Back to What? Oh that FUN PLACE!!!! _c_oo_ l

As school year comes to the middle of August for most of Louisiana, there’s much activity going on behind the scenes: Mothers rushing to Walk-Marts, Targets, and K-Marts to buy the required school supplies as checklists are brought home from their children’s first day back in school. Mothers (and even fathers) bemoan the fact that they end up spending $150 or more and worse if they have more than one child. Usually their children clamor to GO WITH THEIR Mommies or Daddies to those stores... and their parents endure another dilemma and repeated statements: “I wanna that!” Or “I have to have that thing! Please Mommy, (or Daddy).”
 
However, why is ‘back to that fun place called school’ so important to millions of Americans and even in the rest of the world? Literacy is very important, even more important to each child, each teenager, and each young adult and even mature adult today. Literacy is the ability to read and write and to interpret the meaning from the printed word. Literacy also involves the reader’s thinking in the gray cell matter called brains, listening and expressing process as they try to form words into sensible sentences. With coherent sentences into good paragraphs, and before you know it; one may end up earning a Ph.D. degree after completing a dissertation!

But then there are people out there who don't go for brain activity but go for muscle building, karate, judo or any type of physical training to develop their muscles, and become BRAWNs... see? All muscle but not much of Brains to go for high technology or communications in the workplace today!
There may be a fine balance of both Brains AND Brawn depending on the job required of the person to perform.

Value of 3'Rs in Education

Education today deserves a little more understanding of what is involved in the learning process of those simple 3 R’s: reading, ‘rithmetic and ‘riting. When a student learns the ‘ladder of learning’ as he or she completes the basic skills or tools needed before climbing up to the next rung on the ladder. Sometimes when a student has trouble with one particular topic or subject, it becomes necessary to work a bit harder to overcome the weakness in that area before he or she can move on.

For instance in the wonderful world of ‘rithmetic, many Deaf students find it easy to master because they can look at the numbers, digits and figures and figure out pretty much the language of numbers in mathematics. However when it comes to reading word problems, some stumble over this part because it required them to read and interpret what the word problems give. Without word problems, math or ‘rithmetic is cinch, but in our world today we involve not just the additions and subtractions but the processes that goes along with language of business, computing and calculating and financial planning for retirement! Hence the pesky word problems.
 
When a student can read and write competently, he or she can then attack the word problems with ease and skill in solving the problems. These skills are often measured in standardized achievement tests such as California Achievement Test, Stanford Achievement Tests and/or Louisiana Educational Assessment Program for K-12 students. Other achievement or aptitude tests such as Scholastic Assessment Test and American College Testing Service are for college bound students to measure their ability to do much more difficult level of learning as required by colleges and universities.
 
Why ACT? An Explanation . . .

 An excerpt from website states the objective of American College Testing Service is: “The ACT is America’s most widely accepted college entrance exam. It assesses high school students' general educational development and their ability to complete college‑level work. The multiple‑choice tests cover four skill areas: English, mathematics, reading, and science. The Writing Test, which is optional, measures skill in planning and writing a short essay. ”

Building Blocks of Basic Education
    
Why should we consider basic education first before we think about institutions of higher learning? Basic Education is necessary and required of all children from ages 6 up to 16 or 18, depending on each nation’s set of standards for literacy rates. With some exceptions such as our Deaf world, we need to go to pre-school early to get the language acquisition so important to learning, getting ready for childhood-long schooling with kindergarten and then being able to do first grade school work by age 6.

During kindergarten days children ages 4-5 learn how to print their names, do the alphabet in correct order if that’s possible, do the numbers and being able to control their hands from gross motor skills down to fine motor skills. This is what pre-school and kindergarten stuff is all about, and learning how to socialize with one’s classmates.
 
By the time one enters into primary school grades, grades 1 to 3, one begins to progress from printing letters in short sentences to script writing in longer sentences. One learns how to add or subtract, then memorize the multiplication tables along with the division tables. Those ‘rithmetic skills are very necessary to managing one’s money in later life and managing budgets, even the United States of America’s BUDGET of 3,000,000,000,000 (trillion dollars).
 
With advances in one’s expression through writing, the student learns how to think, analyze data and then forming his or her ideas to paper as part of a report. Doing a simple book report or doing reading exercises with your primary grade teacher is vital to improving your chances of learning bigger and more difficult vocabularies along with complex and progressive sentence structures.
 
