I adore Rosa Lee's work. I think she is exceptional and very brave. Loving music in the Deaf community has not always been well received. Separation from music could be seen as strong dedication to Deaf Culture and Deaf identification. Only recently in the last ten years, have I seen more acceptance and performances featuring Deaf people.
Rosa Lee is one of these performs that helped paved the way. I would like you to have the opportunity to see Rosa Lee's work and discuss it. She is amazing. Her style and interpretation of music sets her apart. She channels experiences she has as a Deaf person through her art. I would love to bring her to CSS.
Now a look at Rosa Lee....
Rosa Lee Timm is a Deaf actress who currently lives in Worcester MA. She was born deaf in 1976 in a small country town in California. She grew up in a very close-knit, religious, bi-racial, Deaf family whose first language was American Sign Language. With the constant support of her family and the Deaf community around her, her deafness created no communication or social barriers to her throughout her childhood. Rosa Lee attended a state school for the Deaf for her high school years and she graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Social Work. It was at the Rochester Institute of Technology where she discovered her love for acting. She founded and acted in an acting troupe named Dangerous Signs. Currently, she stars in a one-woman show that she produced entitled The Rosa Lee Show. She is married to a musician/interpreter named Damon Timm and they have one son.
"I’m very proud that I did the one-woman show. When I first started, I was afraid. You know the Deaf community can be very critical. They would criticize if I used too many songs in my show, if the show was boring, if they didn’t really get it, and the deaf community is a close-knit group. And it’s very easy for the opinion of one to influence the entire group. If they didn’t like my show, I would take it personally that they didn’t like me so that didn’t do a lot for my ego. Then I had a conversation with myself and I told myself that’s a challenge for me. If I want to be strong and develop confidence I have to just go ahead and do it anyway. It doesn’t matter if the deaf community likes me or don’t like me, this is my work, this is my art, I have to try. So I am proud of the fact that I did do it, I’m proud of the accomplishments that I made from then to now". -Rosa Lee Timm
Watch this music video by Rosa Lee and her husband Damon Timm. Watch how in the beginning Rosa Lee signs in Signing Exact English then later she changes to ASL. Why do you think she did this? What is her message? Did it express the message of this song? When she switches to ASL, watch her sign selections, look at the words, and finally hear what is being said. What message is she trying to convey? I want you to then summarize her message. Pick out areas of the song and discuss them throughly. You should select at least 5 lyrics. Your vlog response needs to be 3 minutes or more. Select one student's work and watch their video. Disagree and Agree with their summaries and express why.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-9tBKf87qs&playnext=1&list=PL49071E90559739C5&feature=results_main
Here is her blog. She has several videos to watch. They are very good and very powerful.
http://rosaleeshow.com/tag/video/
