A Little About Myself

Hey,

      My first blog i’ve ever done so this should be interesting. I’m going to start of by introducing myself and letting you know some stuff about me. Well…. i’m from Farmington, Arkansas and that town just so happens to be about 5 miles away from my favorite college in all of america, the University of Arkansas. I’ve loved the Razorbacks for God knows how long. My favorite sport is football and if you ask any of my friends that question, they will tell you that i’m obsessed with the sport. It is somewhat true because i always find myself watching it on tv or trying to start up a conversation about the latest football news. My great passion for the sport has carried me all the way to the college level at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. I’ve played my whole life but never thought that I would’ve gotten the chance to become a college football player. I’m now a freshman here and i play linebacker.

      I’m one of nine total kids in my family and yes we all come from the same mom and dad. Life has been really interesting and challenging for me. In a lot of ways but I think the main reason is because I am the “only” hard of hearing person in my family. I don’t know why or how but i’m the only one and there have been many obstacles. That is one of the reasons why I came down here to D.C. for college. Gallaudet University is a college that specializes in the deaf community. It’s definitely a new experience for me but it’s also something i look forward to. Most of the students here have experienced the same as me growing up. I was mainstreamed all my life and never signed growing up so that is the main reason why it will be challenging. All the challenges and obstacles i get while i’m down here will also come with rewards. I think the biggest reward for coming here was getting to meet so many nice and open people. No one here has judged me for talking once so far and that’s a very good thing for me, it takes a lot of pressure off me. I’m still learning to sign to this day. I’ve had about 2 months of practice so i think i’m on pace to knowing how to sign fluently within a couple more months.

Not Homecoming

I was the loser and I decided that I didn’t feel like attending homecoming bash this year and I promptly chose to go home for the weekend instead. I needed to grab some things from home in the first place and needed (terribly) to get away from campus.

It was FUN. I got a new webcam, new sweater, and a pair of jeans out of the deal. I was quite pleased to see sleeping without meds work after spending two days drugging myself to sleep after two days worth of insominia. It was nice to not eat the Gallaudet food (and then equally unpleasant to return to the Gallaudet food after eating food that Mom made or I ate out), and it was fantastic to see my friends. One of  my friend was visiting Chicago the same weekend and I managed to squeeze in a hour with her catching up on life, her ex, and teaching more signs to her. Shortly afterwards, I ran off to see another one of my friend. After eating Chipotle (HEAVENLY!!), we headed off to the mall. We wrapped up the night at a halloween store where we snuck photo-taking opportunities under the nose of the staff:

Pleasant weekend! I do admit I’m glad to be back in DC. It has wormed its way into my heart. Aww. Now, what to do for Halloween… hmm.

the most amazing movie

The most amazing movie I have seen is Gracie.

It is based on a true story about a girl who wanted to play soccer on a boys’ soccer team in a high school in New Jersey. It was prohibited during the 1970’s for girls to play on boys’ teams. It is about the diversity between women and men. and I could relate to this movie. Thanks to this girl who fought for the right to let girls play soccer. If it wasn’t for her, our girls soccer team wouldn’t exist.

I recommend you watch this movie, Gracie, because it is a really good movie. There are also some inspiring moments in the movie.

homecoming weekend

Homecoming spirit week started on Sunday, the same day we had a game against Medgar Evers. We lost the game. I think we did better in the second half of the game and we should have prevented two scores and ended up with the score 4 to 2 instead of the final 6 to 2.

My day on Friday started with my ASL class then my math class. I had nothing else for the rest of the day until soccer practice from 3-4:30. I didn’t practice because I was injured from the other day at one of my soccer games. After soccer practice, I ate dinner with the girls and got ready for the pep rally and the women’s and men’s basketball scrimmage. At pep rally, we did a lot of activities and in the end of the pep rally, there was a basketball scrimmage against each other’s teams (women and men). After the pep rally, my soccer team and I slept at the Field House (gym).

Saturday morning, I woke up pretty tired but excited for our soccer game for my first Homecoming. It was my first time playing soccer game for Homecoming. I ate breakfast with my soccer team  breakfast then we checked out a lot of the booths on the street between Hotchkiss Field and the SLCC and SAC. I didn’t stay there for long but I watched the first quarter of the football game and our Gallaudet football team was killed by other the team 21-0 in the first quarter. It ended up with Gallaudet football team lost to other team from 44 to 9. I never saw so many people in the stands before.

We had a soccer game against Kings College and we lost the game 6 to 0. after the game, we went out to dinner with a high school player who might play for our Gallaudet women soccer team next year. Overall, it was a blast, but it would be better if we actually won our soccer game for the first time in the soccer season. The last time the women’s soccer team won a game was on October 4, 2006.

women sports

Have you noticed that not a lot of people attend women’s sports games in college and in high school? I am wondering why it is that not a lot of people going to watch our women’s sports game? A lot of women are complaining that not a lot of people attend our games. For example, we had a soccer game and only 10 people watched us play compared to the men’s soccer game, where more than 10 people attended. My question is why men sports games have more attendance than women sports games? Have you noticed there are not a lot of women college sports or professional sports on TV? I think it is not fair for us, women, that we are not as noticeable. Unfortunately, not a lot of men care to watch women’s sports. Not a lot of women watch sports because they may not be involved in sports or see no visual aids with women sports on TV or in college or in high school.