Love of Reading Explained

However, if one loves to read at home and would stop and use his word attack skills to figure out the meaning of a new word, or a word in an unfamiliar setting. He or she stops and goes back to the beginning of the sentence or the paragraph and re-reads it for full effect of the new word or new meaning to a ‘tired’ word. S/he now begins to wonder about many different things as they continue to read along in different subject or category areas such as fiction, non-fiction, adventure, biography, science fiction and down the long list of reading pleasures. Even reading the daily newspaper on the paper side or on the net can enhance one’s view of the world or general educational development.

Compose, Composition, Competency All Explained
 
Let’s take the sentence writing from primary grades and pull that up to grammar grades where students begin to do book reports. They might write a brief book report on what they have read and submit to their teacher for observation. After doing several book reports through the grammar school years, the students begin to tackle the next advanced step of doing essays and free-thinking in their middle school years with an occasional short term papers to flex their ability to synthesize their reading, research and reasoning what they have culled together and formulate a brilliant term paper or a thought-provoking essay.
 
When writing such paper, one really ought to have excellent English language skills to compose and tie the report or paper in a cohesive manner. If their English skills or poor spelling impedes their mastery of the term paper, it’s time to seek help with improving one’s grasp of English grammar and vocabulary. Often a self-imposed study at home to concentrate on better English skills and understand different sentence construction forms and getting better at writing along with an English teacher’s assistance and feedback. Writing can be a JOY for some people who have a desire to write their American Novel or write a mean research paper or even grant writing to generate monies from different sources.
 
From book reports, term papers, essays and even short stories, the students can begin to learn more about many different things. Their confidence in their writing, expressing and thinking will solidify as they progress toward the complex world of high school!
By the time one reaches high school, they have pretty much figured out their world and know it all. Right, moms and dads? Experienced teachers tackling those high school students who thought they could take your place as a parent or even as a teacher and do a better job of it? That could happen, but watch out because after this “know-it-all” stage, one enters college and begins to realize that there is much more out there and one can’t brow beat their instructors in university/college classrooms. Oh dey vey!

Composition Ends after High School?

However, with college/university...let’s call this post-secondary education, the students start taking required courses during their freshmen and sophomore years before deciding on a major. Usually when a student explores the “World of Work” concept during high school years and finally deciding to apply at a few given colleges that meets their career objectives and dreams of doing something good for society at large or for their own Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind society, one can begin to appreciate the path unfolding before the matriculating student towards the completion of his or her baccalaureate degree. Sometimes some professors would require term paper or do a research paper and thus doing the necessary research at the library on campus or surfing the Internet for information needed.
 
With greater understanding of how to do a collegiate term paper with standardized format for footnotes, chapters and bibliography, one starts with these basic tools ready to tackle the next step if they have to go on to Master’s level to achieve their career objective. Usually many graduate schools require of their matriculating student to submit a thesis prior to commencement. If a graduate student has not done his or her thesis before graduation, then s/he can’t graduate and receive their M.A., M.Ed., or M.S. from their university/college.

Exceptions to Writing Rule . . . Good or Bad?

There are some exceptions to thesis requirement for certain Master’s program in a few universities/colleges. But when you stop to think about this “Lucky me, I don’t have to write a thesis for my master’s,” then if you are aiming for a doctorate, then watch out because EVERY DOCTORATE requires a dissertation completion.
According to some of my colleagues who had to take doctorates to keep their jobs as instructors, assistant professors, professors, professors emeritus, at an university, they shared their frustration of doing so much to get their doctorates. Enormous challenges lay ahead of them. Taking courses at either Master’s or Doctorate levels may be fun, challenging and enjoyable, however, when it comes to doing oral comps, written comps and the dreaded dissertation, several hearing people have NOT finished and they say, “I took courses for Ph.D. but now all but dissertation (ABD).
 
Theses (plural) and dissertations are “Mega or Giga term papers” respectively as the grad or doctorate student would have to have an interesting research or study topic to do firstly, “Review of Literature” then on to research hypothesis (theory or ideas or guesses) and go about proving it by designing some tests or experiments to work out their idea on a subject or learning skill. Sometimes with excellent research and findings, some dissertations eventually end up being published as a reference book in the particular field.
With some Master’s degree programs and certainly most doctorate degree programs, the student MUST have a foreign language competency and pass that foreign language test before matriculating.
   
