American School for the Deaf  On the Road 2007
California Bay Area
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Walking into Berkeley, California was yet another dimension. It was full of culture, history and so on.

Telegraph AveToday was another one of those relaxed days. In the morning, the students caught up on typing up their journals and investigation. We hopped into the van and drove into Berkeley. We parked our car in the parking lot and walked around. The area had the same feeling as Haight Ashbury, but much more powerful.

The People’s Park which is located on Telegraph Hill across from the University of California, Berkeley, was one of the highlight of the 1960’s as well. The people fled there to relax, to know one another. muralUnlike Haight Ashbury which was the drug area to the hippies, People’s Park played a much important role. During the 1960’s, the People’s Park was a place where all revolution took place, regarding the Vietnam War, women’s rights and Disabled people’s rights. At one point, the Governor during the time before he became President of the United States of America, Governor Reagan closed down the People’s Park because it was expanding and getting out of control. image2Many people disagreed with it, even tried to convince the cops by putting drugs into food such as brownies and lemonade, serving it to them, spiked with LSD. One day, a shooting broke out and killed four students and several wounded. After that shooting, everything calmed down and changed. Soon the ending of the Vietnam War, women’s rights and minority rights soon came. If it wasn’t for all the rebelling, speaking up for what we believe in, there would have been no history of how people came to be.

signlanguageIn one store, which was called Rasputin Record Store, it had the history of the area and the park. It explained how people rebelled using billboard and marching around. There were some other people supporting them as well. There was one picture which showed a person holding a sign that said, “I need sign language to share your laugher.” It touched my heart. It made me think of my rights while growing up back in Bermuda, where most parents did not accept their child being deaf, now I thank my parents so much for accepting me for who I came to be and I am so thankful I can share my laughter with my family.

Those people played a very major role in our history, making the future a better place for disabled people, including the deaf community. So, thanks to them that deaf people can attend the University of California, Berkley.California House

After that, we walked around the campus trying to find the old school and the earthquake fault. Turned out we were right under it. The campus had an old fashion style to it with its red brick roofs used back in the old days to keep cool. While walking up the campus, you could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the bay and it was so gorgeous.

Cork TreeWe walked around the neighborhood, checking out the gorgeous flowers and even saw a cork tree that is used for corks in wine. It was so interesting and I felt it. It felt the exactly same way a cork in the wine topper felt. We explored the neighborhood for a while then headed back to where we started and went shopping.

Tour




Soon we returned to CSDF, started on our investigation and our journals eating left over Chinese food from last night. Here comes another great day to look forward to tomorrow!
 
 
 
 
   
 
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