

He's been fascinated by Deaf History,

and he knew that in making children's books,

I always try to find a gripping story out of history

and they often have involved girls and women

whose stories are little known or else I invent them sometimes.

But I want to tell the stories of underdogs, basically,

because I think they have the most drama.

And when he told me that American Sign Language

and the very first school for the deaf in this country

were created because a young man met a young deaf girl,

I thought well, this is it, there's got to be a great story here.

And I think it is a great story.

Alice Cogswell was about two--

she lived in Connecticut,

she was the youngest child of a wealthy family.

Her father was a doctor

and quite a famous man in Connecticut.

When she was two, which would have been, lets see,

about 1805 I think--

or no, she was born in 1805--

1807, she came down with probably scarlet fever, but we're not sure,

and became profoundly deaf.

She recalled that when she woke up one morning,

she could no longer hear the church bells.

She couldn't hear the sound of--

she could see a carriage draw up to the door

outside her family's house

and couldn't hear any of the sounds that it was making.

They subjected her to radical treatment.

They poured horrible substances into her ears

through ear trumpets.

It was very painful. Nothing could be done.

Her family feared that she was doomed,

that she wouldn't go to heaven when she died

because they couldn't teach her about the Bible.

And in those days, that's what they thought--

that her soul was lost.

So, they loved her and they cherished her,

but they didn't know what to do.

And there were no schools for the deaf.

Deaf people had absolutely no way to communicate

with the rest of the world.

I am sure that they spoke with what was called "home sign" then.

And we heard this morning about the people

of Martha's Vineyard, most of whom came

in the 17th Century from one part of England,

where almost everybody was deaf.

So this was a case of genetic deafness.

And those people settled in Martha's Vineyard.

They had their own sign language,

and the rest of Martha's Vineyard learned it.

Everybody on the island, from the late 17th Century

through the early 20th Century,

spoke a sign language that was developed there.

And of course deaf people were considered perfectly normal

unlike what was the case

in the rest of the country.

Alice Cogswell and her sisters and brothers

used a kind of home sign, but she wasn't taught to read

she wasn't taught anything else.

And when Thomas Gallaudet,

who was in his early 20's when he met Alice--

he had cast about for what to do with his life

and finally he decided to go to theological seminary.

And he wanted to minister to Indian tribes,

which meant that he would learn

a kind of sign language because Indians did.

He graduated and came home to visit his parents in Hartford.

They lived next door to the Cogswells

and he saw Alice one day. And he felt terribly sorry for her

because she was sitting by herself

while her brothers and sisters played,

and she couldn't join in the games.

And he thought he would see,

since she looked so intelligent and appealing

and of course she was aware of him

because her other senses were very highly developed.

And he came over to her, and the story is

that he scratched the letters H-A-T on the dirt

and then put his hat on top of them and her face lit up.

She was already understanding

what reading would lead her to.

And he began working with her

trying to teach her to read.

And she was very, very receptive

and delighted.

And at this point, Dr. Cogswell thought that

he must reach not only Alice, but other deaf children

and found a school for them.

So he asked Thomas if he would go to Europe

and learn how to teach the deaf.

And Thomas agreed to do this.

The Cogswells raised enough money to send him

to England, where he knew that there was a school

in London and another one in Scotland,

operated by a family called Braidwood.

Gallaudet left Alice behind

but first he said Alice really should go to school

with her siblings.

So this was arranged.

The teacher at this school

was named Lydia Huntley.

She was later married to Mr. Sigourney.

So she became Lydia Huntley Sigourney,

a rather famous poetess of the day,

but at this time she was a young teacher.

Alice joined this little school

and everybody in the school learned to fingerspell --

that is, they had signs for each of the letters of the alphabet

and they would painstakingly spell out words.

So Alice learned a little bit more.

She learned to read

and she learned a little bit of history

and a little bit of geography and so on,

but she was not learning a language.

Meanwhile in London, Thomas was having a hard time.

The Braidwood family insisted on

teaching deaf people to talk.

There was no sign language used -- in fact, it was forbidden.

The Braidwoods told Thomas that they would teach him

their method, but he would have to stay in England

for two years and it would cost a lot more money

than they had raised for Thomas's trip.

So, something wonderful happened --

completely unexpected:

Thomas met an Abbot from Paris

and his young assistant who was deaf.

And the Abbot's name was Abbé Sicard

and his assistant was Laurent Clerc.

And Laurent Clerc, of couse, was deaf

and a fine teacher at a school in Paris

where they used sign language to teach the deaf children.

And Gallaudet went to Paris

and was taught how to use this method,

but he was getting terribly homesick

and he was running out of money.

So, he knew he had to go back to Hartford,

but in order to teach and to start a school

and teach deaf children in America,

he was going to need help.

So he persuaded Laurent Clerc

to come with him,

and this was extrordinary.

Clerc had to leave his parents behind.

