First deaf graduate of WCU passes away

Here is a touching story I wrote for The Western Carolinian.

"On Aug. 3, 1946, Jimmie Ray Crawford was born profoundly deaf in the small mountain town of Waynesville. His parents could only guess at the accomplishments their child would achieve.
 Last month, Crawford passed away, but his legacy as the man who took to court the major players of the UNC-System and Western Carolina University lives on through his accomplishments. His wife, Pat Crawford, and nephew, Ernie Pitts, spoke exclusively with this journalist about Jimmie Crawford’s amazing impact.
As a graduate student, Crawford went head-to-head against Western Carolina, the WCU chancellor at that time and the UNC-System along with its president and chairman of the board of governors after being denied an interpreter to help him in his graduate classes.
“He wanted to stand and fight for deaf people’s rights to have an interpreter,” said Pat Crawford.
According to an article by the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Hiram Ward “affirmed a magistrate’s recommendation that Western Carolina University provide an interpreter for [Crawford].” Magistrate Russell Eliason then strongly recommended to WCU that the school either supply “an interpreter or another method of communicating classroom lectures to the student…,” continued the article.
After years of struggling but succeeding during his years of school and now into his graduate school years at WCU, Jimmie Crawford was finally able to understand every word his instructors said in and outside of the classroom in 1977, not even two years after filing the complaint.
Jimmie Crawford was the first profoundly deaf student to graduate from Western Carolina University and its School of Educational Administration and School Personnel. After graduation, he taught for 30 years at the North Carolina School for the Deaf, according to his obituary.
Pat Crawford, who is also deaf, explained that schooling had never been easy for her late husband before his interpreter at Western Carolina. However, he was never one to give up, saying that he was in the top ten of his class in high school."

Read the rest of the story here!

5th Time's a Charm

 Well... I find it ironic how much I hate change and have the lifetime desire to find my perfect home, but I keep moving. This will be the fifth time I've moved in two years! Thankfully, I'm not moving across half the state this time. It's just from Cullowhee to Sylva.

Welcome to Sylva, North Carolina

As much as I'd love to divulge why I'm moving again, I'm going to wait until I get my deposit back before I spill the illegal secrets of my landlady and her so-called "business." I always had a twinge of worry in the back of my mind since I never saw the place or met her before I moved into the single wide, two-bedroom trailer up on a mountain covered in tall trees, llamas, and mini horses. Still, even if I had gone over the trailer with a comb... there would have been no way Justin or I could have seen the kind of trap we were moving into!
Right now, I am pet sitting three large and friendly dogs in Greensboro. The day I get back... WE ARE MOVING OUT AS FAST AS WE POSSIBLY CAN!!! Already, Stuart and I have taken box after box over to the new place in Sylva in an effort to just get out of that trailer!! Believe me, I want to get as far away as possible as fast as I can!

The new place!!! <3

The new place is a longer drive from Western Carolina than I would have liked... but it's so beautiful and CLEAN!!! Like you don't think of a trailer as being clean... that's not anywhere close to the stigma that goes hand-in-hand with a trailer. But this... is only two years old, custom ordered with extra insulation, and was kept very neat by the woman who used to live there. The trailer has two bedroom, carpet everywhere except the kitchen, and comes with a beautiful tan leather couch that could double as a bed. No puke green walls or stained carpet!!! It sits on a small property with view and access to Scotts Creek, a small-sized, fast-moving river. There's a yard in the back and on the sides where we will plant a garden and have a screened awning in the back overlooking the creek. The bubbling creek cancels out the noise of the traffic on Main Street, which is across the creek. It's a short walk to the library, the Farmers' Market, downtown restaurants, and the City Lights bookstore from our new place. Sadly, Jack the Dipper ice cream parlor isn't downtown, too. That would be ideal!!

Jack the Dipper ice cream parlor... not in downtown

It will also be the first time since the summer in Raleigh that I will have both of my pets, Sparta and Nutmeg, in my house on a full-time basis. I am so excited to get Nutmeg back. I've missed that crazy hamster, and after reading a hamster care book, Stuart and I found out that we've been caring for her all wrong this entire time!!! And somehow, she never died!! Yesterday, I purchased a wire cage high rise, which attaches to her glass cage in order to give her three extra levels for more fun, more exercise, and more air flow as compared to the stuffiness she has experienced in her glass cage. At the same time, the high rise is easily detachable so we don't have to worry about Sparta trying to pry apart the wire top when we're gone or can't watch them. Stuart and I also plan on feeding her more fruits, a spoonful of fruit yogurt now and then, a pinch of meat once a week (yes, meat!!!), and provide nature's own joys like branches from a willow tree or washed grass. Apparently, hamsters LOVE this stuff!
Now, as to my roommate... well, I'll announce that later on, but I can't wait to tell you all (my four devoted readers, I adore you all). In the meantime, I'm chilling in Greensboro, waiting... waiting... waiting........... I JUST WANT TO MOVE... RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

Happiness isn't Normal

Finals are over!!!

And, I didn't come out at the end of it sick, ten pounds lighter, and about to throw myself out a window... which is saying something considering I was not only writing three papers and working on a web design portfolio and resume, but I also had the newspaper on my plate. I guess it helps that I'm genuinely happier with my life and where I am right now.

