"On a recent afternoon at the Venice Biennale, I walked into a bright blue portable john and peed for art."

"Just outside the booth, a naked woman was submerged in a huge water tank, breathing through a scuba mouthpiece. My urine was about to pass along a tube from the toilet through several filtration systems, before topping up her glass chamber’s water level. The performer, who would stay in the tank for at least four hours, was essentially living in other people’s waste. And she had plenty of donors. The toilet is part of a presentation called 'Seaworld Venice' by the choreographer and theater-maker Florentina Holzinger that is undoubtedly the biggest talker of this year’s Biennale, which opens to the public on Saturday and runs through Nov. 22."

From "These Toilets in Venice Have the Art World Aflush/Undoubtedly the biggest talker at this year’s Venice Biennale is the Austrian pavilion, where visitors can make their own contributions to the work on show" (NYT).

I clicked on that link for "Seaworld Venice" and was confronted with big red letters saying "I live in your piss."

This is the kind of degradation of women that feminists used to rail against, but, here, the artist is female, so I guess we're not supposed to notice. The message is purportedly environmentalism. Also the artist puts herself out there: "Part of the performance at the pavilion involved Holzinger swinging her body from side to side inside a metal bell attached to a crane to make it ring out." Video at the link. Holzinger is naked. A commenter over there notes that she risks deafness, performing as a bell clapper.

ADDED: I don't remember ever seeing "talker" used to mean the thing being talked about: the show is "undoubtedly the biggest talker of this year's Biennale." I understand "talker" meaning a person doing that talking, but not This show is a big talker, meaning it's what everyone's talking about. I guess it's like the use of "-er" in "looker" used to refer to someone people look at and not the one doing the looking.

The OED defines "talker" only as the one doing the talking. An example from Jane Austen (from "Emma"): "I am rather a talker; and now and then I have let a thing escape me which I should not." 

And then there's that Shakespeare adage, from "Richard III": "Talkers are no good doers." I think we don't use that one too much. We're more likely to go with: "All talk and no action," "Actions speak louder than words," "Talk is cheap," and "Walk the walk, don't just talk the talk." 

"You can go to your camper and do whatever you want. I even get television in there.... The camper taught me how to watch TV.... I go to YouTube."

"Anything. And everything. There’s so many things on YouTube. You’ve got Ibsen, you got Chekhov, you got Strindberg. All on the internet. I even like TikTok when I see it from time to time.... TikTok. Yeah. I saw, like, a 14-year-old girl who was deaf, her whole life, and they do something with her, and she actually starts to hear for the first time! How 'bout that? And sometimes the dogs, they rescue them. You watch the guy go in there and bring this beautiful, sad dog back to, uh, being somewhat — aware of things.... Well, I love that stuff!"

Said Al Pacino, quoted in "The Interview/Al Pacino Is Still Going Big" (NYT).

I'm quoting from the recording. The transcript is edited down a bit and it misses some of the feeling. I thought the interviewer, David Marchese, rushed by some of the best material Pacino seemed to want to hand him. For example, when Pacino spoke of the beautiful, sad dog becoming aware, Marchese intruded with "You're such a softy," categorizing Pacino's feeling as shallow sentimentality as opposed to some more subtle existentialism.

And one of the topics was Pacino's nearly dying of of Covid.

"Joshua Seal was among a group of about 10 deaf people playing cornhole at Schemengees Bar and Grille on Wednesday evening..."

"... when the shooting started. He was the father of four deaf children who attended the Governor Baxter School for the Deaf in Falmouth, Maine. Seal was a deaf-certified interpreter and was well known in the community for providing critical interpreting services during the pandemic.... Billy Brackett, a devoted father and husband... was competing in a cornhole tournament for deaf people at Schemengees Bar and Grille when the shooting occurred.... Steve Vozzella, 45... was one of the deaf cornhole players who died... He got married last November, and was the father to two kids... Everywhere Bryan MacFarlane, 41, went, his Shih Tzu named M&M went with him. 'He brought his dog with him in his truck everywhere he went'.... MacFarlane was among the deaf cornhole players who was shot and killed at Schemengees Bar and Grille last week...."

From "Victims of Maine shooting include father, ‘hero’ who tried to fight back" (WaPo).

"Her husband, whom she met when she was 21 and he was 81, dictated precisely what shade of nail polish she should wear (pink, pale and sheer, never matte)..."

"... and gently tapped her on the head when her roots were showing. When he was in residence, he issued a 6pm curfew ensuring his young wife was home to share his dinner (always chicken soup with cream cheese and crackers) and watch his favourite movies. Then, after dark, she was expected to participate in the group sex for which Hefner was famous. 'It was embarrassing. I don't know the most people there'd been in our bedroom at one time but – a lot. Pretty bad. We were like, "Oh, now it's your turn." Nobody really wanted to be there but I think in Hef's mind, he still thought he was in his 40s, and those nights, the people, the mansion, solidified that idea. He felt, "I've still got it."' There were also the famous 'Sunday Fundays' when 200 young women would descend on the Playboy mansion. Its octogenarian owner took so much Viagra that it made him lose his hearing on one side (a recognised side effect of the drug). 'Hef always said he'd rather be deaf and still able to have sex. Weird,' says Crystal...."

