Intersectional Souls Project |
The nathie ASL Soul poetry fundraising PROJECT
We are making progress on editing the translations of the twelve poems written by Dr. Nathie Marbury. We cannot wait to show them during the Nathie Marbury ASL Soul Poetry Showcase this coming Wednesday, January 28th! We, from the deepest part of our hearts, thank the people who were involved in making this project possible. [image description: Twelve photo icons are displayed in a row showing various Black DDBDDHH womxn/femmes/folk of all ages, shades of color, and next to them are various fonts/text indicating the title of poems and their names.]
[White text: "Change" with cursive text: by Cookie Jackson, a dark skinned Black Deaf womxn wearing a light yellow tee, she is smiling and standing in front of a clay red background.. Next is: Blue italic text: "Frustration" by Aminah Savannah, a dark skinned Black Deaf womxn wearing light colored sweater and a purple scarf. Next is: Black cursive text: "Hands" by Stephanie "Najma" Johnson, features a black and white photo of a light skinned Black Deaf-Blind Panqueer folk with a newsie cap and white sweatshirt. She has a serious expression on her face and is slightly looking down at camera. Next is: "Reflections" in chunky yellow text, by Tricia Alleyne. A Black Deaf womxn is wearing a light white striped blouse. Behind her is a reflection of herself signing "reflection" in the mirror- photo has a red hue. Next: "What is Love?" in chunky font, by Jannifer Williams. A dark-skinned Black Deaf womxn with a short 'fro, wearing a white tee with multicolored purple scarf and bright red earrings. She is signing "love" behind her own artwork of various womxn/femmes/feminine folks. Next is a black and white photo with baby pink text: "Best Faces" by Joan McCowin. A light skinned Black Deaf womxn is signing precious, her eyes closed and lips slightly smiling. She is wearing a black top and there is a curtain behind her. Next is: Multicolored text that reads "Color" by De'Lasha Singleton and Miki Smith. a dark-skinned Black Deaf femme womxn with natural medium curly hair with orange tone is signing "color", she is grinning, showing her teeth. Next is: A cursive white font "Me" by Malibu Barron. A light-skinned multiracial Deaf womxn, with curly black short hair. She is standing behind a lone tree and foggy background. Next is: "Crystal Marie" in white typewriter font, by Candace Jones in brown font. A dark-skinned Black Deaf womxn, with curly short hair with a coppery brown tone, is wearing black wire rimmed glasses, a navy blue sweater and dangling earrings. She is signing M and smiling slightly. Next is: "Integration" in white text against tan background. by Jakiya Murphy. A light skinned young teenager wears a bright blue tee, her hair is in light brown dreads and goes to her shoulders. She is signing "merge". She is standing against a multicolored African painting. Next is: "The Menu" in white font, by: Aurore Lamour-Smith and Brenda Young. Two elderly Black Deaf womxn are sitting on a wooden bench. The womxn on the left is light skinned and has her hair braided and pulled back in a half ponytail, she wears black shirt and is signing "A" to her dimples, smiling. Womxn on the right is dark skinned, has a chin-length bob and hoop earrings. She is wearing a white sweater over a leopard undershirt. She is smiling and watching. There is a fancy M in the dark background.] Last image shows: "Funeral" by Felicia Williams. A black and white photo of a Black Deaf womxn standing, grinning. She is wearing a professional suit, with pearl-flowered earring studs, dark plastic-rimmed glasses, and a long necklace with an old-fashioned key dangling from it. Behind her is a blurry image of herself with her hands positioned as if she is signing "funeral".
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The video where Najma explains about intersectionality is finally available for the world to see! Please feel free to share and spread awareness about this important concept: [video thumbnail description: Najma (Black DeafBlind Panqueer folk) wearing a dark blue undershirt with a lighter jean style long-sleeved button-up shirt open and a dark colored cap on with large silver hoop earrings. Small child is sitting on her lap. Black background.]
Sharing with you all a few words from Dr. Nathie, whose birthday we are celebrating today! In her 2007 dissertation, "Influences of Challenges and Successes on Identity for Black Deaf Americans," Nathie Marbury wrote about the importance of cherishing our identities, our culture, and our history: [image description: A snapshot of Nathie's dissertation reads: As I have muddled through the long, murky labyrinth of the unknown and the discovery of my own Black Deaf identity, questions of my identity and belonging emerged. My anxiety for Black Deaf children and Black Deaf adults in the community thrust me into action that guided me to educate, emancipate and empower myself and ultimately my people. I yearned for a magic wand to materialize in my hand, where I could sign mumbo-jumbo with two circular movements, make a downward flick of the wrist in the air and fingerspell “Abracadabra!” All of our years lacking knowledge of Black culture, of Black history, of Black identity and our lack of communication with our families would vanish into thin air and instill us with knowledge. I intended to share as much as I could in my unearthing of the mystery of our people, Black Deaf children and adults.] happy birthday to a beautiful, beloved soul. i know you've been watching all of us in the spirit. Summa Crider Loeffler gave me a cute glass black angel doll that reminded me of you. i can't wait to honor you and recognize all of the hearts you will touch at the ASL Soul Poetry showcase. on a concluding note, we will keep achieving our dreams. one love.- Miki Smith
We're finally done with the video editing part of the "What exactly is intersectionality?" video. Now, we're waiting for it to be captioned and embedded with image/video descriptions. We really need a boost in our fundraiser to make this happen! How you can help? Like our page, share the ISP Fundraising link on your page (http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/nathie-asl-soul-poetry-fundraiser-for-black-deaf-youth-/279456?utm_source=widget), donate, and/or help us spread the word. we'd love the community's involvement in this! [image description: A screenshot of a YouTube announcement is displayed, indicating that the video has been uploaded. With an image of Stephanie "Najma" Johnson, a Black DeafBlind Panqueer folk, is signing "why". A light skinned child sits on Najma's lap, looking to the right. Black background with a faded opacity of intersectional souls project photo of intertwining fingers in background. Bottom text reads: "What exactly is intersectionality?" in blue font.] Transcript/description of Teaser - What exactly is intersectionality?