Cata-fount

Now that finals are over, I can turn my complete attention to the newspaper. This week started the writing and interviewing process for the May issue, which hits the stands on May 25. I can't say what we're working on... it's top secret!! But, I will say that Sparta is here in the office today. He's hiding under my enormous desk that has been here since the dinosaurs roamed the earth!
This spring semester... I can tell you there's been a lot of stress and tears. A lot of it I can't talk about because it's newspaper drama, and we don't like to air that out in the public eye. But even with all that stress, I've been happy... and that's never happened before.

There were only a few days out the semester that I woke up and was extremely depressed throughout the entire day. If you've known me since August 2009, that's an extremely low number. I have been battling depression since being a freshman at Western, and we all found out that moving to Greensboro didn't help that one bit! Back at Western, I'm here with a billion things to do and several crises to solve with Sparta sick, issues with the landlord, and worrying about the paper... but I'm happy.
It's so bizarre.
And, it's sad that it is bizarre. Why is happiness weird now? When did I get used to not being happy? When did depression and misery become part of my life that being happy and getting up every morning looking forward to the day was not normal anymore?

Looking back, I don't remember thinking that I'd always be miserable. Then, why am I surprised that I'm happy? Nothing has changed really. Stuart may be here instead of five hours away, but we still have problems and strife in our relationship that needs to be repaired now and again. My living situation is better on some levels but worse on others. And, I cannot even begin to describe the pain, tears, stress, pressure, and worry that comes with being an Editor-in-Chief of a newspaper (and it's not even a weekly or daily newspaper!!!!!!)
Maybe I'm happier because I drink more fluids a day. That's probably what Stuart will say it is. Maybe it's because I've stopped skipping meals because I either couldn't afford to buy food or because I was too sick and tired already to even stand up to throw something in the microwave. Maybe it's because I no longer feel threatened by The Viking anymore, and that we've actually become friends again and text on a semi-regular basis.
Whatever it is... I'm happy it made me happy! I am ready to learn how to manage my stress and keep living a happy, healthy life. So bring on the summer... I'm happy it's here!

Sparta is my snuggle buddy!

Two More Hours of 2011

New Year's Eve is never as exciting or awesome as you want it to be. Every year, I sit in front of the TV and watch the ball drop. Once, I tried champagne. That was gross! Every year, New Year's Eve just sucks.
It didn't suck last year. I was with Stuart. We were in Chester, South Carolina listening to a loud group of people drink and shout in the upstairs room at a Motel 6. We didn't care. We had Cheerwine in glass bottles, popcorn, and cable television. It was an awesome night! But not because it was New Year's Eve, but because it was the last night Stuart and I had to ourselves before the start of our long distance relationship.
This year, I'm sitting in Stuart's apartment alone watching the ball drop on a live web cast online while Stuart has been at work since 2 this afternoon and won't be home until after 1:30 a.m... if we're lucky.

I'm going to rain on someone's parade by saying this, but... New Year's Eve will never be as awesome as you want it to be!!! UNLESS... you're that dude that drops the cash on a hotel that you booked on January 3 the year of to be in Times Square on New Year's Eve to propose to your girlfriend on live TV and you absolutely know without a doubt that she's going to say yes, and you get to kiss your then fiance when the ball drops and the confetti flies. Yeah, that's as awesome as it's going to get. Those of us who have to move to Cullowhee tomorrow or can't afford to go to New York City sit in our living rooms drinking alcohol and hoping the new year doesn't suck as much as the last one.
Yeah, that's my take on New Year's Eve. It's another letdown. Like birthdays.
There's no alcohol here, none that I'm drinking anyway. Yet I feel drunk watching this Bret Easton Ellis adaptation starring a bunch of actors on the brink of being famous like Jessica Biel and Ian Somerhalder. You know Bret Easton Ellis. He's the guy who wrote American Psycho! Yeah, this movie is BIZARRE!!! I'm scared to keep watching. I've learned more about college and the perverse mind of college-aged people in the last hour than the two and a half years in actual college. It's gotten so weird that I've zoned out on the Internet and have no idea what's going on anymore.

Ryan Seacrest has taken to his Twitter. He's tweeting answers to fans about Rocking New Year's Eve. The Times Square 2012 Live web cast just announced this year's triangle theme on the ball. Apparently, it's Friendships, and the color scheme of 2012 is blue!!! Facebook is pretty calm though and the latest story on Just Jared.com is Nicole Kidman is spending New Year's Eve with her daughter. WOHOO!! Just found a much better web cast of the ball dropping! CBS is on UStream! Five years ago, I'd have been screwed! 
Now, I have two more hours to stay awake, according to the Toshiba countdown. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself. Eventually, I'm going to have put my laptop to sleep so it won't overheat and then I'm stuck with this Ellis film again.
No matter what you're doing, New Year's Eve is just another night. It's as over as soon as the clock strikes 12:01. For one minute, you get to feel awesome. Then, it's over. But, it's a night meant for reflection and promises of betterment. My 2012 resolution is to NOT MOVE!!! I shall move once this year, and that is all! Once I get to Cullowhee, my bags are staying unpacked.

Life can be Funny

If you had told me that I'd fall for a guy and that he'd abruptly leave me for another girl, I'd have believed you. That sounds like my kind of luck. I wouldn't have pictured him to be an actual Viking, though.

If you had told me that two years after I'd been accepted to Western Carolina I was going to transfer to another university only to transfer back to Western within a semester, I wouldn't have believed you.

If you had told me I was going to fall in love with a guy that I'd spend over a year or more in a long distance relationship with, I would have laughed and said, "I'd never go for that type of relationship. It would never work."

Funny how life works! It makes you laugh.

I love you, Stuart!