Photo by: “75joanna’s”

Join LaRonda as she highlights scenes from the “Alice in Cyberland” Tea Party fundraiser put on by Deaf-Hope, shares photos from their recognition of International Sign Language Day, and recaps the antics from these well-known Deaf female vloggers/bloggers who gathered together with Julie Rems-Smario and friends after hours.

(A photo slideshow of the Alice in Cyberland Tea Party fundraiser for Deaf-Hope and our recognition of the International Sign Language Day appears in the last several minutes of this vlog. To pause, simply click on the video clip screen. To replay, click your refresh button. Sorry to make this a little more tricky than usual. I experimented with a different upload. Probably won’t use this format again.)

b/vloggers:

Aidan Mack: Deaf Cinematic Filmblog
Amy Cohen-Efron: Deaf World As Eye See It
Anne Marie Baer: Anne Marie’s metaASL
Barbara Digiovani: Deaf Progressivism
Kristi Merriweather: DeafDC.Com
LaRonda Zupp: The Ear of My Heart
Teri Sentelle: Deaf Dish

Transcript:

“Hello! Welcome! Today I’m here at Deaf-Hope’s Tea Party. There will be several of us who will make vlogs today. I’m playing the character “Alice.” You’ll see some fun things happen today.

I feel honored and privileged to support Deaf-Hope and their goal to protect and provide support services for deaf women who experience violence, and children as well.

So, anyway, I hope you enjoy today’s event. I’m sure will see several vlogs out there that will show up on DeafRead or other places.

Bye (ILY wave)

LaRonda as Alice: “Curious.”

“It says, “Drink me.” Hmmm…”

Hello. Oh, what fun! I had such fun! I thoroughly enjoyed that day at Deaf-Hope’s Tea Party fundraiser. Oh wow! Getting to meet the other deaf female vloggers and bloggers… oh-ho-ho… It was one of the best days and nights of my life! I’m serious! It was something else!

Those women…. gosh…. they’re deep, wise, funny, humorous, sexy (whoo!), playful, compassionate, deeply caring….. Oh man! It just really touched me to meet them! Wow!

Really, you would be jealous! It was just the best night! After hours was hilarious!! (LaRonda cracking up - Ha-ha-ha-ha!) My head was spinning because I was laughing so long and so hard… whoa! It was just so fun!

We made a vlog - eight or nine of us deaf vloggers/bloggers, including Julie Rems-Smario. I don’t have that part. Aidan Mack, who is clearly our filmmaker, she has it and will do the editing and show it sometime soon. But, it was a fun time!

We almost didn’t leave Julie’s house, seriously! We were just about ready to pile on the floor and sleep over and stay forever! Ha!

I learned so much about those women. People who I was wary of or not sure about, I actually fell in love with them. People who I already knew just grew in admiration in my eyes as they continued to impress me all the more.

One thing is that there were some surprises. I learned that Teri Sentelle is actually very tiny in height! I didn’t realize how small she stood. But whoa! She’s an assertive, outspoken, clear-headed and smart individual! She’s just an amazing person! But I was surprised at how small she stood.

Who else?

Aidan. At first when I saw her, I wasn’t sure about what she was going to be like, because in the past, I was a little scared of her. She’s really quite a dramatic person - whoo! Oh, but folks, I absolutely fell in love with her, all the way down to my toes! She’s just so fun and enjoyable and deep, wow, just an overall neat person. She’s really cool.

It was really funny to watch Aidan and Amy Cohen-Efron toss their thoughts and words back and forth, one-upping and teasing each other! Oh-ho-ho! It was hysterical!

Then there was Anne Marie Baer, another vlogger. She was there with her young, baby son. She really cares about passing on ASL to her child. She focuses on eye-contact, and studies about the code and mode and how babies pick up sign language. She’s really a wise woman who knows her stuff!

Barb (Digi) (chuckle), she’s so friendly and cute, fun and flexible, and just the kind of person who is willing to flow with the group. She’s so neat. I just love her!

Kristi Merriweather is a neat lady. We’ve not seen her. She’s not a vlogger, she’s a blogger and a good writer at that! You can often see her work on Deaf DC.com or through DeafRead.com. She’s a neat lady, and beautiful. She was also a great director for the vlog that we made together that night. We’ll see that in the near future.

What else?

Julie Rems-Smario is just a great person! She has an open heart, an open mind, and an open house! She provided us with the best opportunity to socialize and hang out together. It was really a “chick night.” Ha-ha. It was fun! We had pizza after hours and her husband David made us all marguritas (did I spell that right?). Some didn’t have alcohol. I didn’t drink one with alcohol because I had to drive myself home, while the others got to catch a ride back to their hotel. Darn! I was a driver. But it was fun anyway!

Oh, I can’t even explain how much fun it was! I wish you all could be like a fly on the wall and just watch us that night. Wow!

I felt very honored to be involved with Deaf-Hope and their vision and mission to prevent and support — prevent domestic violence and to support woman and children too, who suffer with and who have survived those situations. I feel honored. And they raised good money. They handed out some great awards, and the donations just piled in. I wish all people could pick up some hints from Julie. She really knows how to make things happen! Wow, it was neat!

It was such a great time. I wish you could’ve been there. Maybe soon, you will see a few more vlogs that we made. Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone was able to capture the full hour or hour and a half of all the interviews and questions and answers from the vloggers/bloggers. We should have a gathering together again with a vlogger’s conference. Maybe Deafread would host another one like they did last year at Gallaudet, because, really, everyone should have that opportunity to socialize and get to know each other, and because we see each other and watch each other often. To know the person behind the blog or vlog, wow, it just deepens your relationship!

It was just so cool! Those women are truly beautiful people! I so much enjoyed my time and I felt honored and privileged to be a part of that night. I love you, my new friends, and bye everyone, (ILY wave), Bye.

Posted by LaRonda on Monday, October 1st, 2007 at 4:40 am.