Update #1: Michael and Jamie Bérubé

Whew, folks, it's been a big several days since the last post.

The good news:
Michael and Jamie Bérubé were in town last week.  They gave a talk Tuesday night to a packed, packed, standing room only crowd, with folks (me included) lingering out in the lobby, ears turned toward the open door, picking up a random word here and there.  I was excited for multiple reasons:

1. People on campus and in the community are interested in disability studies!  They're eager, ready to know more, ready to consider how to make the world a better place for people who operate in lots of different ways.
2. The people who came to the talk saw that this was popular.  A buzz was created.
3. Most important excitement:  this interest and this buzz will directly benefit CofC's REACH Program, which I've said before, and I'll say again, is the leading program of its type nationally.  And I am extremely excited to get to help promote and support such a great program.

Michael and Jamie were lovely guests.  You might notice from the previous post that they came to our house Monday evening and visited--and played and sang music--with Maybelle.  If you go to our Flickr page you can see Michael reading The Foot Book with Maybelle.  The next day I had a great time co-leading a discussion in my class with Michael.  Michael appreciated--but then didn't use--my excellent comparison of Peter Singer and George Lucas.  (I think the two men are similarly skewed:  they keep doing/saying things that everyone knows are awful.  They, too, must realize that they're awful!  But they recognize that their fame and income rise as long as they keep people pissed off.  I can elaborate on this if anyone cares--you'll have to let me know.)

Jamie gave a talk as part of Tuesday night's presentation--his very first lecture on a college campus!  I didn't hear it because of the lobby situation I mentioned above, but once I watch the video, I'll weigh in.  Let me say, though, that I'm a bit surprised that we're the first place that's invited him to speak.  He often travels with his dad, and his dad is often talking about Jamie.  If a university is interested in hearing Michael's thoughts about our society's view of Down syndrome in particular, and disability in general, why wouldn't they also be interested in hearing Jamie's thoughts?

Our audience seemed to love it.