Raymond Luczak

For over a decade, Raymond Luczak, author of Silence Is a Four-Letter Word: On Art & Deafness, has been interviewing Deaf and hard of hearing artists and their allies about their creative and arts accessibility work. This volume features over 70 people sharing what it means to be an artist who happens to be different. "When I was little, I never really quite questioned all those millions of sound norms I'd inhabited." -Christine Sun Kim, Non-Traditional Composer With the vast bulk culled from his nine years of interviewing artists for SIGNews, Luczak has added 19 new interviews that offer contrasting views against historical snapshots still relevant to artists everywhere. These lively interviews provide new insights while bringing the reader closer to understanding the extraordinary talents of the participants. "It was important to go through that period of rage and rebellion, but is it worth sustaining forever?" -Jeremy Quiroga, Sculptor and ASL Poet Interviewees include: Leah Angstman * Robert Arnold * Jill Beebout * Deborah M. Blumenson, Ph. D. * Alex Chu * Warren N. Churchill * Sue Clancy * Adrean Clark * Joe Clark * John Lee Clark * Ryan Commerson * Bill Creswell * Perrine Dailey * Jules Dameron * Ronald Dans * Jennifer Dans-Willey * Linda Dratell * Mark Drolsbaugh * Patti Durr * Bex Freund * Frank Gallimore * Oleg Golovushkin * Antoine Hunter * Matthew Jenkins * Ilya Kaminsky * Russell Kane * Missy Keast * John Kinstler * Christine Sun Kim * Arthur Luhn * Kellie Martin * Rachel C. Mazique * Rosie Mazique * Dan McDougall * Lewis Merkin * Shanny Mow * Louis Neethling * Michael Northen * Patty O. * Sharon Pajka * Andr Pellerin * David H. Pierce * Michael Pimental * Jeremy Quiroga * Mary Rappazzo * Stacia Rice * Kristen Ringman * Nancy Rourke * Steve Sandy * Orkid Sassouni * Brian Selznick * Ethan Sinnott * Louise Stern * Shoshannah Stern * Dawn Stoyanoff * Nick Sturley * Charlie Swinbourne * Pia Taavila-Borsheim * Rosa Lee Timm * Madan Vasishta * Vanessa Vaughan * Anna & Sean Virnig * Robert Walker * Cynthia Weitzel * Michele Westfall * Robbie Wilde * Morgan Grayce Willow * Pamela E. Witcher * Robert Wittig.

"Oh, why can't the deaf community be more like a family?" is the plaint of a character in Raymond Luczak's title play Whispers of a Savage Sort. It also goes far in characterizing the main thread that runs through his remarkable collection of work offered in this new volume. Whispers of a Savage Sort and Other Plays about the Deaf American Experience presents a progression of plays that depict Deaf people in situations well-known by the community's members. Written to be signing-driven, these plays feature Deaf characters from the various strata of Deaf society. Each play centers on different yet equally familiar issues. Snooty brings to life the difficulties of surviving the social pecking order in a deaf residential school. The main character's only escape is a rich fantasy life in which he is in control. Doogle confronts its characters with the intrusion of technological communication devices parallel to the virtually forced intimacy of such a small, close community. Brought into stark focus by the specter of AIDS, Love in My Veins explores how trust, betrayal, and ultimately forgiveness can transform a Deaf couple's love for each other in a Deaf community. The collection's eponymous Whispers of a Savage Sort reveals the relentless damage that rumor and innuendo can do to a diverse group of Deaf individuals. The emotions, identities, and consequences created by Luczak in these dramas illuminate the Deaf American community in fascinating detail rarely seen in any medium today.

The Sixth Volume in the Gallaudet Classics in Deaf Studies SeriesGeorge M. Teegarden (1852-1936) taught at the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf for 48 years, established the printing department, and also served as the first editor of the school's magazine. Despite these significant contributions, his greatest gift to deaf people was his skill as a writer and poet who was deaf, as readers will discover in When I Am Dead: The Writings of George M. Teegarden. Editor Raymond Luczak selected Teegarden's prose in When I Am Dead from several books, including Raindrop, and Stories, Old and New. Noting that these stories were never written for hearing readers, Luczak marvels at Teegarden's ability to write English prose that the ASL-familiar reader would find incredibly easy to transliterate. By employing a rich blend of original stories and revisions of fables and myths, Teegarden taught his students the importance of improving their reading and writing skills to outfit them "for the battle of life." He produced a body of work that Luczak characterizes as "a breath of fresh air: quick, painless, and usually told with a sense of wonder." Luczak's choice of poems came from Teegarden's self-published volume Vagrant Verses, a summation of his affection for Gallaudet College, the Deaf community, and all deaf people. The eponymous poem "When I Am Dead" articulates concisely the beliefs that directed Teegarden's life of service: "When I am dead, I hope to beRemembered--this is true--Not for my wit or vanitiesBut what I did for you."