I want to talk about my experience back in high school related to women sports. In my senior year in high school, I played varsity basketball. When we had games, not a lot of people showed up for our games even though we won games. Some students think it is not a big deal to watch the girls’ basketball games because it is boring and dull games and they also think it is pointless to watch girls. Some people says it is better to watch boys basketball game because it has dunking, 3 pointers, and awesome ball tricks. There were not a lot of people attending our games. I went to boys’ basketball games and the gym was totally packed. Is it because the boys’ basketball team was good? Does the boys’ basketball team have a lot of entertainment? Who knows the answer?

I think it is better way to get  other people to support women sports is to recruit them to come and watch us play. It would be cool if we have a lot of visual aids at Gallaudet University to come and watch our womens’ soccer games. I wish there is something we can do differently like give away free shirts to support our girls “Bribe” people to come in a good way. 🙂

Today in the United States, not a lot of people attend or watch women’s sports. People would rather watch men’s sports instead of women sports. I think it would be better and easier for people to come and watch both men and women sports game to show their support. It would be cool if Gallaudet University students come and watch all sports including soccer. Someday, it will eventually change and a lot of people will watch and support all sports including women sports (volleyball, soccer, swimming, softball, and track).

Busboys and Poets, National Cathedral, and the oh-my’s

Ok, call me crazy for updating on homecoming week but I finished my assignment for tomorrow so I thought why not bother to update the blog. So, here I go!    On my birthday which took place two weeks ago, I wanted to DO what I want. Last year it was on a thursday and it was not ideal to celebrate on a school night but I did anyway! Ever since I took Art History, I fell in love with the subject itself even though I had a beginning hate relationship with it. Taking Art History requires lots of memorizing and that’s a very “traditional” learning method which I didn’t like. One of our projects was to go to the National Cathedral and observe the cathedral structure, so I went and met my soulmate: Washington DC National Cathedral. Basically it is a HUGE cathedral standing proudly in the DC area.  Lovely huh? This time I went with my friend: Alicia and my trusty digital camera instead of carrying around a textbook and a thick worksheet to be filled out. We took the metro and got off the Tentleytown/AU station and took the 30 digit bus to cathedral avenue. Before we did that, we stopped by Whole Foods supermarket which is full of organic eats! We got ourselves a light cheese lunch and a drink. We arrived at the cathedral and went inside- amazingly we bumped into Art History students who were doing their project! We went to the top and I began my photo-taking frenzy. 

Posing in the front of West Facade 

On the top of the world, well not really; on the top of D.C. probably. 

I love how the rays sink in 

One of my favorite details on the cathedral

The structure used: The Flying Butress 

Do you see what the lens show? Ok enough with pictures- I laid on the grass and went on with my Art high. I slept, ate, and took pictures with Alicia. I was very satisfied with what I did on that special day- the day my mom screamed while giving birth to me! Later that night, I went to a hookah bar and enjoyed hittin’ it down with my girls at Adam’s Morgan. We ate at a joint named Tatsu, this restaurant has its own style of setting. The restaurant is designed with many different tables from places and antique furniture which was cool, we got to seat ourselves in comfy couches and order our food. The only con is that the place gets full at night and its harder to have the option of having your own table so you end up sharing with strangers. After that- hookah bar then my girls kidnapped me to a surprise party, another one this year! Again, I enjoyed this! 

Several days after my birthday, I went out to eat with several of my friends to Adam’s Morgan again. I don’t think I can ever get enough of Adam’s Morgan. We ate at a restaurant called Busboys and Poets, oh boy I love that place! It has a bookstore full of poetry books, political books, and environmental books. We waited for our table as I observed the place (Pardon my being, it is an inner-nature of Art History minor) and noticed that they had many powerful artworks on Obama. Since I’m a Democratic, I felt right at home instantly- the environment was very dark yet they used bright curtain fabric (lime green) with white lamps. We got our table and the room next to our seating was a slam-reading room, which was decorated with lots of vintage “peace” spelled out in many languages on the wall. The food there is very good, you must try the bruschetta. I’ll go back there and try some more courses for sure.

 

Other than this, life’s good as usual. Maybe a bit too fast.

 

Until the next time I blog!

 

Cheers,

 

-C

Insomnia

*eye twitches, roll over to escape the evil sun, attempt to sleep only to keep hearing thoughts running through your head about the lack of sleep you had*

I’ve been suffering from insomnia for the past two nights. Both nights I have been unable to sleep until appoxmiately 7 or 8. Thankfully I had no classes today that I was skipping for my three hours worth of sleep. Today was Enrichment Day and instead of attending Enrichment Day activities (which I wouldn’t anyways, haha!), I was being incredibly lazy and not doing homework while creating lists on DIDDIT (the ultimate homework avoidance thing, thanks to Meredith!) and checking activities off.

