Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 - (Page 37)

few I could lipread clearly and was highly esteemed and spoke without an accent. However, he gave lectures of such complexity I could never tell if I was hearing them right. e readings for the class were no better–articles with footnotes as long as the articles themselves. e footnotes had footnotes, and the footnotes of the footnotes seemed to be written in a code from space. If there was an easier way to take on the challenge of higher education as a deaf student, I had no idea. If there was help out there, I’d never learned to ask for it. About the only time I felt any kind of ease was when I was wasted to the point that I washed my feet by peeing on my shoes or when I had a lover in my arms–sex and drugs, two thirds of youth’s holy trinity; the third, rock and roll, pretty much unavailable to me. Senior year, as my classmates settled into their respective life paths placid as commuters making the last turns of a drive home–law school, biz school, med school, suit, briefcase, stethoscope, check!–I felt disconsolate. at’s all we learn here? Yes, said the other students, with complete assurance, ready to pursue graduate degrees or don Batsuits. It was, I know, the height of arrogance to judge others for not having the answers for my own unhappiness, but still I questioned everyone on their motives: How can you be so sure? What is true if everything changes? What’s the point of ambition if we all die? I was on the outside of all these students rushing noisily to their lives–I think that sound, bearing language from all directions, is the one sense that most grounds us in society–it all seemed bizarre to me. Try Prozac, I was told. Instead I went to Gallaudet University, the national university for the deaf. From the book, e Unheard: A Memoir of Deafness and Africa, by Josh Swiller, reprinted by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Copyright © 2007 by Josh Swiller. Swiller was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mununga, Zambia from 1994 to 1996 and is now a hospice social worker at Metropolitan Jewish Hospice in Brooklyn. YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE YOU WILL MAKE NEWS CONCENTRATIONS URBAN AFFAIRS HEALTH & MEDICINE ARTS & CULTURE BUSINESS & ECONOMICS MEDIA TRACKS PRINT BROADCAST INTERACTIVE LOCATION TIMES SQUARE FACILITY STATE-OF-THE-ART CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JOURNALISM 646-758-7700 | WWW.JOURNALISM.CUNY.EDU WorldView 37 http://WWW.JOURNALISM.CUNY.EDU http://WWW.JOURNALISM.CUNY.EDU

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007 Contents President's Note Lafayette Park Note to Readers Commentary Letter from India Commentary Letter from Botswana Letter from Ha Teboho Letter from Jumbi Valley Letter from Mununga Letter from Medellin Giving Back Community News

Worldview Magazine - Winter 2007

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