Category: 2013

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A GOOD HOOK

I plan to make an eBook with the 333 ASL cartoons I’ve created. Without the use of an actual program for electronic book creation, however, I’m left to improvise. The artwork and sign description is put in proper order with Adobe Illustrator and saved as a JPEG. The JPEG is then put in a word processor (Open Office) where the title for each sign is typed underneath the image (so electronic devices can identify and search for the words). The second program is sloppy and inflexible but the only way I currently know how to make a . PDF file. The final product is passable but only as a draft piece for my true intentions. For now, I can put my work on my Kindle and display the photos when approaching publishers but to complete this process (9 pictures a page will be about 37 pages) will take me a loooong time. All the runtime errors I’m getting with the PDF files aren’t helping either. Above is a frozen image of the first page. Good grief, there has to be a better way.

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POSTER PUNCH

As a volunteer at Schlegel Villages, The Village of Riverside Glen, everyone I met could tell how excited I was about American Sign Language. In 2013 my ASL studies at the University of Guelph led to me starting work on an ASL dictionary. 2013 was also when the management asked me if I teach sign language to the working staff. I declined as I had just started my lessons again. Without a teacher’s license, bachelor’s degree in ASL, or deaf education, I didn’t have the knowledge, experience, or the right to teach anyone. The compromise I offered was to make a poster for reference. I asked the staff to list 33 words used in a long-term care environment. I designed a large 20 x 16-inch poster with the teacher-approved ASL drawings from my collection. The staff could then attend courses in American Sign Language and return to work to have the alphabetical words on the poster as a helpful reminder. Everyone was happy with the final piece. Visiting staff members from other locations asked for copies. The first poster had to be reprinted, as it disappeared twice, and the following year it was printed again to be displayed at the Riverside Glen Art Show. It was great to see my work up on the wall and even better to see it help educate fellow students.