I’m so frustrated with the lack of proper sleep I’m getting. A quick inquiry to Mom revealed a possible solution//tylenol PM. So tonight, I will take some. And I hope I do because i need some proper sleep that lasts longer than four hours!!

amazing but crazy weekend

Last Friday, I had a short day with two easy classes in the morning and free all day after the morning classes. We had a soccer practice in the afternoon from 3-5pm and some of my teammates told me to meet them at Benson Hall Circle to take me out. I didn’t know what is going on so I decided to go with them. Once we got there to the restaurant by using the metro and walking, we enjoyed eating and talking at the same time at the restaurant. they told me they will have some ice cream because they are in the mood to have some dessert. Somehow it is for me and they told me “Happy early 18th Birthday!” I was like, Thank you! They are really nice to take me out for a surprise birthday dinner. I was surprised at the time because I never thought anyone would do that for me. I had a good time that night.

On Saturday, I woke up with a smile on my face because it was my birthday and I was a birthday girl all day. I turned 18 and it is the first time to be awake or celebrate my birthday without my family in California. The first thing I did on a Saturday morning was soccer practice in the early morning and it was pretty rough but good in the end because my team said happy birthday to me with hugs. It was pretty good to start my day even though I was pretty tired from Friday night. I went to a hair salon to get my hair done and it took forever to be done since my hair was pretty long and a lot of people were there at the salon. I got done around 4:00 and rushed to back to campus and to get ready for my birthday dinner around 5:30. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out as i wanted ti to be but at least i had fun with some friends i invited. I stayed up late and hanging out with friends at another dorm. Overall, it is pretty different to celebrate my birthday because I didn’tcelebrate my birthday with my family in California. I wish I could celebrate with them but i know I will celebrate the holidays once I get back to California. 🙂

On Sunday, I woke up late and I washed my dirty clothes and there was a soccer game against Randolph at 1pm. I was getting ready and a lot of people looked at me differently because of my new looks with my hair getting done. Everybody thinks it is good for me to have that kind of hair like that from now on. I am not planning to keep it long, but I will do it once in a while. We played our game in the afternoon and I thought we did really good in the first half and we should have gotten one goal, but we didn’t. I thought we did better in the first half than the second half. If we played really hard like the first half, then maybe the result would have been different. We could have scored at least two goals, but we didn’t do it. As a result, we lost the game to Randolph and the score was 0-4. i think we should have won the game and we didn’t because we lost as a team not just because of any player on the team. After the game, we were rushed to get ready for our coach’s surprise birthday party at one of our teammate’s house. We arrived late but in the end, we had fun and our coach was pretty happy that we did it and I think it would be called “team bond” 😀

it was pretty long, amazing but crazy weekend ever I had since I attend Gallaudet University.

New Blogger

Hello, everyone.

My name is Janaee Cobbs and I am a freshman here at Gallaudet University. I am originally from Sacramento, California. I grew up there my whole life. I attended a mainstreamed school with a deaf program and I never went to a deaf school before. Gallaudet University is my first deaf school ever I. When I first came here to Gallaudet University, I felt different and weird because it was my first time attending school without any hearing students, teachers, or interpreters. I am trying to get used to this environment at Gallaudet University which is kinda a “deaf world” after living my whole life in the hearing world with other hearing people. I like Gallaudet University so far and I love the people here because I feel connected to them in some ways and the communication between me and the people is easier than back in high school. I also am playing for the Gallaudet Women’s Soccer team and I am planning to play basketball this winter right after soccer season’s over. I am doing good so far in school and I like it here at Gallaudet University because it is a new experience for me to learn and it is different for me to experience. I feel like it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to attend to a deaf school full of deaf people and play sports with other deaf people on my team. I am grateful to attend here at Gallaudet University. 🙂

–Janaee

Seasons of Love

Last year, for a general studies requirement, I took Introduction to Theatre. One of the plays we read was “A Raisin in the Sun.” While I was reading the famous American play, I came across a quote that really touched me.

In the play, Mama says, “Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning–because that ain’t the time at all. Its when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so! When you starts measuring somebody, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”

When I read this, I thought about the times I have been guilty of judging someone without considering the “hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.” I thought about the times I have been guilty of loving someone when things are good and not loving them when times are bad. I thought about what a difference it would make in someone’s life if I loved them when they were at their lowest–at the end of their rope–and had no hope to carry on.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves. Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

Love IS all of these things. Love is ALWAYS all of these things. Love is always ALL of these things. If someone is hurting and grieving or if someone makes a mistake, love IS ALWAYS, even in the hard times and bad times.

I think about the song, “Seasons of Love” from the movie “Rent.” There are no seasons to love. Love is continuous and unconditional. It never fails. Only God’s love can be so perfect, but I pray that God would let His love flow out of me for His glory.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 John 4:7-12, NIV).