Writing Artistic Expression

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
July 23, 2005

> On Jul 23, 2005, at 8:52 AM, Bill Reese wrote:
> While the individual signs of a song can be conveyed in  
> SignWriting, it takes the artistic rendering of the signs to give  
> the song full expression.


Hello Bill, Stefan and Kim!
OK. Now...there is something important here that I am not sure that  
you realize Bill. We DO write artistic expression in SignWriting, if  
the writer has the skill. We can write artistic expression far more  
than any other writing system in the world...I really believe that.  
Far more than music can write too...

Of course, if you are only writing individual signs, without trying  
to write the artistic expression, that is a different document, and I  
know that most writers are not skilled enough to add the mime,  
gesture and details of an individual performance, but it can be  
done...Stefan is one who can do it too...so it is only natural for  
him to discuss this with you...

And last, the whole topic of this idea that there is Deaf opposition  
to SignWriting came up because someone at Gallaudet talked against it  
(and this was several years ago too)...but people talk against all  
kinds of things all the time! They are against this and that and this  
and that, and usually that comes from ignorance...

Anyway...I am going to re-visit writing a poem in ASL by videotape  
now, which Stefan so kindly already wrote for us! and I want to write  
it too, so we can get more Deaf literature...plus...we can discuss  
the idea of writing artistic expression through this video  
transcription project -

Val ;-)