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UNC celebrates deaf culture with Deafinitely Funny | Greeley Tribune
For Janelle Butler, becoming a sign language interpreter was a lot like falling in love.
The University of Northern Colorado interpreter said she was sitting in class five or six years ago when she took notice of an interpreter in her class.
“I changed my major right after that class,” she said. “You know when you’re meant to do something, and you see it, and you just know?”
Butler got to share that love at UNC’s University Center on Friday as the university hosted Deafinitely Funny, an event that held a workshop for interpreters and entertainment for kids across the state — some coming from as far away as Casper, Wyo. Later in the night, deaf comedians Keith Wann, “Wink,” Peter Cook and Crom Saunders made an appearance as a quartet for an older audience.
“This was mostly for cultural awareness,” said Nouri Marrakchi, who organized the event. “It’s a chance for us to share our culture with our hearing folks, but the main role is education.”
The event is the first Marrakchi can remember UNC having for the deaf community. And the turnout, which Marrakchi said had been “working out beautifully,” eclipsed the eight registered deaf students on campus.
He’s been coordinating the event for the past eight months with Steven Spencer, the treasurer of the ASL Club at UNC, who said this was the first event he’d coordinated. He was surprised to see so many American Sign Language interpreter students at the event.
“I didn’t expect to have ASL students coming, but half of our people are ASL students,” Spencer said.
Danielle Karnz, another interpreter at UNC, thinks the exposure will be good for Greeley.
“I don’t think people realize that (the deaf community) is a culture. It’s very different from what you and I are used to,” she said. “It’s great exposure, especially since Greeley is a smaller town that isn’t really exposed to anything like that.”
Karnz has been interpreting throughout the eight-month planning process, but she and other interpreters said they didn’t mind.
“The ultimate goal is that the more awareness we have means the more possible interpreters we have, which would be nice because sometimes they’re hard to find,” said JaCee Branch, the interpreter coordinator for UNC.
“I would hope that we can have those moments when people come in and they fall for ASL. It’d be great to say, ‘We were a part of that.’ I’ve always wanted to be part of someone’s love story.”
For Janelle Butler, becoming a sign language interpreter was a lot like falling in love.
The University of Northern Colorado interpreter said she was sitting in class five or six years ago when she took notice of an interpreter in her class.
“I changed my major right after that class,” she said. “You know when you’re meant to do something, and you see it, and you just know?”
Butler got to share that love at UNC’s University Center on Friday as the university hosted Deafinitely Funny, an event that held a workshop for interpreters and entertainment for kids across the state — some coming from as far away as Casper, Wyo. Later in the night, deaf comedians Keith Wann, “Wink,” Peter Cook and Crom Saunders made an appearance as a quartet for an older audience.
“This was mostly for cultural awareness,” said Nouri Marrakchi, who organized the event. “It’s a chance for us to share our culture with our hearing folks, but the main role is education.”
The event is the first Marrakchi can remember UNC having for the deaf community. And the turnout, which Marrakchi said had been “working out beautifully,” eclipsed the eight registered deaf students on campus.
He’s been coordinating the event for the past eight months with Steven Spencer, the treasurer of the ASL Club at UNC, who said this was the first event he’d coordinated. He was surprised to see so many American Sign Language interpreter students at the event.
“I didn’t expect to have ASL students coming, but half of our people are ASL students,” Spencer said.
Danielle Karnz, another interpreter at UNC, thinks the exposure will be good for Greeley.
“I don’t think people realize that (the deaf community) is a culture. It’s very different from what you and I are used to,” she said. “It’s great exposure, especially since Greeley is a smaller town that isn’t really exposed to anything like that.”
Karnz has been interpreting throughout the eight-month planning process, but she and other interpreters said they didn’t mind.
“The ultimate goal is that the more awareness we have means the more possible interpreters we have, which would be nice because sometimes they’re hard to find,” said JaCee Branch, the interpreter coordinator for UNC.
“I would hope that we can have those moments when people come in and they fall for ASL. It’d be great to say, ‘We were a part of that.’ I’ve always wanted to be part of someone’s love story.”