From "The hell of being married to Hugh Hefner by his Playboy Bunny third wife: Crystal Hefner, 37, describes how he took so much Viagra it made him deaf and imposed a 6pm curfew so she'd stay home and share his chicken soup" (Daily Mail).

Always chicken soup with cream cheese and crackers?

Black American Sign Language, or BASL... "relies in a unique way on body language and rhythm." The "signing became almost sensual."

"'It was totally different from everyday conversational ASL. It became a lot more emotive... There was a lot more feeling in that.'"

From "How These Sign Language Experts Are Bringing More Diversity to Theater/As productions increasingly include characters and perspectives from a variety of backgrounds, deaf and hearing people who translate the shows for deaf audiences are trying to keep up" (NYT).

"Many signs are metaphorical, linking visual objects or gestures to concepts. So when cultural shifts change the very concept of a word..."

"... a sign may no longer make sense. One example... is the word 'privilege,' which is increasingly used in discussions about which groups have more social advantage, such as white privilege or male privilege. One older sign for 'privilege' could also mean 'benefit,' 'gain,' 'credit' or 'profit.' It looks like putting a dollar into a shirt pocket. A newer sign visually represents someone being raised up, or put ahead, and is reminiscent of the ASL sign for 'inequality.'... Although the differences can sometimes lead to tension, ASL linguists emphasize that there is no right or wrong choice for a sign — because language is shaped by those who use it. The longer and more widely a sign is used, the more standardized it becomes, and ASL is still a fairly young, dynamic language...."

From "How a Visual Language Evolves as Our World Does /Ubiquitous video technology and social media have given deaf people a new way to communicate. They’re using it to transform American Sign Language" (NYT).

Also in that article: The need to sign within a smaller area around the face so it fits in Zoom.

"She was defended by Alexander Graham Bell, and by Mark Twain... with a thumping hurrah for plagiarism, and..."

"... disgust for the egotism of 'these solemn donkeys breaking a little child’s heart with their ignorant damned rubbish! . . . A gang of dull and hoary pirates piously setting themselves the task of disciplining and purifying a kitten that they think they’ve caught filching a chop!'"

I'm reading Cynthia Ozick's "How Helen Keller Learned to Write/With the help of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, Keller forged a path from deaf-blind darkness to unimaginable artistry"  — from June 8, 2003 in The New Yorker.

I'm reading that because — and I can't remember why — I got to thinking how hard it is to believe that Helen Keller could have acquired the language skills needed to write the works attributed to her. (You, who are not blind, can see the entire text of her "Story of My Life" at Project Gutenberg.)

Ozick writes:

"A cochlear implant isn’t inherently bad, but it isn’t inherently good, either; it is a neutral piece of technology, a tool, like a hammer."

"Expecting an implant to cure deafness or magically generate speech is to await the moment the hammer will fly out of one’s hand and build a house on its own. The value of the tool lies only in the skill of its user, and for the cochlear implant user, that skill is learned with much effort. To suggest otherwise is to give a disingenuous prognosis to potential patients and their parents, and discounts the hard work successful C.I. users do to communicate in a way the hearing world deems acceptable."

From "A Clearer Message on Cochlear Implants/Portrayals of this technology as a 'miracle' for deaf people overlook its potential downsides and challenges" (NYT) by Sara Novic, an assistant professor of creative writing who is deaf and chooses not to have a cochlear implant, because — as she explains to her students — "I’m happy with how I am now" or...

I explain that deafness offers me a unique perspective on the world, or joke that I like it quiet when I’m writing, but I always end with a fact: “It would be a big commitment — learning to use a cochlear implant takes a lot of work.”

When a deaf person has an encounter with the police.

On Facebook, my son John links to "Deaf man fatally shot by North Carolina cop was ‘afraid’ of police, devastated brother says."

That made me wonder about how deaf people think ahead about what they will do if they have to interact with the police, something I discuss in the comments at John's post. And I found this useful Marlee Matlin video that I want to post here.

"What rap did that was impressive was to show there are so many tone-deaf people out there."

"All they need is a drum beat and somebody yelling over it and they’re happy. There’s an enormous market for people who can’t tell one note from another."

Said Keith Richards.

Also: "For most bands, getting the syncopation is beyond them. It’s endless thudding away, with no bounce, no lift, no syncopation.... Millions are in love with Metallica and Black Sabbath. I just thought they were great jokes."

"The Islamic State released a new recruitment video today with deaf fighters using sign language asking other deaf followers to join them."

