Trudy Suggs

Transcript

1. Sources of Interest/Educational Background

A. Hinsdale South High School, Darien IL

As for my educational background, I have a B.A. in Communication Arts and Government from Gallaudet and an M.A. in Public Administration, not connected to writing I got involved in writing by an interesting twist of events; my high school had a large deaf program, mainstreamed, with 80 deaf students and 8 full-time interpreters—really a deaf school within a public school We had our own deaf drama club and our own deaf newspaper, which I wrote for in my freshman and sophomore years In my sophomore year, I didn’t get along with one teacher “of the hearing impaired” (not deaf) She came to me and said she needed to sit and talk with me; we sat down, and she said, “I’m letting you know that I feel your writing skills are not good I suggest you resign from the deaf newspaper.”  Oh, at that time I was the only deaf person in a hearing English class, so I was confident about my English skills, my writing skills in particular. I questioned her opinion, but she remained firm Ok, fine. I was heartbroken since, at that time, my goal was to become a writer So the next year, I decided to take journalism at that school The school newspaper was award winning and famous in that area So I decided to take a writing class—the best thing I ever did The teacher taught about the AP stylebook, all sorts of writing skills from A to Z, and we had to write for the newspaper Two of us deaf students took this class; the other deaf student lost interest and dropped the class while I became assistant editor by the spring The communication process was interesting as I look back, but, anyway, that’s how I got involved in newspapers, from that teacher Yes, and I was a writer that was used often Wow, looking back—you have to understand that I had deaf parents and numerous deaf role models, my school had a large deaf program, and still I felt totally deflated by this one teacher’s opinion Imagine how she dealt with those who were not strong deaf people, how oppressive she was, especially since she taught English But I got the last laugh, because, the following year, when they announced the new editorial staff, I made sure to be in that [deaf program] office, and I asked her if she wouldn’t mind interpreting the announcements (although I already knew who had been selected) So that teacher who had asked me to resign from the deaf newspaper interpreted the names of the new editors: Trudy Suggs Yeah I felt vindicated “Ok, great, thank you,” I said, and left her with her inner turmoil So wow, there were negative and positive experiences, but that’s how I got into writing.

B. Gallaudet University

Did Gallaudet really help me in writing?  Well, I did try to write for The Buff and Blue I interviewed for Features Editor, but failed and was placed in another position—politics I guess Ironically, the person who did not hire me is good friends with me today and got the job that I recently declined Small world So I did write for The Buff and Blue, but I never liked to be tied to one publication; at that time, I liked to move around, and I was involved with other things, too—SBG [Student Body Government] and others—so I pushed news writing aside somewhat, but I did write for The Buff and Blue throughout my undergraduate years, and it was a good experience for me, especially in my upperclass years to tone and polish my writing The one thing I missed a little was more editing; editors just accepted the work and said it was good I wasn’t sure if I knew the rules inside and out or if my writing was ok, or if they just accepted anything I wish they had edited more But that’s ok That aside, a good experience was learning how to interview in sign language That was my first time signing in interviews and translating from ASL to English I still showed my article to my sources since they may have different word choices But that was a good experience for me to interview face to face in signs rather than through writing. Did I read other papers?  Yes, in high school, we were required to subscribe—the office subscribed—to all the school papers in the area and the whole U.S. had an exchange program My high school strongly supported the Quill and Scroll Society; you had to earn a certain number points to get inducted—almost everyone at my high school got into it So that was a good resource Gallaudet did not have that kind of resource, I don’t think, but I made the effort to read other area schools’ papers and, The University Reporter—I can’t remember the name, some paper for all colleges in the area which was a good source of what other schools were like No, it was aimed at college students I tended to read other schools’ newspapers when I was there and City Paper, an in-your-face kind of paper, which I like So, yes, I did use other resources.

