ASLTA Day 1 - Hotel and Opening Ceremonies

After my nap, I cleaned up and met Michael in the hotel lobby to head over to the opening ceremonies. But first…

A bit about our hotel. We were staying at the Kellogg Convention Hotel, which is a privately owned hotel that sits on the campus at Gallaudet. It is at the west edge of the campus, so was an ideal location for getting to Union Market (a cool warehouse space filled with little cafe counters) and the convention areas themselves at the middle of campus. A 5-ish minute walk in either direction made it very convenient. It is a mid-tier hotel, nothing fancy, but my observations on my first night and day there were this:

The hotel has a nice presence, and the architecture looks modern while still fitting in with the many old brick buildings it stands nearby. 

When you walk into the vestibule entrance, there are tall screens with videos playing with Deaf actors (including at least one woman from my TWA videos, as well as Nyle DiMarco) showing how simple gestures are used to communicate every day.

The front desk had an image of the ASL alphabet displayed on the front of it., among other imagery. It seemed to be setting an appropriate tone for a hotel sitting directly on the campus of the only Deaf liberal arts college in the world.

And…that is where the “access” ended. There was a large TV mounted on a post just inside, playing some random television show. With no captions on. Just…silently playing, so neither hearing nor Deaf people are getting anything out of it except maybe moving imagery. In this case, it was Dr. Phil *eyeroll*. Like…why?

Further, I was very very surprised that the desk staff did not know ASL. Some were learning, it was clear. And some of them did say they were new to the hotel completely, so perhaps they will be required to continue to grow in their skills, but none at the front desk had any fluency. I am guessing that some of their staff are college students who go home for the summer, so the freshness of the staff plus lack of language skills was due to the time of year we were there. Most were experienced enough that they knew how to seamlessly whip out their phones to communicate as needed by writing, but for a hotel ON Gallaudet Campus, literally inside the gates, it was surprising. They were all very nice and genuinely helpful, but no ASL.

Nearby was the hotel restaurant. Outside the front doors is a placard with a letter from the owners. They are Deaf!

I met the wife on a couple occasions during this trip, and she was incredibly warm, with an electric smile, and eagerness to connect. The latter which is truly a theme on this trip for me. Just a genuine desire to see others and be seen, as the writing above states. I never did get to eat there, unfortunately, as breakfast was only a buffet ($25), and I was at the campus or elsewhere at lunch every day. But the restaurant—called the Bistro—was beautifully appointed, and I am sure it was delicious.

My room seemed to be an older style room. The furniture had seen better days, the mattress was a mid misshapen, but it was clean enough and suited my needs.

The above picture is a staged photo. Mine was a little less gussied up, but otherwise identical furnishings. One thing I liked was the artwork was all archival photos of Gallaudet students, family, campus life, buildings, etc. 

SO! Back to the opening ceremonies. I don’t have many pictures from the event itself, because I was trying to stay in the moment and take it all in. We got into the building, which was a bit north on campus, nestled between the dorms. We crowded into the building where we were met with round tables scattered around the place, and everyone greeting old friends and new. We found a table near the back of the hall, and several other teachers from Washington joined us—three hearing teachers, and two Deaf were at our table, plus me.

The atmosphere was casual and celebratory. There were welcome speech from the ASLTA president and all the staff and organizers. We were then invited to find our way to the buffet tables, which had BBQ fare on offer. As we ate, I chatted with my table-mates, asking them where they lived, and specifically about how they became teachers. Some had plans to become ASL teachers a long time, others kind of tumbled into their positions via other experiences, such as being an interpreter or an audiologist, or going from temporary substitute to permanent. A theme among many stories was an utter lack of preparation for their roles as a result of the way they kind of fell into their work, which is not an indictment of them, but of a theme I caught throughout the event: a fairly urgent need for more ASL teachers.

We were interrupted by loud drumming. Before dessert, there was a Gallaudet traditional “chant” where a beat is played on the drum, and the presenters on the makeshift stage signed phrases of enthusiasm and encouragement. Unfortunately for us, we were behind a giant pole, as you can see from the image above, and we missed a lot of it. But that’s okay, because culturally it is VERY common for people to just continue conversing straight through things like this, which they 100% did, all week. LOL So we would watch for a little bit, then go back to chatting, then watch for a bit, etc.

During this ceremony, the weather took a turn. There was a flash flood warning for the region, and the earth-shaking thunder and flashes of lightning gave us the news even before phones started alerting us with text alerts and emergency signals. The rains came in hard and punishing, and before we knew it, the patio just outside the area we were sitting was under a few inches of water, and it started seeping under the emergency exit door behind us.

Several of us scurried to alert the staff who threw down a pile of rags and a “caution” sign. There was little more to do! Shortly it was time for dessert—ice cream!

Michael has told me on more than one occasion that the way to get Deaf people to come to events is to feed them. I don’t doubt it. Free food is a big motivator for many people, and ice cream was no exception. The line snaked around the room. In line, I met many people and just chatted as we waited for snacks. I collected more stories, and shared my own, and observed the swirling world of hands around me. I caught sight of Garrett Bose in the corner, and resisted the urge to ask him for a selfie immediately.

The weather calmed down, and MC and I decided to head back to the hotel. It was barely raining, but many people were nervously huddled under the overhang. We laughed in ‘Seattle’ style, and walked out into the warm evening rain. Standing water everywhere, puddled inches deep. Flash flood confirmed.

Under her parking structure are a series of murals, so we stopped to take a bunch of photos there, as did many others.

As we turned around to continue our walk back, we saw an epic double rainbow. Yes, all the way across the sky! My photo does not do it justice.

Back at the hotel, people were milling about the lobby. Normally at this time of night, there is a little bar cart they pull out on the patio for evening cocktails. With the rain, they had put it smack between the check in desk and the elevators, so we all availed ourselves of the impromptu cocktail hour. We had a drink and chatted with folks, all feeling the buzz of the start of the exciting event ahead.

While it was only about 7pm our time, it was 10pm EST, and we were all very tired. So we head upstairs to get some shuteye. Michael and I reviewed the next day schedule, with a plan to divide and conquer between workshops, which didn’t quite work out when I ran into him in my first workshop the next morning. But the story of the coming days is for another post. For now, an image of my favorite mural on campus.