Many thanks to Leah Geer for providing this transcript. [opening screen: black background with three hands, two adult and one child, forming the sign INTERSECTIONALITY. A single empty black chair sits in the middle of the screen. Text over the image reads “What exactly is intersectionality? (the word ‘exactly’ is larger and in purple, while the rest of the text is in white). the bottom right reads “A conversation with Najma”] [Najma, wearing a blue top and a black hat signing on a black background]: My name is N-a-j-m-a [screen fades and white text appears on a black background: Najma is a community educator whose focus is on educating DDBDDHH* folks about intersectionality and social justice] [Najma]: we’ve been collaborating and having conversations with a host of individuals because each have their own experiences and they all come together. [Najma sits conversing with another individual wearing all black] [Najma ]: (I’m) Black, I’m DeafBlind, I’m queer, I have many identities. And all of these relate to my experience of oppression. I’ve experienced oppression because I’m black, because I’m DeafBlind, queer, etc. All of these are tightly bound and form an intersection of identities that work to impact me in a particular way. [Najma seated on a mostly black background with the same image of the sign INTERSECTIONALITY as appeared in the opening screen. A small genderless child sits on Najma’s lap wearing a onesie that reads “seriously handsome”]: Until xe grows up and can identify however xe wants so we can follow that, I would never identify x as deaf only because it’s not true. [screen fades to black and then white text appears: We are doing this video as a part of a fundraiser to support Black Deaf youth of all intersectional identities*. Text disappears. We've confirmed with Austin Community College and will be hosting the Nathie ASL Soul Poetry Project at the Eastview campus. We'd love to have the community join us as we launch the film showcase. We are hoping to host this showcase at various locations in the USA as we educate the community about the importance of supporting Black Deaf youth of all intersectional identities. Please help us spread the word! Interpreters will be provided (including CDIs for the Deaf-Blind). Funds raised at this event will support us to host more fundraisers to collect enough funds to support a media retreat for Black Deaf youth. Ritchie Bryant and Lisa Gelineau, who are dear friends of Nathie, have joined us in making sure we have support as we work on this project. It is such a honor to be working with such wonderful people. [image description: Four square/rectangular photos are displayed in this flyer, showing two elderly Black Deaf womxn, a light skinned womxn of color, and a BlackDeafBlind Panqueer folk. These photos were captured during the poetry translation/filming process. Text reads in purple font: The Nathie Marbury ASL Soul Poetry Showcase. With black italics, Austin Community College at the Eastview campus. Wednesday, January 28th, 2015 at 7pm. $10. There is a ACC logo displayed as well as the ISP logo of intertwined fingers with white text that reads "We are doing this as a fundraiser to support Black Deaf youth of all intersectional identities." Smaller text on the bottom reads: http://intersectionalsouls.weebly.com/ or check Facebook: Intersectional Souls Project. Interpreters will be provided. Questions? Send an email to: [email protected].]
After filming a sample translation of Nathie's poem "Color", Miki Smith and De'Lasha Singleton made an announcement to Beautiful Sistas at the Austin Black Deaf Advocates (ABDA) potluck about the project. They showed a short sneak preview of the video to give Black Deaf community the idea of this fundraising project and invited the Beautiful Sistas and other Black Deaf womxn/femmes/folk to join. Many thanks to Aminah Estrada-Savannah, president of ABDA, for allowing us to make this announcement. Voice translation by Jariatou Sabi. We couldn't have done it without you! [video thumbnail description: Miki, a middle aged Black Deaf womxn with short curly hair is signing in two different locations as if she is "cut out" and collaged, her facial expression shows admiration in both images. She is wearing white gauge earrings. Background is a shade of brown.] [image: Click on each image to see description]
We're asking all the beautiful Black Deaf womxn that we know to take the challenge of translating these beautifully written poems into ASL. Which poem speaks to you? We are available to assist in the translation process- just send us an email at [email protected]
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January 2015
AuthorThe Intersectional Project team will be posting here from time to time to give you updates of the ASL Soul Poetry fundraising project. Subscribe to this blog if you are interested in receiving our updates! Categories |