2. Internship/Work History

An M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Illinois in Chicago I specialized in non-profit administration or programs, social services in short Writing skills, yes, everyday—I think that’s true of many jobs anyway, at that level anyway But, for example, at the last agency I worked with in Minnesota, I was responsible for creating a name change from the old name—blah, blah, blah, very hearing—to a more neutral name, Doorways I was responsible for press releases, different things like that, marketing, newspaper articles If it were not for my background, I would have felt overwhelmed; instead, it was no big deal for me to write because of my background in writing My other specialty or strength was grant writing In grant writing you have to be concise, brief yet cover all the points That’s the same as in journalism; I see no difference except that, in grant writing, your aim is to get money whereas, in journalism, you are presenting the facts, period Yes, writing applies to any facts of life for me anyway My life, how I live it has writing in 99% of it.

3. Past and Current Pressures, Conditions, Realities:

A Deaf Journalist at Work with Hearing People: Communication (Paper/Penci., TTY, Email, IM)

How I communicated: it was interesting The teacher, Mrs. Park—I owe my life to her—was very positive and encouraging to deaf students She made sure everyone wrote with each other and made sure to have an interpreter at every after school special editors’ meeting We communicated most on computers—computers were not used so much then but, instead of writing, we communicated back and forth through computers For interviews, I wrote with teachers back and forth; luckily many teachers at that school were familiar with deaf people because of the deaf program So to interview teachers I never liked to use interpreters because the interpreters would misunderstand and I could never get exact quotes I liked writing better If the teacher was patient with me, I was patient with him.

I did a lot of interviews in high school through writing—I have no skill in speaking—so writing, gestures . . . Interpreters—we had interpreters for meetings, but I disliked using them to communicate with each other And one other help is that many staff people were my good friends, too, and knew a little sign But did I sign much to them? I still did more writing And one advantage of that is that I got direct quotes rather than distorted versions Even to this day, I always make it a personal rule, after I’ve written something, to ask a person, “Were you quoted properly?”  I do that to this day.

I think the Internet is a godsend for me Understand that I’m a self-professed computer geek; I’ve been using one since second grade I’m on the fringe of Generation X who are totally immersed in the computer age    The TTY is all right, but typing is slow on it, while Instant Messenger is perfect and email, too The TTY is slow; I type 106 words per minute; that speed is not compatible with TTY speed I have to wait and wait for the words to go by on the screen So, it’s just the physical demand of typing more slowly on a TTY With a computer, I can multi-task, too, like eat and type, instead of having my fingers stuck on the TTY keyboard It’s one drawback.

4. The Internet Influence: Infoedutainment and the Integration of Media

(1) Infotainment/Blur Between Print and Broadcast on the Internet

I think the blur between print and broadcasting is good because TV people still have to write out their articles anyway, so print with pictures is fine but live video is even better The one disadvantage is that you lose good photographs, but you can always freeze frame a good shot I want to go back to the point about print and TV Bob Greene, one of my favorite writers for the Chicago Tribune, really a syndicated writer, recently wrote a special article focusing on Internet newspapers versus paper newspapers The article said, “I want you, if you are reading this online, to click the icon next to my article with my face and tell me where you are from.” Then he did several articles on that He said that newspapers would not disappear because people like to carry the paper into bathrooms or on trains while you cannot do so with a computer, but many like computers because they can communicate easily with someone far away in another country or state Newspapers won’t disappear, but both paper and electronic newspapers have advantages and disadvantages Greene makes an interesting comparison    

Now the Chicago Tribune just added—Obviously I’m from Chicago so I keep mentioning the Tribune!—just added a new section, one just for women every Sunday or every Tuesday. They just added another one on the family, one on technology and more that have expanded the paper with infotainment to attract more readers I like the expansion I like it My liberal side can relate to the extra attractions; if I want hard news, I can look at the front page where hard news belongs.

