virgin experience

Since itís my first time here, it was nice to get a feel for whoís been around and involved. Lot of names I recognized. A few people I actually know. I hope they write it up for the Proceedings, because it would be a great heuristic tool for the folks from Critical Link who are trying to professionalize in various countries around the world. Not that theyíd do it the same as it was done here in the U.S., but just to see what the process was here, and to know that there are deviations from the path. For instance, I thought it was cool to see the prioritization of issues/tasks for the early members, and the objectives of the first working groups, and then think about how those initiatives turned out, were accomplished, stayed the same or changed over time.

I also appreciated that they offered some critique along the way, questioning whether the original vision was adequate, if the desired standards have been achieved, if the philosophy and mission statement are clearly connected, and if Deaf people are satisfied with the quality of interpreting services or not. Then, the crowd got a bit restless. Folks started fidgeting a bit, some got up to go to the bathroom, others started snacking. Brenda told me I was someone she'd want in her audience, still paying attention! Obviously lots of people were still paying attention; there was laughter at jokes and other cues of engagement. And, there were distractions, for instance a woman chomped some kind of nut mix next to me; after a while the Deaf woman in front of me asked a neighbor, ìDo you smell something funny?î It reminded me of the Deaf cultural joke about why farts smell. :-) (It didnít smell bad; just odd and a bit out of place.) I know I was hungry, too.

Afterwards, I had a few conversations while snarfing cheese & crackers, fruit, and veggies. Of course, there was Angela. (gulp) ìIíve been hiding from you,î I said. ìBecause you havenít responded to my email?î (Do you think people burn in h*ll for not answering email from the RID President?) I'm pretty sure she was teasing. Of course, then I wanted her to send something to me. At least she now has bargaining leverage. :-)

I was approached by someone who was at my presentation in Chicago at the last RID convention. Christine said she was a first year student when she attended, and that it really helped her to see that experienced interpreters mess up too. :-0 It was a great relief to me that the information didnít seem ìtoo muchî to her. One of the puzzles about introducing concepts (issues & problems) of group dynamics is that itís Another Thing for interpreters to be aware of, and Iím not sure when, developmentally, is the ìrightî or ìbestî time to do it. Iíve deliberately designed the workshops Iíve done so far to engage people with a fair amount of experience, because then theyíve lived through many of the tensions for themselves. My question is, should this be something interpreting students are prepared to think about before it happens? Or is it something that can only begin to be grappled with after the fact?

The worst part of the evening, though, was during the keynote, and I recalled asking Anna to be part of the panel at my workshop in Chicago. It was a last minute thing ñ I really prefer using random volunteers from the audience ñ but sheíd just presented and I could see so many connections between what she was doing and where I thought weíd go in the workshopÖ..anyway, I got the sense that sheís more invested in prior planning. ;-) But THAT wasnít the horrifying thing; it was the fact that I wrote my proposal for next yearís RID conference a whole month early and realized I havenít sent it yet and itís due FRIDAY. (Panic ensues.)