He had to get permission to go.

Fortunately, he was a very adventurous young man

and had always wanted to see more of the world.

So they sailed to America.

It took almost two months

and during that time,

Gallaudet taught Clerc English

and Clerc taught Gallaudet

more of the signs that they were using in the school.

Now, that school in Paris

had adapted a kind of home sign

that French children naturally--

French deaf children--used with each other.

The teachers at the school saw that sign language

was being used by these children

and they knew that it was a good method,

but they thought that it needed help.

They thought they needed to make it grammatical.

They didn't realize that this natural sign language

already had a grammar.

So the kinds of misunderstandings

that people have always had about ASL

were there with its very founders.

Thomas Gallaudet also didn't realize that

home sign or methodical sign, it was called,

already had a grammar.

And as we heard earlier today,

people didn't realize that

until the 1960's, when American Sign Language

was finally analyzed by linguists.

It's this grammatical complexity--

this whole language aspect of ASL--

that is so important for hearing people to understand,

and, of course, for deaf children to learn

because it stimulates the language capacities

of the brain.

And if they learn ASL, they learn English much more easily.

And, as we all know, ASL was suppressed

for a long time all over the world.

I believe the Milan Conference was mentioned

this morning. I think that's where it happened.

And so, for a long time, deaf children

in their schools would sign to each other

but it had to be secret.

They weren't allowed to use ASL.

I didn't put that in my book,

but I think it's important that I knew it

because it was part of the story.

When you tell a story in any kind of book,

you may not put everything about the story

into the book, but you have to know it.

And this bridge to the hearing community--

that's so important;

and having enough materials in libraries

for deaf children is terribly important.

This book, "My Heart Glow,"

whose title was suggested by Harlan Lane,

whose book I used in much of my research.

And I contacted Harlan Lane

at the suggestion of Gary Wait,

who is the archivist

at the School for the Deaf in Hartford--

a very wonderful man who was a tremendous help to me.

And he also sent word about the book

out through the community--

to Alice in particular,

who was so good in making it known to people.

Gary Wait's resources at the School for the Deaf--

he has the library there,

which is almost like a little museum of deaf history.

It was so important to be there

and see all that material.

He told me that I should not include anything

about the suppression of ASL--

that this story, "My Heart Glow,"

should be a story of triumph over nothing --

of the creation of something

when there had been nothing.

So, armed with the materials I learned from him,

with a lot of reading of what books there are

about deaf history,

with Harlan Lane's book in particular,

I wrote this story.

It was published.

It was acquired by an editor, who was fired

about a few weeks later.

So it was shepherded through the publishing process

without an advocate.

It was published without any help at all

by this company, that more or less ignored it.

And then it was reviewed by hearing reviewers,

many of whom were confused

by the syntax in Alice's letters,

and I had read Alice's letters at Hartford,

so I knew that the syntax was the product of her mind--

of the way she was thinking.

They didn't understand that,

even though I said so in the author's note.

So there was some confusion, which was unfortunate.

And I was so, so gratified--so happy--when I learned

that the deaf community embraced the book.

And not only that--after it had gone out of print,

I heard from ASL Tales that they wanted to do a DVD of it

and try to get it back into the world with signing.

And I thought it was a fabulous idea

and Janice's work on this DVD is so brilliant,

and of course, the quality of storytelling

that is possible with ASL

is just beyond anything else that's available to anyone.

So, I think

deaf children and hearing children will both

benefit enormously from this kind of product

and from all of the others that I hope

are going to be available in libraries everywhere.

Maybe there will be questions for me?

I don't know. I think that's about all

I can pump out of my throat today.

I thank you so much for having me here

and as I say, it's been extraondinarily illuminating for me,

and I love being with you all today.

Are there any questions?

[applause] Thank you.

No? Okay.

Thank you again.

(Female Audience Member)

Hello there. I just wanted to tell you how delighted

I am that you've made this book possible

and many more works such as these.

I'm inspired by the fact that this book is there.

(Emily McCully)

Thank you so much.

(Female Audience Member)

My question is how long did it take you to complete that book?

(Emily McCully)

Well, this one... of course there's the research

and the reading process was several weeks,

and I don't usually have an advisor.

Gary Wait was my advisor on this one,

so we communicated back and forth.

And the trip to Hartford--that had to be scheduled,

and so on.

So, I would say two or three months for that.

And then, sitting down and doing a picture book

requires doing a "dummy,"

which means that I write the text

at the same time that I'm creating a little pretend book.

And the little pretend book is absolutely necessary

because a picture book is unlike most other books

in that it's like a little movie that's in my head,

and I have to get the movie down on paper

The movie is not projected. It involves the reader.

The book cannot be read

unless the reader wants to turn the page,

so I had to figure out how much material to put on a page.

I put so much on...well, I'll do it with this.

I make a dummy that looks sort of like this,

but it's just black and white sketches.