Along with Master's level work, some universities may require an entering graduate student to take Graduate Record Examination as it's slated for Master's level work and to assess the student's competency to do advanced post-secondary college/university undergraduate work.
With Deaf students struggling along with these stiffer Master’s and Doctorate degrees, they have one advantage today; ONLY IF their state has recognized American Sign Language as a foreign language! If Louisiana has NOT done this yet, then we must start working towards approaching the state legislature to formally recognize and approve American Sign Language as a foreign language, then the way towards M.A. or Ph.D. is made a little bit easier!

On An Important Tangent: ASL
 
On a tangent here from school itself and the importance, teaching American Sign Language (ASL) requires much more sophistication and advanced technical knowledge of how the visual-gestural three-dimensional sign language work in the “brains” area in teaching skills. The ASL instructor has to learn how to teach it as a visual gestural sign language through the learner’s eyes only and NOT to be accompanied with voices (in English) to help students learn sign language more auditorially rather than visually.

To make the distinction between American Sign Language as a true linguistic mode of communication, as opposed to other manually coded English signing which are inventions by well-intentioned educators in the field of Deaf Education, but to no great success. To achieve the much needed recognition, this requires accepting American Sign Language as a validation of foreign language and must be placed in similar required and rigorous curriculum and training similar to those other languages such as German, Spanish, Russian, French and Chinese being taught in schools and universities.
 
American Sign Language and manually coded English signing systems ARE NOT SIMILAR OR SAME THING. No way! ASL is a true linguistic language with its own properties of a living language. This subject will have to be treated in depth in a future column to cover every aspect of American Sign Language used by adult Deaf+ and the younger students presently enrolled in K-12 grades eventually do pick up ASL after a while mingling with other Adult Deaf population. There have been numerous incidents throughout this country in the past 3 decades when a younger Deaf person sees an older Deaf person signing in ASL. The younger person may use cued speech for an example approaches the older Deaf person and tries to communicate in cued speech manner only to end up being frustrated in his inability to interact with the older Deaf person.

Whereas when there are two older Deaf adults from two extreme ends of the United States of America, and should meet up in a chance encounter at an airport, they both CAN COMMUNICATE quite well given a few regional variations of sign, and they can navigate to find out what that sign really meant! But with cued speech person, the chance to interact and make new friends is very much diminished. In total honesty, did the cued speech user really get on with his hearing peers in his daily life? Any meaningful relationships formed for rest of his or her life? So much at stake today with all those different signing systems, cued speech users and us regular ASL signers who LOVE ASL and still can write competently in English... as a bilingual person would do.

ASLTA: Take Notice!
 
Anyone who could sign and thought they could teach a course in sign language at an university is very much mistaken indeed and the university who hired the instructor must realize the progress of their university students ever gaining competency in signing and interacting with real Deaf, Hard of Hearing and importantly Deaf-Blind people outside.
 
Additionally, there is a professional organization called American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA). Teaching ASL requires not only the sign language but also the depth of Deaf culture, mores and values, discourse settings and the like that often go among Deaf+ people today. Compounding the Deaf+ people’s world of this day is the invasion of manually coded English signs along with different inventions of signing systems (mainly designed not to unite but to divide Deaf people from one another in adulthood!)

Climbing the Ladder: IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Back to the simpler school days, as one attending school during growing up years and then attending college or university after graduation from high school can be tedious, boring and ‘no-fun’ experience, but once you’ve achieved the Dean’s List or Honor Roll during post-secondary education and finally getting a baccalaureate degree in a chosen field, then going on for Master’s and Doctorate in Philosophy, one begins to appreciate what they have learned in classrooms and from their mentors/instructors/adjunct lecturers. These mature and wise people are passing on their wealth of experience, knowledge, education and wisdom on to their younger generation of students who aim to make the most of their collegiate experience.

These younger generations of students in turn become instructors, professors or adjunct lecturers thus propagating through the millennia old tradition of education as it started in Greece all those years ago.
Unfortunately for some students in our world today, they see college/university education as a cop-out to hang out with their friends and shoot up drugs and neglecting their primary purpose in attending university and learning and furthering their education. These weekend and even weeknight binging on drugs and alcohol do not actually add to the college experience but subtract a lot from their aptitude in learning. Such drugs and alcohol contribute to more destruction of brain cells that could store up vital information gleaned from their education.

