[stylist] A New Member

[John Lee Clark]

Hello!

I recently subscribed to this list, on the suggestion of Lori Stayer.  I
would have liked to lurk for a while before introducing myself, but so far
the list has been awfully quiet, too quiet even for someone who is deaf.  So
I am going to dip my toes in here.

To introduce myself briefly: My name is John Lee Clark, and I am a native of
St. Paul, Minnesota.  I was born deaf to an all-deaf family and so American
Sign Language is my first language.  I gradually became blind in early
adolescence, just as my father did and my younger brother did.  After
graduating from the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf--on the other bank
of a former river across from where the Minnesota State Academy for the
Blind is--I studied briefly at Gallaudet but jumped up in love, not fell,
with Adrean, a deaf girl from North Carolina.  We got married fast and moved
to Minnesota.  We've been married for ten years now and have three sons.
Currently, I am the head of a new service that provides accommodations for
deafblind people using video relay service.

As for my literary pursuits, my wife and I ran for six years a small press
devoted to signing community literature both in English and ASL.  But it
could not support our family, so we've had to turn to other sources of
income.  I've published many essays, but it's through my poetry that I've
won the most recognition--awards, grants, fellowships, all that.  Recently,
my chapbook of poems, Suddenly Slow, came out from Handtype Press.  I've
also done some independent scholarship on the literature of the deaf and
deafblind communities.  In March, Gallaudet University Press will come out
with Deaf American Poetry, which I edited and which is the first definitive
text of its kind, covering nearly two centuries of poetry by Deaf Americans.
I am nearly done with anther anthology, this time of writings by deafblind
people all over the world and since 1820.

This should suffice for now!  I would love to learn about who's on this
list, so please do introduce yourself.

Thanks!

John




  



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