HLAA Convention 2011 Special: A Capital Celebration

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NVRC News - June 19, 2011

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A Capital Celebration with Help From The Stapitol Ceps

By Cheryl Heppner 6/19/11

HLAA packs so much into its conferences that I have long ago given up trying

to report on all that happened in sequence. Today I'm fast forwarding to

the end, though you'll eventually get reports on Waldo's account of

what happened with movie captioning after the troops had hit the beach,

Gerst's statistics (sneak preview: 2.2 trillion texts a day, 2

million apps), and the research symposium presentation which began with the

Louis son bit " dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller. "

Yes, only in Crystal City, and only at an HLAA conference. What's not to

love?

Dining and Entertainment

There I was last night, two escalator rides down from ground floor of the

hotel, milling with hundreds of others as we waited for admission to the

Regency Ballroom for " A Capital Celebration " to kick off, wondering where in

the world the last 4 days had gone.

The doors opened at 7 pm and we flooded in to find the tables to which we'd

been assigned. But only after showing our passes to the volunteers and

staff guarding the doors, lest Voldemort try to gain entrance and do

mischief.

Alas, that's a fib, but it sounded much more interesting than the truth:

they were checking our tickets to find our table numbers and point us in the

proper direction, thus saving us the indignity of fumbling for our reading

glasses and needlessly wandering about.

My table was #28, where I got to see crack HLAA photographer Dyer

(before she sped off to get more stunning shots) and her , ALDA

president Amerman, three of the veteran conference tech geeks - Max

McCarthy, Les Callaway, Joe Duarte -- who blazed the way for thousands to

learn at HLAA conventions through the benefit of those precious listening

systems. Also on hand was Meg Duarte, wife of Joe, who just happens to be

one of the superb Board of Directors at NVRC.

After eating and talking and laughing myself silly (the hits just keep on

coming with those tech guys), I settled down for the short program hosted by

Suzanne D'Amico of the HLAA Board of Trustees. Executive Director

Battat recognized special guests including award winner Myers, and

international guests and those involved in the loop conference such as Ruth

Warwick, president of the International Federation of the Hard of Hearing

(IFHOH), Conny Andersson, Knut Ellingsen, loop conference chair Dana

Mulvany, tte Sterkins of Wisconsin, and Pat Kricos, head of the

American Academy of Audiology.

The Prestigious Rocky Stone Humanitarian Award was presented by Ahme Stone,

widow of HLAA founder Rocky Stone, to Anne Pope, former HLAA Board of

Trustees member. Ahme read a long list of Anne's achievements and

contributions, noting that Anne initiated the idea of the now famous HLAA

Walk4Hearing and served as its first national chair as well chairing the

New York City Walk4Hearing for the past five years. " And she does windows

too, " Ahme said.

A Capitol Chuckle

I had been eagerly anticipating the performance of the Washington

institution known as The Capitol Steps, a song and dance comedy team with

the motto " we put the mock in democracy " . I've seen them twice before in

person and once on television but never before live with CART so I that I

could know what they were saying and singing.

What a difference that makes. They were hysterically funny! We were treated

to segments about Osama Bin Laden " Under the Sea.with sturgeons instead of

virgins " , President Obama as the Old Spice Man, Trump and a misstep

" guess you played your trump card! " and Boehner as Phantom of the Opera

" gave power to the loonies of the night " .

Then there was the hilarious border scene in Arizona with the surprise

ending, as well as the answer to " who would Jesus TIVO? " The Capitol Steps

celebrate their 30th anniversary this year, and I hope they've got many

talented understudies waiting in the wings.

I can only imagine what torture it was to caption this fast-paced show with

so many unexpecteds. My hat is off to my toes in honor of the CART writer

who made it through, especially with the convoluted words in the last

segment. It's not every day you read " laid his tards on the cable " or " jost

his lob " or " a waby out of bedlock " or " mush-honey " with deep relief in the

knowledge that your brain has not gone haywire.

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Hearing Persons (NVRC), 3951 Pender Drive, Suite 130, Fairfax, VA 22030;

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