Drinking and Driving Don't Mix....

Drugging and Studying don't Mix either
Sometimes a bad trip involving drugs can render a student a vegetable for life as it has happened to quite a few. This is a very serious problem in our modern day colleges/universities today.
If a student in college or thinking about going to an university, but has this drug and/or alcohol problem s/he should seek out counseling to resolve this problem before going into studies involving their gray cell matter called BRAINS.
 Regular or prolonged alcohol use does cause brain to deteriorate and lose vital information stored in the gray cell matter area.

Aspiring to be a Rocket Scientist or President of USA?

Anyone who has some good aspirations to become a rocket scientist, a chemist, an educator, a publisher, an administrator or even be President of the United States of America need to attend their courses and study diligently if they want to graduate with distinction in their given fields of study.
 
Dropping Out of School, Good Idea?

For some people, dropping out from high school seems to be nothing and one can go living as it is. But eventually these high-school dropouts discover a sad truth if they seek employment in the United States and particularly in their home states... that the employers require a high school diploma!
“Eeek, no one told me I had to have a high school diploma if I wanted to have a job....” Sometimes one can get a job but as an unskilled laborer earning at m minimum wage or even below minimum wage. This is a very serious concept and one should think many times before they drop out of high school. If one’s vision is so bad that the student can’t read the blackboard/now White boards, the low vision student should contact their guidance counselor or supervising teacher to discuss their concerns about getting better materials and ability to keep up with their class work. We are in the 21st century, and being a high school drop out is not a good way to live the rest of your life like this.
 
Average Life Span Gets L-O-N-G-E-R

Life is very long especially when you either finish or don’t finish high school at age 18, 20 or 22 and do not consider furthering one’s education with a specific interest in trade school, technical school or university education, then one becomes mediocre person for the next 40, 50, 60 or more years. This is difficult concept for young people today to stop and think about something when they become grandparents or great-grandparents and looking back, what do they have to offer for their own children and families? Standard wages or forever on supplemental income (SSI) for the rest of their lives. Is this a great way to live?

If one regrets ten or fifteen years later that s/he did not get a high school diploma, don’t give up on yourself! There are GED classes, study books for anyone who is willing to set aside time to learn all these ‘general educational development’ courses. Once s/he accomplished the GED test and pass, s/he can receive GED or General Equivalency Diploma. This can be done!

When one is at 22 or 25 years of age, is starting a career in a field, if someone approaches them about long term financial planning for their retirement. STOP and THINK twice before you boo-hoo the person away. By the time you get to be 40 or 45 years old you suddenly realize that you are only 20 not 40 years away from retirement. You sit down at your kitchen table or at your computer to compute how much you would need to save if you wanted to retire comfortably and not worry about a small pension or Social Security or retirement annuity, STOP NOW and start investing in your future 40-50 years from now with small planning strategies such as opening a savings account with good interest rate or invest in some good financial institution with good reputation for fund management, but do not make the mistake of the Baby Boomers today who are caught right in the middle of having plenty and spending most of it away and then BAM, nothing left to rely on during retirement years.
 
Applause goes to anyone who after working several years in a trade or field who then decides to return to school and further their education. Starting college in middle of one’s life can be challenging because the older and mature student would have to readjust his or her lifestyle to being back in school with set number of curses and expected fulfillment of studying required of them and to study for tests, quizzes and exams. They present a challenge for these people, and by the time they go on to second semester and continuing, they have achieved the necessary adjustments to their lifestyle and look forward to completing their education at the end of their expected graduation date.
 
Reading ON Your Own (ROYO)

The secret that many of us older and mature Deaf adults during those years of 1940's, 1950's, and up to about 1980's was our ability to read on our own through the wonderful world of graphic arts known as comics and comic books. Many of us thrived on these picturesque drawings and the most helpful balloons with words printed on them as ‘speakers’ uttered their words or having their private thoughts. We learned the Basic English language through this, but unfortunately the educators of our heyday did not realize the true value of comics and comic books.

