| May 3rd, 2009 |
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Because Blogging Against Disability Day doesn't have to be just one day.
So, I have various people on whom I have total crushes, in various senses. I don't necessarily want to marry them, or even meet them - I just think they're totally squeetastically awesome.
One of those people is Marlee Matlin. (To the extent that I now kind of want to watch The L Word because I just discovered she was in 29 episodes.) I squee when she turns up in something I'm watching anyway, because she's awesome.
I just discovered she testified to Congress and was thereby part of getting a law passed that required all TVs with screens larger than 13 inches to have a built-in chip for displaying closed captioning. This is described in her iMDb bio as a "godsend" for deaf people, which I can totally see (and seriously, why did this need to be an issue that required Congressional testimony? I sort of assume Congressional testimony will be a big deal, and it's one mass-produced chip, it just can't be that expensive or anything to include).
She still does advocacy work and so on - and not just for deaf people, although that's the kind of thing I couldn't fault. Sure, there are other causes in the world - but there are other people to take those on, and no-one else with a Best Actress Oscar is going to be as strong or as dedicated a voice for the deaf.
Meanwhile, just to prove that, for all my terrible raised-consciousness centrist-lefty will to be a good anti-racist ally, I am susceptible to being a participant in terrible racist jokes:
Discussing my horror at the thieving book vandal story, to which I was expressing outrage and declaring that the bastard ought to rot in jail, and the reaction to this kind of crime most scholarly sorts are likely to have, my brother-out-law suggested that while many academics might wish him dead, it's probably not going to go past wishing. You can't really see wizened academics blowing up his house, say.
Him: Can you see any of your lecturers firebombing someone?
Me, after considering this: Well, yes, actually.
Him: Wait, your history lecture is Glaswegian, isn't he?
Me: *cracks up*
Other things to do today: a whole lot of linguistics. I am having to skip roleplaying to avoid the sky falling on my head, uni-workally speaking, but I seriously feel like if I let uni get to the point where I feel like I'm truly falling behind, it will crush me and I won't be able to cope.
I will avoid mentioning the result of the Celtics vs Bulls game, in case someone sees this who doesn't want spoilers. I will say, mind you, that certain dudes on my screen might be able to crack a smile. They won and they look depressed.
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