KFKISSFIST MAGAZINE

JUNE 2010

FROM THE EDITORKISSFIST MAGAZINE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Frank Gallimore

ART DIRECTOR Rosa Lee Timm

WEB DEVELOPERDamon Timm

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KISSFIST Magazine is published four times a year in March, June, September, and December by Pelican Ave Inc in Worcester, Massachusetts. All rights reserved. This is is-sue number 8, released on June 27th, 2010. The opinions expressed by KISSFIST Magazine contributors are just that -- opinions. While we strive to ensure that all information are obtained through reliable sources, Pelican Ave Inc is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information, and without war-ranty of any kind, express or implied. Pelican Ave Inc is not liable for any claims, losses, or damages of any kind, arising from the wording, text, graphics, or representations of any content published herein. We also reserve the right to re-fuse submissions or advertisment when deemed unsuitable.

www.KISS-FIST.com

POWERED BY the signing community

FROM THE EDITORKISSFIST MAGAZINE

POWERED BY the signing community

While driving to work the other day, I was mulling over this forthcoming eighth issue of KISSFIST Magazine. President Obama had been photographed earlier that day on his second trip to Louisiana, walking along the shores of Port Fourchon and Grand Isle. Lines of yellow security tape sectioned off a background of sea fluff and detritus sheened with oil. It was one of those iconic “problem pic-tures” that lingers in your imagination, not unlike Dorthea Lange’s famous dust bowl photo, “Migrant Mother,” or one of the many photos of John F and Robert Kennedy, grinning as they lean against each other, one arm slung over the other’s shoulder, only a few years before their assassinations. Some problems strike us all at once with an overwhelming urgency. Like the oil spill, they can start as something ruptured a mile below what the naked eye sees. Some of these problems have been around for a long time and still go unnoticed by so many. The legacy of Audism is only one example of many. I thought of all this while imagining how our eighth issue would come about and it came to me that we, the KISSFIST Team, have had it pretty good. We’ve had the great fortune of being among the first to read about a deaf writer climbing the Himalayan mountains in Tibet. From across the ocean, we get to be touched by the work of French artist Arnaud Balard. We get to celebrate the marvelous and many talents of Pinky. We get to sit back in sheer awe of the fine photography of Katie Winters, the artistry of Paul Rutowski. To laugh and meditate with the rest of you readers about how many wonders there are in the Deaf, Hearing, local and international spheres--so much more than can ever fit in a single magazine--this is the immeasurable gift. It’s been a stellar year through all the ups and downs. Fate has picked this year, for example, to expand our family. My wife is pregnant and due in November, so is my brother’s wife, and my sister just gave birth to my very first nephew Jace. As we speak, he’s making “adorable” his full-time job. (Congratulations Rosa and Damon!) One certain lesson in all of this is that one never knows just when good stuff comes. Sometimes there’s a whole bucket of it just about to drop. If you don’t believe me, just flip through these pages.

Content

TALENT

FEATUREDARTISTS

POETRY

ARNAUD BALARD - 6, 84-87NYKE PRINCE - 16, 18, 20ADREAN CLARK - 38FRANZ KNUPFER - 56-59ERNEST MCDANIEL - 70-73

RAYMOND LUCZAK - 32

PINKY AIELLO - 82

BUSINESSMARK NAEYAERT - 54ELISE WHITWORTH - 66AMY JO TRAGER - 74CARLETTE GENTILE - 76GLOBAL DEAF WOMEN - 78

HEALTHSHANADA SCHWARTZ - 42MARLENE ELLIOTT - 60

About the Cover

www.frankgallimore.com

Self portrait of Arnaud Balard. More information about the artist can be found on page 6 and his artwork on page 84-87.

Arnaud BalardThings you didn’t know about5

Find me at Facebook

Arnaud BalardThings you didn’t know about

1 He is from France and he lives in Toulouse

2 He is a Deaf visual artist and a graduate of Fine Arts

3 He chose to work with Art because Art is accessible to all, and it gives him freedom of thought and freedom of action. Art is his personal language that he uses to exchange with all others. It’s a universal method of communication

4 He is focusing on the process in the relationship between social and personal viewings, between the Deaf and Hearing cultures, between the demands of society and the needs of the Deaf, and of course Deaf identity and its place in the Art world. That’s why he wrote an Art manifesto entitled “Surdism”, 20 Years Later, after the manifesto “De’VIA” written by Ameri-can artists

5 His latest work is entitled “baby-cell batteries”. It’s a work representing the fundamental issue of medical dominance in the early education of Deaf children

KISSFIST Photo

Bill Millios

KISSFIST Photo

Dan Brubaker

KISSFIST Photo

Paul Rutowski

KISSFIST Conceptual Fine Arts

Giacomo Favilla

Nyke PrinceDEAF MULTI-ARTIST

Nyke PrinceDEAF MULTI-ARTIST

PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer Sasaki

PHOTO CREDIT: Joshua Washington, Image and Style. Angel Ramos, Set Design.