Many times if we were caught reading a comic book inside our notebooks they were confiscated and torn up by our classroom teacher. Many of us had to guard our most prized possessions very carefully but many of us mastered the ability to read beyond comic book stage and into the wonderful world of little golden books, Grimm's Fairy Tales, time honored classics and distinguished works offered by many authors and writers. From those books we learned the bigger world outside our classrooms and from our homes. This is a wonderful way to grow in knowledge and progression in one’s reading skill and writing and expressing ability as we mature towards our adulthood.
 
World of Work, at Kindergarten or before . . .
 
Choosing a career is a big decision. This usually begins when a toddler gets attracted to an interesting vocation: watching the fire truck spin by, firemen wearing those wonderful RED helmets and wearing those stifling hot body suits and riding on the back of a bright RED engine truck with a golden ladder sticking out, and water hoses all rolled up neatly.

Or another toddler is fascinated by his grandfather's cattle ranch and decides to wear a cowboy hat at age of 3 and struts like a real cowboy ready to rope a stray cow, or herd these cattle to where they should go.
Or a girl at age 4 thinks she can become a teacher and teaches all her dolls to be good students as she attempts to teach them the rudiments of the alphabet!
Or a toddler who has a mother for excellent organizational skills decides to take her grandmother's 10 different decks of playing cards and mix them all up and then proceeds to resort each card to respective card pile. If there were two identical back card designs, she will then sort them out by the aces, spades, hearts and diamonds and putting those 52 cards back into their holders! That can be done with little toddlers and kiddies. This is called kinesthetic play time.

But you don't have to sweat it—planning for your future is not something you do once. It's a continuous process.
One way to start is by exploring your career options in the "World of Work." Which can be found at http://www.actstudent.org/wwm/world.html?

Registration Deadlines for School . . .
 
If you missed the registration deadline with your college/ university of a given choice, don’t give up. Try re-enrolling or enrolling at the next registration period and enter college in January and get rolling with the rest of your life.
 
State Agency there to Help!

If you are Deaf+ and do have a case with Louisiana Rehabilitation Services (in other states, it probably called by its generic name: Vocational Rehabilitation). Take advantage of an excellent opportunity to get your education plans lined up and get the assistance you need to move ahead with your career or lifetime dream.... the first step begins today with a phone call to your local LRS counselor!

Why School IS Important for Deaf+ People Today

Why am I ranting and roving here this month’s column on school and lifelong choices? Because I do see a need for better world for Deaf+ people ten, fifteen or twenty plus years from now when readers hearken to this column and realize there is a future for every young man and woman who are at the threshold of making a career decision: whether to go to college and get a degree or two, and find a career track that would suit them... and the sense of serving other people who are similarly Deaf, Hard of Heaving or Deaf-Blind to improve our day to day situations. We right now are not having the :top of the world” as we would like to see right now, but with more education and advanced degrees in education, rehabilitation, administration, business administration and down the list of possibilities. The future is ours if we all decide that we could do it together, right?

Smooth Sailing Ahead Always?? NOT!

There will be times in your lifelong journey through the realities of world that you may have to assert yourself and claim your rights as a human being with some form of disability such as sight, hearing, and/or whatever else you have added to your physique. One important consideration is to check out if your case with an agency or with Vocational Rehabilitation (in Louisiana, it's Louisiana Rehabilitation Services), that you might wish to check out how your case is progressing with your LRS counselor's advocacy along with our own advocacy. As mentioned in an earlier column in DEAF BAYOU, a column was devoted to advocacy, "Will the REAL ADVOCATE please stand up?"

You and Your LRS/VR Counselor

Sometimes when you and your LRS counselor have worked out your IWRP (Individual Written Rehabilitation Plan), it is advisable to make sure you understood what your counselor is paying for your education. Careful consideration will have to be done when you ask for interpreters, tactile interpreters and captioning/transcribing services as your professional note takers. Other considerations could include some much needed assistance with books, supplies and the like.

After you have signed on the IWRP, it's "cast in stone" and any further amendments will cause delays. In some cases the university of your choice may need some education as to your needs as a Deaf+ student. In some cases when the institution of higher learning fails to comply with the conditions set forth in 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), you may need to file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights under Department of Justice. There is an excellent on-line complaint form that you can write in your complaint. This is YOUR tool in advocating your rights, your efforts to obtain better education and a better choice of careers.
 
