Whirlwind of positive energy...;-)

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 11, 2002

Dear SignWriting List Members:
Three weeks ago, as you may remember, I posted our 80-page SignBank
Reference Manual on the web. Literally an hour after I posted it (I
worked daily for weeks on it) I had an unexpected surprise....My
itinerate 80-year-old parents (they travel continually), arrived
unexpectedly on my doorstep! Like a tornado, they have been a
whirlwind of positive energy whirling through my home for the past
three weeks....My darling mother re-decorated and made changes...She
was even brave enough to try to learn to use a computer, at least
briefly, and we got her a computer desk. I hope when they travel here
again, in the Fall, that they can learn the computer better. Pretty
hard to learn something new when they are traveling all the time, and
they did not grow up with computers....in fact, they did not grow up
with half the things we take for granted today, like television, and
cell phones - ha!

My father is retired, and he is still grumbling, that in HIS day,
when he was working as a scientist, computers were only for
scientists, and they filled a whole room, and they were different!
All the new software, with all those features, annoy him...It is hard
to be 80 years old in the age of technology - things are changing so
quickly!

And this morning, at 5:00 in the morning, I took them to the airport.
Once again, they have whirled off onto another airplane to travel the
world - My folks and I have a partnership - They helped me form the
Center For Sutton Movement Writing in 1974. My father did all the
paperwork for applying for non-profit status to the USA government -
it is A LOT of paperwork. We have to prove each year, to the US
government, that we are good people and not taking advantage of the
fact that we do not pay taxes when donating to the deaf. So without
my Dad's patience with all that paperwork every year, I doubt I would
have been able to accomplish so much. I ran out of money this Spring,
because the SignBank project is more expensive than expected. But I
must complete SignBank this summer, or it will never get done. So I
am grateful to my folks for lending our organization money to
complete SignBank, and then our organization must pay them back in
the Fall.

And, I have expanded our web sites to be able to handle a database
posted on the web. It will take us time to post SignBank as a working
database on the web, but it will happen...

Please forgive my lack of participation in your conversations on the
SignWriting List...I look forward to at least reviewing all your
messages, and commenting, before focusing full time on SignBank
again. June, July and August will be three very busy months! But a
wonderful opportunity too...

Many blessings to all of you -
--


Val ;-)

Valerie Sutton
Sutton at SignWriting.org

SignWritingSite
http://www.SignWriting.org
Read & Write Sign Languages

SignBankSite
http://www.SignBank.org
Sign Language Dictionaries

DanceWritingSite
http://www.DanceWriting.org
Read & Write Dance

MovementWritingSite
http://www.MovementWriting.org
Read & Write Movement & Gesture

Deaf Action Committee for SignWriting
Center For Sutton Movement Writing
an educational nonprofit organization
Box 517, La Jolla, CA, 92038-0517, USA
tel: 858-456-0098....fax: 858-456-0020