[sw-l] Apology

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
June 16, 2005

Hello Charles!
Thanks for this message...

> Charles Butler wrote:
> All of you, I apologize.

That is very nice of you, and it takes courage to say that. It is
appreciated, Charles. Thank you ;-)


>  It has taken Valerie's heartfelt words to show me how
> hypercritical I had become.  This does not make for a good teaching
> exercise, which is what the SignPuddle is all about.

Isn't the SignPuddle a wonderful experience? Many thanks to Steve
Slevinski for giving us this gift. It gives us a forum for discussing
signs and I am grateful for it....


> I've been trying to prepare several different slides showing the
> many handshapes just used in ASL, and can see that for even the
> same sign the handshape may differ from person to person, even
> within the same household, much less the same community.

Yes. And right now, it is hard for us to know, which style of signing
will be easiest or best to write in any given sign...so SignPuddle
gives us the opportunity to write the different variations of a sign
to see later, what we think...a great forum for research and discussion.


> It is a challenge, and I should not be trying to drive Valerie back
> to bed to hide.

Ha! Thanks for that. I hate having to do bed rest...so anything to
keep me from hiding in bed will be appreciated!! ;-)


> I have often been challenged by my Deaf students, but WHY is it
> that way, not this way?  And often we have had to find a way that
> both of us can live with.

I know. And I also long for standardization, but that has to happen
over time, with many users...it will come slowly. Give it a few
years. We are doing very well...


> It took us a while to come up with a "closing" symbol in Brazil for
> a hand that is folding up starting at the little finger, or
> starting at the thumb, and it still looks backwards in the SW
> system as Valerie has bravely developed it, though once one
> examines it, one understands the limitation.
>
> Challenges arise, I need to be more mature.
>
> Apologies to all.

We all need to be more mature. Thanks for sharing with us, Charles.

Val ;-)