"While one message is that being being deaf is not an excuse not to come and fight, I think there's a more subtle and deeper one...." writes Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft.

This isn't a blood and gore video designed for adrenaline junkies. It's a video aimed at those seeking acceptance and a family. Its message is "You have a home with us, we will welcome you and accept you and you will be one of us."

It's too bad the video is for ISIS. Otherwise it would be a great public service announcement for the hearing impaired, showing prospective employers that being deaf doesn't hold them back and they can do a job just as well as the non-hearing impaired, while at the same time showing fellow deaf citizens and the rest of us that the inability to hear or speak doesn't stand in the way of leading a fulfilling and joyful life.

"We often encountered Professor Yin’s frisky and playful cats, peering curiously around a corner or darting by at top speed or jumping into our laps."

"Those cats got more attention and care and love than most pets."

From the the UW School of Public Health Department of Neuroscience letter defending the professor who experimented on cats and was reviled by PETA. The full text of the letter appears at the end of my January 25th post titled "PETA's campaign and the intense public pressure it brought to bear on UW-Madison have ended this horrendous laboratory's legacy of cruelty at last." The post title isn't my statement, but a quote from a PETA press release.

(Please note that my use of the tag "animal cruelty" doesn't mean I think there has been cruelty to animals, only that the topic of animal cruelty is under discussion. I could say something similar about many of my tags, most notably "torture.")

"My heart is still deaf, and my allegiance is with the deaf community. After years of guardedness..."

"... my access to others and their easy intimacy unmasks me, and I don't always like it. Leaving my private world behind gives me what I call identity vertigo. I have to engage more, take more responsibility, and I'm out of practice. But now I've regained spontaneity in my life...."

"Belgium’s euthanasia guidelines are a mere veneer that can be violated without consequence."

"When violations finally come to public light, lawmakers simply amend the law to reflect actual practice."

Belgian doctors have provided euthanasia to: "a transsexual repelled by the results of a sex change operation... a depressed anorexia patient who wanted to die after being sexually exploited by her psychiatrist... deaf twins, who asked to be killed together when both began losing their eyesight... elderly couples who preferred immediate death to eventual widowhood."

They harvest organs in the process too, when they can.

"Hire me. You know, I'm a rather brilliant sign linguist. Perhaps I can explain Obamacare to the deaf."

Says Meade:

☝ IF YOU
☺ LIKE YOUR DOCTOR,
♺ YOU CAN KEEP
☃☮♬✈ YOUR DOCTOR.

PERIOD.

The fake sign language interpreter from the Mandela memorial had faced charges of murder, rape, theft, breaking and entering, malicious damage to property, and kidnapping.

How was he hired? Was it sheer incompetence or something more sinister?

A government official said the Xhosa-speaking Jantjie also did not speak English well enough to interpret effectively and that the firm that hired him had “vanished into thin air.”

Thanks for the info, government official. Vanished into thin air. That's incisive. Personally, I choose thick air for my vanishing tricks.

"Mandela Interpreter Says He Was Hallucinating/Says He Entered Altered State As He Took His Place on Stage."

That might excuse him, but it does not excuse whoever did the security check.

Thamsanqa Jantjie said... that as he took the stage within arms' length of Mr. Obama and other leaders at a memorial in a Johannesburg soccer stadium on Tuesday, he slipped into an altered state. He said he saw angels coming into the stadium.

"I don't know the attack of this problem, how will it come... Sometimes I get violent on that place. Sometimes I will see things chasing me."

The interpreter for the deaf during the speeches at the Mandela memorial wasn't signing at all but just "flapping his arms around."

The national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said the man was "moving his hands around, but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for."

It was not immediately clear how the bogus interpreter slipped onto the stage during the memorial service, where nearly 100 heads of state attended....

Experts agreed that the imposter interpreter was not signing American sign languages or any of South Africa's 11 official languages.

It seems funny for about 5 seconds, and then you realize that this marred a funeral and that it reveals a lack of security. 

(In the comments at the link: "I knew something was wrong when I saw him make the clipping sign and then the first down sign immediately after.")

"I constantly hear Gregorian chants. That's the noise... I always think I'm in touch with God."

Says Rush Limbaugh.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg takes the nonpartisan election in a strongly partisan direction.

At a forum at the Waukesha County Courthouse last night:

“Justice Prosser has sent a clear message that he will favor the agenda of Gov. (Scott) Walker and the Republican Legislature,” Kloppenburg said. “I will apply the law to the facts of the cases before me and decide them without prejudice.”

What is her basis for attributing a "clear message" like that to Prosser? If she doesn't have a solid basis for that statement — and I can't see what it is — how is that supposed to jibe with her self-image as a dutiful applicant of law to fact?

ADDED: The Isthmus columnist Bill Lueders, who is quite openly liberal, can't see fit to disrespect the venerable Prosser: