The Ear of My Heart

Archive for the 'Music' Category

My Journey Into Deafhood: The Red Bandana ~

Posted by LaRonda on August 2nd, 2007

It was the weekend of July 24th, 1982, the summer of my sophomore year in college. Bleary-eyed from endless eye-contact and weary from the ongoing communication struggles to lip-read, I looked forward to a well-deserved summer break. When my aunt extended an invitation, I jumped at the opportunity to join her and my younger cousins on a family camp-out at Fresno Dome. This was not my first trip to Fresno Dome. I had been there many times before with extended family, but this particular weekend would alter my life forever.

My Journey into Deafhood: The Song of St. Barbara ~

Posted by LaRonda on August 1st, 2007

(Ch. 45 of my storyblog of my journey into Deafhood…)

Photo by: Gene Chan

My mother is truly the wind beneath my wings. She knew how hard it had been for me after I lost my hearing. She listened to my woes daily. In between college semesters, Mama decided to ask me to join her at a statewide Religious Education Conference in LA. The Catholic Church holds this grand, annual, weekend event to inspire, educate, and guide religious education volunteers and staff. My mother had been teaching CCD (Catholic religious education) classes for a year and thought it might be a good idea to get me involved as well. She knew my spirit needed tending. I accepted her invitation mostly because I was so hungry to be a part of a group again.

My Journey Into Deafhood: The Floodgates Opened ~

Posted by LaRonda on July 31st, 2007

(Ch. 44 of my story of my journey into Deafhood…)

One afternoon, about 6 months after I had lost my hearing, a former choir classmate called me on the phone. Her name was Rachel, and I admired her greatly. She was an extremely talented musician and songwriter. She could play piano, pen tunes, and sing like nobody’s business!

Photo by: “kk+”

By that time, I had exchanged our regular phone receiver for one with an amplifier on the handset to adjust the volume, but I still couldn’t hear well over the phone. I couldn’t wear my in-the-ear hearing aids while using the phone either because they would whistle with feedback when the receiver covered them. I had to take one of my hearing aids out and try using the phone amplifier at the highest volume, but speech was still too distorted for me to understand clearly without seeing the speaker’s lips. So Mama often got recruited to pick up the other phone from her room and bring it around to the one in the kitchen so she could orally interpret what the caller was saying.