Grateful

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Happy Thanksgiving! I thought I’d check in and say hello! I know it’s been a while since the last blog but I have been feeling unmotivated. It’s tough to write about traveling around New England with the COVID-19 rules constantly changing. Thanksgiving is usually the time to be with family and friends. Unfortunately, my family isn’t in same state so we are spending the holidays in our own households. 2020 has been tough on many of us, but I got to thinking about what I am grateful for and thought I’d share some.

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Wedding dress tradition

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I will talk about the tradition I started with the wedding dress. Every anniversary, no matter what, I wear the dress! How did I come up with this idea? I read an article online about another bride that did the same thing. So I thought why not? It’s been fun! When I wore it out in the public, people thought we were newly married.

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My FLX wedding

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Last year I blogged about meeting “Mr. Kelly”. We got married 5 years ago this month, so we just celebrated our anniversary! I still relive my wedding day over and over through beautiful photos, my dress tradition and memories. When we got engaged, we immediately started hunting for venues around my hometown. Seneca Lake is full of venues, which some wineries/breweries host weddings. Naturally Seneca Lake was first place we looked.

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Summary: Deaf and Employment

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Over the last month and a half, I published a 6 part series focusing on my experience with employment. Many had asked me to share these experiences, such as what it is like to go on interviews or what it is like to work in a hearing dominated environment. I was asked to share this a few years ago. Why did it take so long for me to share? I had a lot of hesitancy to publish any of those posts. I felt like each post was so negative. I’m not typically the kind of person to be excessive and pessimistic.

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Part 6: My Journey as a Deaf Paraprofessional

Yesterday marked the end of Deaf History month, so to wrap up the series about challenges I faced with employment, I will talk about the recent and last job I had. Over the last 4 years, I worked as a special education paraprofessional at an elementary school. I interviewed for a position at the high school level and had accepted the offer, until the Special Education director convinced me to interview for the elementary school position. He thought that the student was in need of someone like me more than the high school student. I went to the interview at the elementary school and requested an interpreter.

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Part 5: The continued search

The search for a job after American School for the Deaf took a long time again. I faced many rejections as I mentioned in Part 2. This time, I contacted the vocational rehabilitation counselor to help me with the search. She assigned me a headhunter, which is an individual who helps me find opportunities. I spent a lot of time with the head hunter applying to jobs, fixing up my resume and following up with the businesses. I saw a huge difference in the search process with a headhunter.

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Part 4: TSA

Upon my resignation from American School for the Deaf, I was still reeling from the loss of the new plans I had made to be a teacher. I decided to go back to searching for a job in the criminal justice field as I originally planned. This is when I signed up for a 4 year long commitment with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It should be listed on my resume because you totally can see the dedication right there. All joking aside, it was my biggest fight in trying to get the job.

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Part 3: American School for the Deaf

The summer of 2012, I applied to a residential counselor position at American School for the Deaf (ASD) in West Hartford, CT. ASD is an institute for deaf students from K-12. Some students commuted daily to the school on the school buses. Some students stayed at ASD in the residential dorms since they lived in NYC, New Jersey, all over Connecticut, or Massachusetts. The job I applied for was to supervise these kids who stayed in the residence halls. It was definitely the easiest interview I had.

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The employment challenges of the Deaf

National Deaf History month kicked off on Friday the 13th. It marked the anniversary of ‘Deaf President Now’ movement at Gallaudet University. Located in Washington D.C., Gallaudet University is a liberal arts college for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing. The movement succeeded in persuading Gallaudet University to have a deaf president. I. King Jordan became the first Deaf president in 1988. This reflects the determination of those who fought for what was best for our deaf community.

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Ireland's Great Hunger Museum →

Ireland's Great Hunger Museum
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Happy March! It’s one of my favorite months because we celebrate the Irish heritage with St. Patrick’s Day coming up on March 17th. Last year, I read about the Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum in Hamden, Connecticut. Hamden is a suburban town outside of New Haven. The museum is a part of Quinnipiac University. I learned of it when Quinnipiac University’s new President pulled the funding for the museum. I never knew there was a museum dedicated to Irish history right here in the Nutmeg State!

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Downtown Westerly-Pawcatuck

Savoy Bookshop
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It’s the day after Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil predicted an early spring. Let’s hope that comes true! It can be difficult to find things to do during those cold winter months. One really cold weekend, I found myself in Westerly, Rhode Island. Westerly is known for the beaches (Misquamicut in particular) and Watch Hill. It’s probably not a place one would think to go during winter, but I realized that there’s plenty to do! Westerly is on the border of Connecticut/Rhode Island neighboring with Pawcatuck, CT. There’s a river splitting the towns. I first came across Westerly-Pawcatuck when they hosted their River Glow event during the summer time. The downtown Pawcatuck is within walking distance of Westerly’s main street. There are many stores, restaurants and local businesses. While you do have to be outdoors to walk the downtown, the stores are close in proxy!

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Happy 2020!

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WOW, how is it 2020 already?! Happy New Year everyone. Looking back at 2019, it was a year of ups and downs. I had a word to describe each year but I couldn’t come up with one for 2019. I explored more of Connecticut in 2019. I hope to visit more this year as I have a long list that I’m still adding to! My goal for 2020 is to expand beyond Connecticut too, I hope to see more of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. There’s so much to see in New England!

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