Reviews with TLC

Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker feels universal and intimate all at once. Walker weaves humor and serious observation into his poems in a way that keeps the reader engaged and entertained while provoking thought. His poems explore his own life experience and the experiences of those around him. His observations on people's behavior and choices often hit hard against the preconceived notions people tend to assign to one another. He dives headfirst into the societal ills so many people work so hard to ignore. Affrilachia is a beautiful, powerful examination of life that deeply resonated with my heart, soul, and mind.

My American Sign Language teacher recommended the class read Seeing Voices by Oliver Sacks, so I decided to read it during our break between terms. I quickly found myself immersed in a world within the world in which we live. Sacks, a hearing man, explores the Deaf world and Deaf Culture in a way that brings clarity to something that feels impossible to understand. Sacks provides a glimpse into the history of deaf people and their interactions with the world. His observations are compassionate but never pitying. At times I found myself wincing at the cruelty people are capable of inflicting on one another as I read his descriptions of the attitudes toward deaf people throughout history. In his discussion on communication among the Deaf and between Deaf and hearing people, I felt a sense of the urgency all living beings feel to communicate. His examination of deaf people's attempts to communicate and how often hearing people force their communication on other people as if its the o...