KISSFIST Deaf Artist

Nyke Prince is a multi-talented deaf performing artist based in Los Angles. She is a bilingual songwriter, writer, model, dancer, drummer, and make-up artist.

For more information: Nyke Prince WebsiteFacebookTwitter

PHOTO CREDIT: Jennifer Sasaki

KISSFIST Photo

Chad Ervin

KISSFIST Photo

Judy Ann McClain Lowrie

KISSFIST Photo

Jonathan McMillan

KISSFIST Painting

Warren Miller

KISSFIST Photo

Diane Parrott

IN EDINBURGH CASTLE

Tourists with clicky digital cameras hanging swaggle up the lumberous Lawnmarket past the castle’s staunch shoulders. We are ants in search of morsels. But I do not flock to frenzy in fingerpointed exclamations.

They are too busy popping well-lit exhibits and rooms led by curvy steps worn down by centuries of death, intrigue, and power.My heart’s a hidden exhibit, lined with the cork of rage.

No tapestry of us will hang in the echoey dining hall. The wool and dye are infested with maggots misunderstanding. Stoneworn faces staringdo not flinch when they trickle down tears of insects buzzing.

The shadows of your touch clang deep. A thousand bells toll our death, and no one lists our salient facts. We are history. Never mind. Time to move on to the next exhibit. The camera flashes.

KISSFIST Poetry

Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of more than ten books, including Mute: Poems (A Midsum-mer Night’s Press), Assembly Required: Notes from a Deaf Gay Life (RID Press) and the award-winning novel Men with Their Hands (Queer Mojo). His web site is www.raymondluczak.com

Raymond Luczak

DEAF WRITER

PHOTO CREDIT: Taras J. Dykstra

KISSFIST Conceptual Fine Arts

Giacomo Favilla

KISSFIST Photo

Wanda Riddle

KISSFIST ComicsKISSFIST Comic

Adrean Clark likes to put pen-cil to paper and stylus to tab-let. She also happens to be a Deaf unschooling mom of three. Her days fill up fast but things work out, somehow!

Check out her comics at:WWW.ADREANALINE.COM

DEAF COMIC ARTIST

Adrean Clark

KISSFIST Photo

Jessica McKinney

KISSFIST Health

Q:S h a n a d a Schwartz is a deaf health consultant from Minnestoa A:

ask shanada

Q:Should I buy organic or does it really matter?

A:

growh.com

Click HERE to view her answer

KISSFIST Painting

Nancy Rourke

KISSFIST Photo

James Curley

KISSFIST Photo

Katie Winters

KISSFIST Photo

Chad Ervin

KISSFIST Photo

Paul Rutowski

KISSFIST Business

naeyaertsigns@gmail.com

Mark Naeyaert

Mark Naeyart owns a small sign business, Mastyl Signs in Michigan. He graduated from Michigan School for the Deaf and did a brief stint at Gallau-det University before moving to California where he learned the sign painting business. He moved back to Michigan and worked as a sign painter on the side for many years. He recently retired from the City of Flint Water Plant and currently resides in Swartz Creek with his wife Stevie and son, Tyler.

DEAF BUSINESS OWNER

PHOTO CREDIT: Stevie Naeyaert

first met Tendi Sherpa on the rooftop of the Naxal School for the Deaf in Kathmandu, Nepal, and it wasn’t long before we were planning a trip to the rooftop of the world.

Tendi is from the Khumbu region, home to four of the world’s six tallest mountains, including Sagar-matha, also known as Mount Everest. Tendi is one of the only deaf guides in Ne-pal, and a former student at the Naxal School for the Deaf. After finishing Class 8, he decided to re-turn to Chaurikharka, his village, to help his mother and father, who are hearing. Tendi speaks Nepali Sign Language and also learned to read and write English while at the Naxal School. I was surprised to find that he’d never taken deaf trekkers to Solu Khumbu before. In February of 2009, we started our trek

in the village of Jiri, a twelve hour bus ride from Kathmandu. From Jiri, it took us about two weeks to walk to Kala Patthar and Everest Base Camp, where we had amazing views of Everest and other Himalayan peaks. Most trekkers fly into Lukla, cutting the trekking time to Everest Base Camp to about a week. I wanted to take the trail less trav-eled, which took us through Sherpa villages, lush valleys and forests of blooming rhododendron. There were lodges all along the way, so I didn’t need to bring camping gear. For most, Everest Base Camp marks the endpoint of the trek, but for serious climbers and mountaineers, it’s just the beginning of a long, treacherous climb to the summit. From Lukla, the trek passes through the bustling village of Namche Bazaar, which has dozens of lodges, internet cafes