(2) Differences Among Kinds of Journalism/Communication Fields

I will—first I will compare hearing and deaf print journalism (newspapers, magazines) Deaf papers tend to take on magazine-style writing sometimes, I think because people know the people being written about so it becomes more personal and in depth That’s what deaf newspapers tend to be like I struggle with that because I like to give the facts only, but I realize I need to embellish That’s one thing that I’ve learned intensively so far Now, on the other side, a hearing newspaper is different; it has a features section—it’s big enough to have infotainment sections while Deaf Nation has one page to cover all of the infotainment That’s a little difference As for broadcast journalism, there aren’t many deaf people, except what I can remember from Gallaudet a way back—I don’t know about now but back in my time at Gallaudet there were some, and I thought they were good signing broadcasters; they were more hard-core news because the camera showed everything while print necessitated description of visual details Karen Meyer [a deaf broadcast journalist] does special segments every two weeks or so She doesn’t report daily Special segments. Every two weeks She speaks and signs with captions, too Her in depth stories are usually health-related, right, features, right.

5. Deaf people in Journalism: Barriers and Opportunities

A. Deaf VS Hearing Papers

I think communication is the key I think one unique thing I noticed is a trend that many deaf students who major in journalism are those who can speak And many don’t feel up to writing for a publication; they prefer to work behind the scenes I don’t know Maybe it’s the people I’ve met or the ones I haven’t I don’t know But the ones I have who are majoring in journalism tend to be able to speak Fine Good for them Not here at Gallaudet; I’m speaking of all over the U.S This mecca aside, this is what is out there across the U.S And when I meet them, I ask, “Why don’t you write for a deaf newspaper?”  They say no because it’s too limited; they prefer to go work for a hearing newspaper The deaf papers are limited by the fact that they don’t have many subscribers compared to hearing, mainstream publications, wow Right, and the pay, too, right But many won’t get jobs, many don’t get writing work at all yet still aim—it’s good they have high aspirations; I don’t take that away, but it’s nice to start somewhere And what better way to share your writing skills than with the people of your own community?   

You ask me if there are enough?  Yes, I think there are too many opportunities, I think Really, they’re screaming for good deaf writers But the pay is still an issue There’s no way I could write  [for Deaf Nation] on a full-time basis, unless I became staff, some assistant, the editor-in-chief, but writing for them to earn a living? No it’s not enough I think money is a big issue For example, Deaf Nation was struggling for years because it did not have enough revenue to expand It had ideas but no way to expand until they got some money behind them; sure enough, they became much more successful So with that funding backing, I could already see a big improvement: staff and writers got a pay increase, they finally got an assistant editor-in-chief—so that was nice So money does pay a big role, yes.

B. Challengs in the Mainstream Press

First, many hearing people have misconceptions [about hiring deaf employees]: “You’re deaf? What? Do I have to make many accommodations for you?” they wonder. “You mean I have to spend all sorts of money?”  There’s a backlash They think it’s expensive, right That’s first Second, people are resistant because they don’t know how they can express themselves. Many are used to dropping by with a quick line and leaving; now to stop for an extra minute or two to communicate takes up too much time in this fast-paced society So time and communication barriers are frustrating That’s why I love IM [Instant Messenger]; before, when I tried to contact someone by relay, I got a cold response or resistance That’s one of the many reasons I didn’t go into journalism as a sole career—that resistance to me as a deaf person, or because I cannot speak Not everyone has patience to write back and forth I sometimes don’t have patience myself! The phone is key. By relay, I can spend an hour with hearing people speaking slowly word by word so of course they cannot express themselves fully For me, it’s not too bad because the words pass by on the screen, slow or fast, at least fairly continuously But hearing people feel stunted by the dictation to the operator—I can understand that So that’s a little frustrating for me I don’t relish phone contact Instant Messenger is great, if  they have it. Or email I conduct most of my interviews via email I send questions, and they can answer when they want, unless—Fortunately I work for a monthly publication, not a daily one, so that’s an advantage Really today there should be no barriers to communication, honestly. No excuses There’s Instant Messenger, email, even paper and pen, with us for thousands of years There’s really no excuse It’s just that people are resistant, have an attitude, are ignorant or unsure; if we could educate and expose them Is it deaf writers’ role to expose and educate?  It should be their role just to write But today, I think opportunities are there; they just need to create them, or I mean open them up to deaf people I hope that future deaf writers will in fact take the initiative to pursue those opportunities, not only in the deaf community but also in the wider world As for communication, they will find a way if they are committed I hope someday I will pursue that.