Idea 1: The disability figures represented in ancient China’s literature

Although not very often, we can find disabled figures in ancient China’s literature. Zhuang Zi has one chapter in his book describing differences in body figures and disability. Historical Records written by Sima Qian (who is also disabled), one of the most important history book in ancient China,included a couple disabled figures. There were also several folk stories that include one of more disabled characters. I want to examine these literatures and try to look into the social status of disability in ancient China revealed by these non-fiction literatures.

Idea 2: Haidi Zhang, the Chinese Helen Keller

Oops! Forgot to post yesterday, sorry. I even had something really exciting and interesting I had planned to write about...

This weekend I went to the Eastern State Penitentiary because my best friend was visiting and is really interested in anything that has a history or reputation of being haunted. Until this weekend, the only time I'd been at Eastern State was for their annual Halloween Haunted House.

Project Proposal  

I am torn between two possibilities. I could continue my midterm project and explore the connections between queer theory and DS theory. I really enjoyed writing about transablism, and so I imagine writing about queer theory in general would be very illuminative. I imagine this route would also include a lot of personal narrative regarding the intersections of my queer and disabled identities. 

Alternatively, I could write about what my midterm project was originally supposed to be: ethics in engineering with regards to disability and disability studies. I imagine this would be very similar to if not exactly the same as bioethics, which we have discussed in class. 

"I find, when I write, I don't want to write well-made scenes, narratives that flow, structures that give a sense of wholeness and balance, plays that feel intact.  Intact people should write intact plays with sound narratives built of sound scenes that unfold with a sense of dependable cause and effect; solid structures you can rely on."

Penn's education society is hosting a conversation about philly schools on wednesday in case anyone was interested in attending!

Pe

Following on Davis' analysis of private and public prisons...

http://blogs.wgbh.org/innovation-hub/2017/4/7/full-show-private-and-public/

Marissa Martinelli, in Slate: "An Autism Advocate Explains How She Helped Sesame Street Create Its New Autistic Muppet"

We're excited to announce that the 2017 State of the Art Conference on Postsecondary Education and Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities will be held in Syracuse, NY on November 15 & 16, 2017. Please help us spread the word!

When: Wednesday and Thursday, November 15-16, 2017
Where: Sheraton Hotel Syracuse University

We are now accepting proposals at www.sotaconference.com (Deadline June 6)

I just wanted to share this non-profit fellowship for high school students in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas, which I was a part of last year. The fellows meet weekly throughout the academic year and develop their own social justice ventures. The fellowship culminates in a presentation and panel to real investors, who can invest money into these ventures. More information here:

http://learn-serve.org/