ITrekking with Tendi by Franz Knupfer

KISSFIST Article

and even coffee shops, despite the fact that it’s four days from the nearest road. Almost everything is carried in on the backs of porters—from food and mountaineering gear to building supplies and generators. Above Namche, there are tantalizing glimpses of Everest hidden behind the massive south face of Lhotse, the fourth-tallest mountain in the world. After a day of acclimating in Namche, we met up with a friend, Steve Rafuse, and continued on to the Buddhist monastery in Tengboche, which is in the shadow of Ama Dablam, a mountain that looks like a wizard rising above the valley. In Teng-boche, Tendi told me that his mother used to take him to the Buddhist gompa in his village as a child, hoping that prayer and ritual would cure his deaf-ness.

We were still four days from Everest base camp, since we needed to take acclimatization days along the way, which allowed us to do day hikes, including one to Island Peak. By the time we reached Gorak Shep, where a few forlorn lodges huddled together, rattling in the wind, we were near 17,000 feet. The black peak of Kala Patthar still rose above us, the high point of our trek at 18,500 feet. I was gasping for breath as we made the final ascent. At this elevation, there’s only half as much oxygen as at sea level. Finally we reached a cairn marked with prayer flags. In every direction we had a view of towering Himalayan peaks, including Everest, Lhotse and Pumori.Most trekkers return to Namche Bazaar by the same trail, but we decided to visit the high-alpine lakes around Gokyo by doing a glacier crossing

Trekking with Tendi by Franz KnupferPHOTO CREDIT: Steve Rafuse

KISSFIST Article

over the Cho La. From Gokyo Ri, another stunning viewpoint, there are views of Cho Oyu, the sixth-tallest peak in the world. In Gokyo, we parted ways with Steve, who had to fly back to Kathmandu. Tendi and I crossed another high pass, the Renjo La, and visited the Buddhist monastery at Thame. From there, we passed through Namche Bazaar on our way back to Tendi’s village. Tendi’s home, pictured left, sits at about 9,000 feet, and the air felt lush and thick compared to the dry, cold air of the high alpine valleys. The monsoon was coming, and the wheat fields and pine forests surrounding Tendi’s house were a verdant green. Tendi’s family lives in a two-story stone home. Three chowri, female half-yaks, live on the lower floor, and to get upstairs I waded knee-deep through leaves and fodder. On the up-per floor, there’s a long room that serves as both kitchen and living area, with polished copper pots hanging on the walls. The centerpiece is a clay stove heated with firewood. Chalk designs covered the walls, and I discovered that they were deco-rations for Losar, the Tibetan New Year, which is also celebrated by the Sherpa people. Tendi hopes to open a café eventually, and he and his mother treated me to tasty Sherpa specialties, from buffa-lo dumplings to lhapse, a treat of fried dough made for the new year. Morning and night, we drank butter tea, and in the evenings, we celebrated with chang, a fermented rice beverage. After a month trekking through some of the world’s most stunning scenery, I felt like I was staying with family. Most importantly, I’d become close friends with Tendi. Though we came from different cultures and spoke different sign lan-guages, we shared the bond of being deaf. During that month, Tendi treated me as if I were a brother. Though I was the first deaf trekker to join Tendi in the Khumbu, hopefully I won’t be the last. I can’t think of a better way for deaf travelers and adven-turers to explore the Everest Himalaya.

gPHOTO CREDIT: Franz Knupfer

KISSFIST Business

If you’ve ever seen the movie ‘Harold and Maude’ you know the spirit of Maude - exuberant and nourishing! At Maude’s Herbal Infusions we blend nourishing herbs to infuse for an special drink that nourishes the body and spirit! Infusions are chock full of nutrients and that fill you with energy. No sugars, no caffeine, no artificial ingredients ever.

