PAWS PRESS March/April 2011
California School for the Deaf, Riverside High School and Career Technology Education
Deafhood: Tim Rarus By Alexa Ontiveros
Tim Rarus was born and raised in Connecticut for a while. He has a younger sister, Kim Rarus, who is two years younger, and is currently married to Hamilton. Tim was enrolled to California School for the Deaf, Riverside for one year while his mom was attending California State University, Northridge (CSUN.) Later, he and his mom moved back to Connecticut. Subsequently, they moved to Arizona where he finally graduated there. He attended Gallaudet University and graduated. He got married to a woman named Brandi and they had 4 kids, one girl and three boys. It’s like we went back in the time to 1988, when Gallaudet University was involved in a protest to have a deaf president. The outgoing student at Gallaudet, Tim Rarus, was the leader of the protest. He came to California School for the Deaf, Riverside, to give a presentation on his experience during the Deaf President Now protest. It was a wonderful experience for the students to hear his story and what he had been through during that time. After the presentation was finished, all of the students went outside and marched around the Brill building field, and experienced the concept of the protest that the students back at that time were involved in, to see what it was like to demonstrate for a deaf president. Tim Rarus has always been remembered as one of the most outspoken students during that historical event.
Volume 3
Issue Four
Deaf Teen America, the Road to the Crown By Craig Long Maj Lesti and I went to Indianapolis, Indiana, because we were selected to represent California School for the Deaf, Riverside in Indiana by winning the Mr./Miss CSDR Pageant. During our flight to Indiana, we were playing some games and taking pictures, but one picture of us happened to have a woman behind us that looked to us like a terrorist. So, we made some funny jokes about it. We also were chatting with Jayne, our sponsor during our flight to Indiana. We were so excited to meet some new faces at the Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD). Maj was a former student from ISD who attended the school during her elementary years. So, she had minireunion with her family there during our free time. When, we finally landed in Indianapolis, IN, I was so thirsty, I ran to the water fountain for a drink, but the water there tasted different from California’s water. After I started forcing myself to drinking some water in Indiana it made me feel homesick for California’s water. We stayed in the ISD dorm for a total of four days. By the third night there we had competed against nine other deaf schools. Maj and I performed the play that was revised from the poem, “You Have to be Deaf To Understand,” for our part in the talent show. We also did another presentation. We talked about “How Can We Prevent a Budget Crisis in Our Deaf Education?” We did well at that competition too. But unfortunately, the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind won the Miss/ Mr. Deaf Teen America competition. However, we learned a lot about leadership and many other things while we were there. When we finally got back to California, we had jet-lag after arriving home. We didn’t realize there was a three hour difference in the time zone between Indiana and California.
Deaf Expo at CSDR! Where will Deaf Nation Expo take place? Deaf Nation Expo will take place at California School for the Deaf, Riverside. Deaf Nation Expo will take place in front of the Brill Building, on the front lawn. Deaf Nation Expo will be a festive place with many booths that you can enjoy. Like many festivals, we will sell food such as smoothies, hot dogs, and candy to support the Class of 2011. The Class of 2012 will sell nachos. The Class of 2013 will sell snow cones and churros. The Class of 2014 will sell strawberries with hot dips. We are expecting more than three thousand people to come here, including hearing people who have deaf children or just those who are curious. There will be a variety of events at Deaf Nation Expo, such as a drive- in movie sponsored by Sorenson, a comedy act will be performed in the MAC, our school play will be performed on stage in the same area where the booths are located, and there will be a Kid Zone, and an art show located in the Social Hall.