Here you go Intellectuals

Yesterday I had lunch with my Pre-Major Advisor. This was a wonderful experience. My PMA is Cathy Haas. She an ASL teacher. When she was 2 1/2 years old she came down with scarlet fever and became deaf. When she was growing up, there weren't as many resources for people with disabilities so she had some hard times growing up while being deaf. Today though, she lives a vibrant life. She came to Stanford originally to work on the research project with Coco. Coco was a gorilla who was taught sign language. She actually didn't agree with many aspects of the research which was really interesting. She didn't think it made sense to teach a gorilla sign language because their bodies actually aren't well suited for it. She thought it was trying to push human ideas and traits on an animal of another species which is not respecting the uniqueness and differences between the animals. Someone who agreed with her is Dian Fossey, a zoologist who studied mountain gorillas in Rwanda). I was so excited to hear about Dian Fossey because I was passionate about her in fourth grade. I did a biography project on her. One of the books I read brought me home crying about the terrible story of her favorite gorilla, Digit, being poached. Getting to hear about Cathy's experiences was really cool. The greatest part though is the experience with ASL and having a conversation with interpreters. Sign language is a really beautiful language to watch because it is so full of movement and expression. I am so grateful to have experiences with this one.