The Dolphins and the Sharks: A fable in two acts
Here I tell the fable of two sharks named Blagel and Damius and a dolphin named Feyad who leaves the pod to go off and “do his own thing”. Watch for the surprise ending!
(P.S. I’m wearing this shirt in support of the Arizona Wildcats in today’s game [Sweet 16] against Louisville. Go ‘Cats!)
John Egbert said,
March 27, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
Thank you, Don
Your analogy was very good and like many said, It takes a community to work together to succeed..
John
Deafchipmunk said,
March 27, 2009 @ 3:03 pm
EXCELLENT! Perfect example…
Deafchip
Joseph Pietro Riolo said,
March 27, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
I am not going to comment on the meaning of the fable but want to ask few things.
Your name sign for Feyad is very similar or same as the sign for fox. Isn’t this a violation of the ASL rules for creating a name sign? Perhaps, you are simply exercising the artistic license.
I tried to google on the names Feyad, Blagel and Damius. I could not find anything meaningful relating to Feyad other than the first or last name of some people. It seems to be of Arabic origin.
Damius seems to be the name of a fictional character or a historical person.
It is Blagel that surprised me the most. I googled on it and arrived at the urban dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/iphone/search?term=blagel I am sure that you did not intend that way. It seems that Blagel is the name of a fictional character.
A question I would like to ask: Are there any meanings to the names of the characters that you used? Or, did you pick the names out of the air for no specific reasons? Or, did you create the names in similar way as George Lucas created names for the characters in his Star Wars movies (http://www.microsaft.com/starwars.htm , for example)?
I like the fable anyway.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
DrDonG said,
March 27, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
Joseph P.R. –
Feyad’s name sign is similar to, but not the same as FOX. It was supposed to be representative of the sign for DOLPHIN. While it could be seen as a slight violation of the name sign rules, this name sign is actually the name sign of someone I know, and I sort of borrowed it for this story as well.
As for the reasons for the names, yes, I do have a reason for the names, but I’ll let you have the fun of trying to figure it out. I did not know of that meaning of “Blagel”, but in light of why I chose that name, I do find it unintentionally humorous and apropos.
Joseph Pietro Riolo said,
March 27, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
Blagel is an anagram for AGBell.
Damius is an anagram for audism.
Feyad is an anagram for deafy.
Am I correct on all three anagrams?
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
Amy Cohen Efron said,
March 27, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
Damius – Audism
Blagel – Ag Bell
Fayed – Deafy
How interesting.
George said,
March 27, 2009 @ 7:13 pm
Don,
That guy, Joseph Pietro Riolo, seems more interesting at the beginning to find something hoping to weaken your post.
I am really puzzled about Joseph Pietro Riolo, he seems to be smart but he does have some kind of a problem about himself. I just can’t figure him out. Wonder if he knows sign language at all.
DrDonG said,
March 27, 2009 @ 8:03 pm
Amy and Joseph –
You figured it out after all.
George — I don’t know if JPR knows sign or not. I think he does some — maybe more signed English perhaps. Would you like to fill in the blanks for the inquiring minds who want to know, Joseph?
DrDonG said,
March 27, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
By the way, Amy — Care to expand on your comment a bit? How is it interesting to you?
Amy Cohen Efron said,
March 28, 2009 @ 7:36 am
Hi Don,
I find this very interesting that you used this fable to reinforce the specific core value in Deaf Community as the morale of the story.
I can see the struggle between individualism and collectivism, and I can see the players in the conflict (pod of dolphins representing a specific Deaf Community, Feyad, who is an individual who is seeking independence from the group by doing “his own thing”, and the sharks representing the community’s enemies – the widespread behavior/attitude and the representation of the specific behavior and attitude – i.e. organization.)
I can see how this story explains when a dolphin wanted to do ‘his own thing’ will have serious consequences. Therefore, individualism is not valued, and its important to be with the community for the survival reasons.
This story will bring up a lot of discussions, and it is your story. I can see your own and the community’s core values through this story. That’s why I find this very interesting.
Thank you.
Joseph Pietro Riolo said,
March 28, 2009 @ 7:40 am
George wondered if I even know any sign language and Dr. Donald A. Grushkin hypothesized that I know some signed English language.
Before I tell a bit about myself, is it really necessary to find out whether I know sign language? How will the new information help George and Dr. Grushkin in understanding and analyzing my comment? What benefits will they gain if I reveal a bit about myself? They don’t have to answer the questions. I posed these questions to point out that my background is not always germane to the comments that I made.
I have been signing since when I was about three years old. I attended three deaf schools (St. Mary’s School for the Deaf, Rochester School for the Deaf, Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf) and graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with the support of National Technical Institute for the Deaf. I am married to my wife who graduated from California School for the Deaf at Fremont. We are involved in Scranton State School for the Deaf where our one son graduated from and our two other sons are still attending. I am exposed to many different flavors of sign language and use ASL most of the time, more on the SVO constructs than OSV (blame it on the writing system
. This should be enough to dispel any doubts about my signing knowledge and skills.
I reviewed the video again and this time, paid more attention on the name sign for Feyad. With the additional explanation that Dr. Grushkin gave on the origin of the name sign, I now can see the slight movements of the name sign that are different from the movements of the sign for fox. I can’t tell if this will satisfy the criteria for ASL name sign. The fact that the name sign for Feyad can be easily confused with the sign for fox when the name sign is encountered for the first time may or may not be the sufficient reason for breaking the criteria for ASL name sign. Perhaps, the video itself is too small that I was not able to detect the slightly different movements at the first time.
George wondered if my comment on the name sign for Feyad was intended to sabotage the ASL story that Dr. Grushkin expressed. One of the important tents in any ASL storytelling is that the name signs must be correct. Else, a slight infraction in the ASL name signs is enough to ruin the ASL story. This is what happened to me when I watched the video first time. I was somewhat bothered by the name sign for Feyad and wondered if the storyteller was simply exercising the artistic license.
I have my own interpretations of the fable that I will not reveal here but I like the fable nevertheless.
Joseph Pietro Riolo
josephpietrojeungriolo@gmail.com
Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain.
DrDonG said,
March 28, 2009 @ 7:57 am
Hi Amy –
Yes, the fable is about collectivism vs. individualism and survival of the group, as you noted. One thing that has bothered me is that people seem to think collectivism means that we can’t be individuals. And this is not true. The Deaf community/culture is composed of many individuals, with many different interests, but with a common perspective. It is this common perspective that allows us to continue as a group; indeed, EVERY group and culture in the world shares a common underlying perspective; otherwise they could not survive as a group, since they would just end up scattered or forming other groups.
Also, it seems to me that people are thinking that to be involved in supporting actions/activities/organizations which promote the group’s goals and perspectives means that one has to give up one’s own personal interests. And this is not true either — we all have busy lives that we have to pay attention to, but there is a collective value to giving of ourselves for a few hours or a few days out of the year to working together to help the community as a whole survive.
This is some of the reasons why I came up with the story here.
DrDonG said,
March 28, 2009 @ 8:01 am
Joseph –
Thank you for sharing your story. Helps me to understand you a bit better.
As for the name signs, I’ll try to develop better name signs next time!
deb ann said,
March 28, 2009 @ 10:59 am
Good post! Excellent example you’ve given us!