Marlene Elliott is a certified ASL Interpreter and an owner of Maude Herbal Infusions from Oregon

maudesherbalteas.com

Marlene Elliott

KISSFIST Photo

Diane Parrott

KISSFIST Photo

Katie Winters

Elise WhitworthElise “Lisi” Whitworth founded a new online software and events promotion service, Even-tida, with her partners, Lee Whitworth and Jim MacFadden. The software launched its first beta release on May 5, 2010. A full-service event planning and promo-tion resource, Eventida.com provides smart Web tools that take first-timers and profes-sional event planners into the cloud and keeps them sky-high with its seamless software and

www.eventida.com

KISSFIST Business

social media integration capabilities. With greater efficiencies and lower costs, Eventida is an indispensable planning and promotion partner for all types of businesses and orga-nizations in all sectors. Eventida is headquartered in Austin, TX, and is a subsidiary of Satdaya LLC. As a deaf-owned company managed by a cancer survivor, Eventida places diversity, inclusion, and healthy living very high on its social responsibility agenda. To that end, Eventida aims to advocate for minorities and non English speaking communities, embedding a strong message about living healthy life-styles wherever possible. In the deaf community, there is no single place where one can go to find events happening local-ly, nationally, or in other areas they

plan to travel to. Elise’s vision is for Eventida to become this resource, with individuals setting their event search to filter events by “language = ASL.” Eventida will add an exciting feature for non-English speakers; any event that does not have ASL or Spanish selected as one of its languages will show a button “re-quest interpreter.” When one clicks this button and submits the request form, the event host and interpret-ing agencies in the area will be no-tified through email. The interpret-ing agencies will be able to click a link to submit their bid in a matter of minutes. The event host will receive and compare the bids and either ac-cept or decline, depending on their budget.

PHOTO CREDIT: Tate Tullier

KISSFIST Painting

Nancy Rourke

KISSFIST Music

Ernest McDanielDEAF MUSICIAN

Ernest McDaniel is a graduate of Georgia School for the Deaf and an alumni of Gal-laudet University. It wasn’t until 2004 that he started playing guitar and bass. Now he can be seen playing in concerts as well as a church band. He favors classic rock/hard rock music and Contemporary Christian mu-sic. Be sure to give him some love if you see him rocking his guitar.

talldeafman@msn.com

KISSFIST Music

Ernest McDaniel

VIDEO

Milestone Month shirts make it easy to mark the months of a baby’s first year. With a vibrant color on the front and a cute saying on the back, the shirts make great props for a photo shoot each month. We’ve had fun making the shirts for our daugh-ter Grace, and can’t wait to see other babies proudly wearing their month too!

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Trager

KISSFIST Business

Amy Jo Trager

Amy Jo Trager is an ASL interpreter from New York.

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Trager

milestonemonths.com

KISSFIST Business

Carletta is a deaf artist from Austin, Texas. Her goal is to in-spire families and friends via her art. Making her clients happy with cards is her first priority. For more information, check her website out.

DEAF ARTIST

BUTTERFLYCATSCRAPBOOK.COM

With the busy world and four little children, Car-letta’s beautiful work given me time to mail some-thing nice to people I care about on their special day. I love how trendy her cards are, especially with the color she chose! D. Rosko - Austin, TX

Carletta, thank you so much for making me a scrapbook for my 60th birthday party that was held on October 24, 2009. All the pictures I gave you fit inside the scrapbook. Even the grey wall-paper added onto the black background looked so sharp. Thanks a million! You’ve done a great job.. Janis Black- New York

Thank you for the lovely birthday card! It cheers me up and makes my day! You have magic hands to make the cards so beautiful and very touchy. Lenore Boerner, Farmingdale, ME

I ordered 13 cards and they came out beautifully. Each time I give one the person is so impressed that I went to the trouble to have their name put on it. The designs are so beautifully done. Then I write a personal message and make them mine. I also love that she was able to put the ages on the ones that I was giving... to children. I will order more since it was so easy to work with Carletta. Joan Filowitz - Anaheim, CA

Butterflycat Greeting Cards & Invitations

Carletta Gentile

Butterflycat Greeting Cards & Invitations

Sofia SeitchikDEAF PRESIDENT OF GDW

KISSFIST Business

“We are making history, with women as CEOs, leaders, mothers, business owners, and politicians. That is what GDW is for, to empower deaf women to join this change and live better lives!”

GDW hosted its first retreat last fall in New Jersey, a smashing success! 65 wonder-ful women from diverse backgrounds came together, many leaving with a sense of pur-pose and helpful resources. Four upcoming retreats are taking place in Austin, Miami, Washington DC, and San Diego, starting this

fall. “Any local woman will be able to attend any retreat, no more waiting for an annual retreat or paying high travel costs to get inspired, gain knowledge and meet peers!” says Sofia Seitchik, President. GDW is launching a program called “Building Bridges” start-ing with hosting networking events simultaneously in differ-ent states every three months. The objective is to connect the deaf and hearing worlds, advocating for accessibility and helping women achieve what they want and need.