Some Situations Require Written Memos

AKA “Paper Trail”
Sometimes other than an institution of higher learning, one Deaf+ person might encounter some difficulties in receiving the necessary communication services at a life adjustment training center. If your LRS counselor has provided monies through your IWRP for interpreters, but the center has not provided the interpreting services, do not wait long before requesting any immediate attention to this need of communicating with your instructor(s). Your may try one step at a time: Ask your center's lead teacher for an immediate resolution; if that did not come through within reasonable time (should be one week or 10 days), then go to the Executive Director/CEO of this center and request an explanation IN WRITING.

This is very important to leave PAPER TRAIL if you do have some serious considerations with your training or education needs. If you have not received satisfactory resolution to your WRITTEN request (be sure to keep a few copies in a file stashed at your home), then go to your LRS counselor with a copy of your written request and center/university's response if any. Explain in clear terms how your requests for services were not met. LRS has pooled in a lot of money for YOUR "Rehabilitation" needs and they should be informed within two weeks of no-show situation involving your needs. When the center finally does comply with your request, then you can write a letter of appreciation to all parties involved: LRS Counselor, CEO/Director, lead teacher and keep a file (again stashed at home). This is called collecting evidence and WRITTEN communiqués between yourself and other people.
 
This is to PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS AS A DEAF+ PERSON from any abuses that any service entity might provide you.
If MORE Situations Require Written Memos
“Paper Trail” eureka again?
If there are other situations that develop regarding some other areas of need or services, follow exactly the same process as explained above, and again keep another file folder (stashed at home) and labeled such and such. By the time you are done with your training/education, you might have a file drawer full of those misact ions or wonderful assistance.
 
A Letter/Note of Courtesy Is Usually Appreciated
As a courtesy, I recommend that when you finish a year or a conference with your LRS counselor, write a letter of appreciation. They work very hard and trying to keep track of large caseload in their day to day work. When they receive a letter of appreciation, they feel their efforts have been recognized and acknowledged.
Along the way, here's some sage advice from the wise old owl: If there is some concerns that you have and have not received a response: FOLLOW-UP or FOLLOW-THROUGH! This means that you write again and politely remind the person to get back to you with answers.
 
You MAY MAKE A DIFFERENCE for someone else's life down the road; never know until you go for it yourself!
In closing, do you ever think writing columns like this every month is EASY? It requires all of my soul, mind, spirit and muscle (in my fingers) to think what to write about for this month's column. Then to re-read this column over and over many times before I am quite satisfied with the topic and giving it all my BEST to make it interesting reading and informative. I think I began writing short subjects while I was in grammar school and contributed to my school's publication, 47 Speaks.

I did get a thrill of seeing my name in print! I even wrote some articles for Gallaudet University's Buff and Blue monthly newspaper. I forgot to put my by-line.... and that ended my journalist career. I went on to do Little Paper Family column by reading and culling news from different schools for the deaf to Illinois Association of the Deaf monthly's publication. After attending several American Association of Deaf Blind conventions, I wrote up a summary of the week's events and included black and white photos to The Silent News. As a matter of fact from 1981 at Gallaudet University's hosting of AADB and subsequent years, I saw the number of Deaf people with Usher Syndrome grow by leaps and bounds.

This did pay to 'give free advertising to beckon Usher Syndrome people to come and meet others. Of course a few romances were batched and a few marriages were done after such meeting up with Mr. Right! And not to mention the subtle change from Blind-Deaf to Deaf-Blind people in membership... More POWER TO US!
All of this writing and editing took patience, painful process of putting words down just right and making sure the word choice is appropriate and correct to the content and context of a topic and adhering to the ever-present deadlines including DEAF BAYOU e-news.

I even became self-publisher of a quarterly newsletter, "Usher Syndrome Awareness" and sent it to most of people who have Usher Syndrome here in Louisiana and in the country. The invention of fast Xerox machines was a blessing!! In short, I do love writing and sharing what we know of this or that.

Come visit DEAF BAYOU e-news at and you will find a wide selection of links that you will enjoy exploring to expand your horizons!
 
Linda, Abecedarian

 On the Net:

http://www.deafbayou.com (DEAF BAYOURS!)

http://www.google.com (good search engine)