My 5 days at RIT: 375 photos and i picked a few so you can get glimpse of how much fun i had.

i am so excited to share tate tullier's photographs that he took of me a month ago. he is a bona fide photographer. he makes me feel beautiful and comfortable in front of the camera. here are the few i picked.

tate, you are awesome!!

i cant believe it was eight years ago when i first asked you. i am so grateful to todd timmer for introducing me to you and your work :)

better late than never.

I LOVE YOU

i didnt have the time to do blogs lately. i wanted to post up a mother's day blog and i thought to myself its better late than never.

happy mother's day to my beautiful mother, susan eileen. we laugh, cry & been through it all. she is my best friend, my back bone & my everything. i dont know where i would be or who i am without her. whenever i am down or sad, she would make me my favorite cookies. she went to all to my games and plays. she flew in california to watch my junior pageant and also for my miss deaf new york pageant. she would get me at 3am if i need her. that is my mother for you. i am blessed to have a wonderful mother. she is amazing and my role model.

i got her this beautiful necklace designed by lisa leonard. a heart with engraved of my name and my brother's. a vintage bracelet and handmade t shirt i discovered at luanne's boutique. she had this huge smile on her face and said i will wear this necklace every single day, no matter what. it completed me that we made her day as she deserves it.

i am so proud of my brother (he is on your far left). he is on gallaudet university baseball team. he plays first base. this picture is featured on usa today. of course, i was such a proud sister that we bought 7 of it!

go bison :)

there was a comment made today that fueled me up. someone said "Today there is no reason for anyone to be deaf anymore. Cochlear implants are available and work wonderfully. I hear better now with my cochlear implant than I ever did with hearing aids before my hearing completely disappeared."

wow- that was a huge insult. deaf people can about do anything but hear. it is such a beautiful culture and language. i am proud to be a part of it, it is a part of my skin. i am hard of hearing but i call myself deaf because of my family and friends. i wont ever get ci because it would help me hear better. they need to respect that some of us dont want it. if some of them want it, okay. i respect people's wishes. they need to respect ours. otherwise if you have nothing nice to say, dont say anything at all.

we have a lot of accomplished deaf people out there. lawyers, doctors, actors, teachers, designers, models, and many more.

Angela Stratiy is an actor and comedian. Her website, DeafUtopia.com, provides workshops on ASL and Deaf culture, as well as solo comedy shows.

Jade Films is an independent film production company engaged in the development
and production of multi-media technology, video, broadcasting, television and film. The purpose of our mission is to raise the consciousness about African Americans and Latinos who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, whether culturally Deaf or with varied degrees of hearing loss who do not identify with Deaf culture.

Bernard Bragg is an accomplished actor, director, playwright and lecturer

Betty G. Miller is both a professional visual artist, and a professional counselor working in the field of alcohol and drug abuse with deaf and hard of hearing people. She holds an Ed.D. in art education from Penn State University; and is a certified alcohol and drug counselor (C.A.D.C., a certification formerly known as C.A.C., clinical alcohol counselor).

Chuck Baird is a masterful Deaf painter and teacher

Dr. Clayton Valli's Ph.D. in Linguistics and ASL Poetics from the Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio which he received in 1993 made him the first person ever to achieve a doctorate in ASL poetry. He was also the first individual to identify the features of ASL poetry as a literature genre in its own right.

Actress Deanne Bray. She is the star of “Sue Thomas: F.B.EYE,” and portrays a deaf woman who works as an undercover surveillant for the FBI.

Dummy Hoy is first deaf Major League baseball player.

Heather Whitestone McCallum is the first deaf Miss America

Marlee Matlin is an an Oscar-winning Deaf actress

Phyllis Frelich is a Tony award winning Deaf actress

Pinky the Deaf Juggler&Unicylclist

Terrylene Sachetti is a Deaf actress, poet, storyteller, mime and dancer

Trix Burce

performs amazing feats of American Sign Language skill, thrives on audience interaction, and enjoys accepting artistic challenges. With her creative storytelling, she brings into play various handshapes, classifiers, 3-D representations, personification, role shifts, international sign, and more. Let Trix take you on a roller coaster ride through ASL poetry, storytelling, and folk tales.

Curtis Pride is a Deaf Major League Baseball Player. He is currently coaching Gallaudet University Baseball Team which my brother is on.

Larry Walker is a Deaf National Football Player

Jim Kyte is a Deaf National Hockey Player

CJ Jones is a Deaf comedian actor

Shoshannah Stern is a Deaf actress

Micahel Davis is a Deaf actor

Russell Harvard is a Deaf actor

Tate Tullier is a Deaf Photographer

and many more to come!! :D

see what i am saying: the movie is so inspiring especially for deaf people. it makes you understand us better. we are simply just like you but we cant hear. must see! so proud of how they accomplished. :).

i met up with this sweet girl i met working last summer at a camp.

miss balz&i

me, mom&the bestie went to check out the bubby's (thanks to rockstar diaries) for black and white strip photo booth. i was so excited, it was so hard to find one.

another funky bathroom we discovered

oh yes!!

mom discovered this photo booth at the smith's. funny story behind this: we were rushing to bubby's before the movie because i so wanted to do the photo booth strip. arrived to the theatre in time, merely seconds. after the movie was done, we hopped over to pour house to eat&drink. (chicken tenders with pretzel was delicious). we walked across to the smith's so mom can go to the bathroom. mom came out with a grin on her face&said we all are suckers, come&take a look downstairs. ahhh, another photo booth strip! it was only a block away from the movie theater.

this is what rainy days does to me

old hollywood

this stove is my favorite part of our house. it is so old fashioned&has vintage feeling to it

i want to find me a vintage dresser like this

i love this kind of photo- creative minds amaze me

random day: in the mood to be a kid once again with mom.

If you are not allowed to laugh in heaven, I don't want to go there--Martin Luther

mind me, i love to laugh. i laugh easily. i love jokes, dirty ones especially.

growing up, i love swings. every time i am at a park, the first thing i run to is swings. i just love the feeling of the rush. i cant cease smiling and laughing while i swing back and forth. my feet high up into the air and my hair touching the ground.

i will never forget how frustrated i was when i was three years old. mom and dad pushed me but i told them, no- i want to swing like you and daddy. pushed myself but i could not. i would not give up. then i was too tired. i went home and kept pondering how.

one day, i finally did it on my own. i could not stop laughing out loud. i need to find that picture stacked up in the attic. i felt so free.

i was so exited when my brother was old enough for me to push him. i would take him with me. while pushing him, i would hear him laugh and signed more and faster. i want to go higher like a superman so i can fly.

even to this day, i love to swing. i dont care how old i get. i will do it even at 90 years old. my teeth will come out flying into the sand.