Jericho Ranting

[spicedogs]

Shoshannah Stern

I love watching Jericho. For one, it had a deaf actor. That was so refreshing. So wonderful. I was always sympathetic with the nonhearing world. It started when I was in high school. My high school had a special program for the deaf and one of the programs was to mainstream them with the regular school population.

In my school, the home-school teachers would choose one of the students in his or her homeroom whom they felt was responsible enough to be the notetaker and follower of one of the deaf students. For some reason, my home-school teacher chose me to be one of them. I was a shy girl who did not live in the neighborhood and hardly had any high-school friends. But my teacher felt that I could do the job. So I was the notetaker in every classroom that I shared with one or more of the deaf student body.

My teacher's move was brilliant. I made friends, felt important, and learned another foreign language. As English was my third language, I now added Spanish, Italian, and ASL to my repertoire. By the way, I arrived in the United States fluent in Portuguese and Hungarian. Unfortunately, I no longer speak two of my languages: Italian and ASL.

Later on, I took my high-school experience to college and graduated with a major in Speech and Hearing Science. I was going to be a professor of Audiology. That never happened. I listened to my biological clock and never pursued my studies.

My fascination and respect for the nonhearing world must have rubbed off to my daughter who also befriended a deaf person, who, by the way, became an actor. He performed in a musical on Broadway, in a Hollywood movie with Diane Keaton, another with Aston Kutcher, and in various TV shows.

Now, getting back to the deaf actor in Jericho, Shoshannah Stern, who was born deaf, was a nice addition to Jericho. But writing parts to deaf actors is not easy and the other actors need to learn to sign to make the roles believable. So how do we handle the problem? Why, of course, kill the character. And, that's exactly what Jericho did last week. It killed Bonnie Richards. I was mad. I am still mad. But, giving credit where it's due, the good-bye scene when Stanley comes face to face with Bonnie's body and he signs his goodbye to her was poingnant. I shed some tears.

Kudos for a wonderful scene. But jeers for killing her off.