I put so much material on this page

so that the reader will want to know what happens.

The reader lifts the page, and for a few seconds

anything can happen!

Turns the page, more information--not too much,

just enough to create enough tension

so the reader wants to turn the page

and advance the story.

So, it's a complete collaboration with the reader.

And I have to figure out with the dummy--

I play with how much I put on this page and that page

and I go back and forth.

I tend to make little rough sketches

and tape them down, or tape down the words

with scotch tape

and then lift them up and move them around

if I have to.

And that process takes, oh maybe two or three weeks.

And then I send it to the publisher,

and the editor figures out what else I have to do

and what isn't working and what is working

and tells me and sends it back.

I make revisions--

that can take two or three more weeks--

when I finally get to the point

where I do the finished work.

And my emphasis in my books is

I want everything to look as if something is happening--

I want it to have a sense of action--

so I, to try to make things look spontaneous,

I make, for example, color choices as I'm painting.

I don't do color sketches,

I wait until I'm doing the finished paintings

and they take another six weeks.

Then I send that off. My work is done.

The book is separated. The colors are all separated

and printed - each color separately.

Probably these days in Asia.

The book doesn't come out for a full year

after I have finished my work.

And by that time, in this case,

the publisher had forgotten about it.

So, that can happen--

that's not such a good story.

So, I hope that this ASL Tales version has...

I hope it's going to have a lot of momentum

and will really reach as many people as it can.

Once again, thank you so much, Deaf Community,

for embracing it.

More questions?

(Male Audience Member)

I'm curious if you've had the experience...

oh sorry, one moment...

I'm curious if your work on this book

has made you inspired to learn more

about the deaf community and deaf culture?

(Emily McCully) Yes it has. Very much.

(Female voice, offscreen)

I believe we have two questions off to the side.

(Alice Hagemeyer)

Hello there.

For some of you who may not know,

her book is the very first book

written for children that is talking about deaf history,

and I applaud you for that.

I'm not sure if even you knew that.

Did you know that?

(Emily McCully)

No, I knew it was the first one about Alice and Thomas.

I didn't know it was the first, period.

That's amazing. That's terrible.

(Alice Hagemeyer)

Right, it's the first historical work for children--

first historical fiction book for children.

And also, it's very fortunate, and I'd like everyone to know

that the School for the Deaf has a museum,

which in the past, people weren't really cherishing

their heritage and the artifacts

and so oftentimes, things weren't preserved well

until Gary Wait, also a good friend of mine

got involved with their museum program

and made some drastic changes.

And having that material preserved,

made your research, I'm sure, much better,

so our thanks also have to go out to Gary.

Now, any of you who want to write

something like this,

I have to let you know about what wonderful resources

these deaf archives are.

Many places around the country don't have these

kinds of resources available as well.

And also I know deaf people are quite surprised

that a hearing author has written this,

rather than a deaf author.

But, it brings to bear the point that we must all work together--

that our communities have to work together.

I thank you so much for getting this story out there

and accessible to our deaf children.

And also, I have to applaud Janice Cole and

her company's work to put these in ASL versions.

This is a story that will never be outdated. Never.

(Emily McCully)

Thank you very, very much.

Yes, I meant to say earlier

that history is absolutely vital for everyone.

If you don't have a context for your life in the present,

you really don't have anything to stand on.

Often, when I'm talking to school kids,

I quote Cicero, who said,

"To not know what happened before one was born

is to always be a child."

So you know, in order to grow up,

children have to know history.

Especially their own history.

So, yeah, there has to be more of it.

Thank you.

(Margie English)

I have one small question if I may?

(Emily McCully)

You're entitled.

(Margie English)

As a person who has published a number of works

and illustrations. With this text, "My Heart Glow,"

and that one has not been widely marketed

and you said the reviewers weren't sure

quite how to take the book and the use of syntax by a deaf person

in the expression of the deaf person's thinking process.

Now in terms of future publishers of deaf works

by deaf authors, what would you say

to those future publishers

and these future authors,

that they could do to improve this process

so that it's more readily accepted?

And educate those reviewers as well,

so that it would be more appropriately received?

(Emily McCully)

Well, I think my publisher should have

provided something, I think, for reviewers

but they did not.

I thought and I hoped that the author's note

would suffice, but apparently it didn't.

Now, I'm saying only one or two people did this,

but it was significant that they didn't understand.

So, yeah, there has to be support of the book.

In the storytelling process, I didn't want to interrupt the story

with editorial comments or, you know, references to facts

or anything like that.

I wanted the story to flow, as a story must.

So it was up to the publisher, I think,

to provide the support material

that reviewers needed.

You know, adult books are often published

with reader's guides, guides for book clubs and so on.

So that kind of thing

that goes along with the book

but doesn't have to be part of the story

would be very helpful.

Thank you Janice.

[end of segment 4. go to segment 5]