Finally, GDW is recognizing “Amazing Women”, selecting deaf women or hearing women who know asl, who dared to do something different, followed their dream, helped other people, started from the bottom and rose up, or succeeded as businesswomen. Host a Building Bridges EventBecome a Volunteer Share your Business as a ResourceNominate an Amazing Woman

Global Deaf Women

globaldeafwomen.com

VIDEO

KISSFIST Photo

Paul Rutowski

KISSFIST Talent

KISSFIST Art

Arnaud Balard

KISSFIST Art

Arnaud Balard

KISSFIST NEWS

Some of our KISSFIST contributors will be showing their artwork at DEAFNATION World Expo in Las Vegas. Be sure to stop by their booth and say hello!

FOR KF READERS

What would you like to see more of from KISSFIST Magazine?

Send ideas to info@kiss-fist.com

by Frank Gallimore

paul

rutowskigi

ac

omo favilla

P.TWELVE, FIFTY-TWO, EIGHTYDeaf PhotographerTexas

“Photography is an outlet for me.”P.FOURTEEN, THIRTY-FOURHearing PhotographerItaly

www.giacomofavilla.comcredits

dan b

rubaker

P.TENDeaf AdventurerWashington

Models: Gilles Naniwe - BelgiumAndreas Bjorck - SwedenRichard Cokart - The NetherlandsDan Brubaker - USA

“Taken at Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. It’s the world’s largest salt flat with extreme weather and during the wet season, the flat is covered in some areas with 1 to 2 inches of water. The photo was taken during high noon, thus almost no shad-ows.”

bill m

illios

P.EIGHTDeaf PhotographerMaryland

Model: Don Giannatti

“I love to do awesome portraits on location”

chad

ervin

P.TWENTY-TWO, FIFTYDeaf PhotographerNorth Carolina

“Photography is one of my passion. I aim to become a special Deaf photographer and set up my own busi-ness one day.”

judy

ann mcclain lowrie

P.TWENTY-FOURDeaf Artist/PhotographerMichigan

Model: Roman Imielowski, Deaf and Christopher Flowers, Deaf

“Art makes you more receptive to the world around you.”

jona

than “jonaz” mcmillan

P.TWENTY-SIXDeaf PhotographerWashington DC

““Raw and Real” is the title of my work. I don’t allow programs like Adobe Photoshop to interfere with the beauty of my work. In cases where I do allow it to, I no longer consider it the work of photogra-phy but the work of art design.”

P.TWENTY-EIGHTDeaf ArtistIndianawarrenmillerart.com

“My hope is that deaf society will look at my paintings and reflect on their experiences, while hearing people will look at my paintings and reflect on their behavior.”

war

ren miller

nanc

y rourke

P.FOURTY-FOUR, SIXTY-EIGHTDeaf PainterColoradonancyrourke.com

“I am working on a series of paintings that focus on deaf culture, deafness, deaf history and audism. “Funding has been made possible by the Puffin Foundation””

james curley

P.FOURTY-SIXDeaf PhotographerNew York

“My first photo gallery showing will be from around mid August to the end of September at Dyer Gallery in NTID”

dian

e parrott w

an

da riddle

P.THIRTY, SIXTY-TWOHearing Impaired PhotographerCalifornia

“I am the type of person who sees beauty everywhere and I want to record those moments and share them with others.”

P.THIRTY SIXDeaf ArtistMaryland

“The mood of tranquility is like watching this perfect sunsetting with the broad view of the west side of Joshua Tree National Park, California.”

katie

winters

james curley

P.FOURTY-SIXDeaf PhotographerNew York

“My first photo gallery showing will be from around mid August to the end of September at Dyer Gallery in NTID”

P.FOURTY-EIGHT, SIXTY-FOURHearing ArtistTexas

jess

ica mckinney fra

nz knupfer

P.FOURTYDeaf PhotographerKentucky

“I am a freelance photogra-pher and I have been doing nature photography. “

P. FIFTY-SIX-FIFTY-NINEDeaf WriterColorado

“My adventures in Nepal were made possible through a Fulbright grant. I encourage other deaf people to con-sider applying for Fulbright grants. For more information, contact me at franzknupfer@hotmail.com.”

KISSFIST