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Volume 52, Issue 104 | wednesday, march 28, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
Speaker connects sign language, music DEAFinitely Dope founder discusses tour with Chance the Rapper, urges inclusion for deaf community By MAEVE FILBIN News Writer
On Tuesday, The National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association (NSSLHA) paired with the Saint Mary’s Student Diversity Board’s Diversity and Leadership Conference to present the story behind prominent sign language interpreter Matthew Maxey’s group, DEAFinitely Dope. Hard-of-hearing and outfitted with hearing aids at the age of two, Maxey grew up in Atlanta, Georgia without ever truly being exposed to the deaf community. “I knew nothing about it … I never knew about the deaf community, I never knew about sign language, I never knew that I was different,” Maxey said. “I noticed that nobody else had to use
hearing aids, but at the same time, it never really ran through my head that — hey, there are other people like me. I just kind of got used to it.” Maxey didn’t learn sign language until he was eighteen, while attending Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. — the world’s only university for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Living and learning among other deaf students opened a door to a new community, culture and personal experience, Maxey said. In order to catch up with the sign language skills exercised by his peers and professors, Maxey began to practice signing some of his favorite music. He soon found that combining the English of rap and hip hop with American Sign Language (ASL) see DEAF PAGE 3
ANN CURTIS | The Observer
Matthew Maxey reflects on the founding of DEAFinitely Dope, which combines rap and hip hop with American Sign Language to create a sense of identity and community during a lecture at Saint Mary’s.
Jewish student association participates in Seder meal By MARY STEURER News Writer
To celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover, the Jewish Students Association of Notre Dame hosted a traditional Seder meal Tuesday night in the ColemanMorse Center. Senior Jonah Shainberg,
co-president of the club, said the ritual feast is held to mark the beginning of the holiday. “Passover celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt to freedom under the leadership of Moses,” he said in an email. “It is one the most important Jewish holidays and is celebrated over the course of a
week each year.” Kayla August, assistant director of evangelization at Campus Ministry, said she works with the Jewish Students Association every year to plan the event. “I get to help them share their faith life and their tradition with see PASSOVER PAGE 4
Visiting writer discusses short story collection By Nicole Caratas News Writer
As part of the Visiting Writers Series, Hasanthika Sirisena read from her collection of short stories titled “The Other One” at Saint Mary’s on Tuesday. Taking place both in Sri Lanka and in the United States, the collection features stories about characters who deal with different aspects of the Sri Lankan civil war.
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“Most of the characters, even if they’ve had direct involvement [with the civil war], I don’t depict that involvement,” she said. “I depict it in a more tangential way.” From a young age, Sirisena wanted to write stories because she loved to read, and although she focused on the visual arts until her late 20s, she said her love of storytelling started when she was a young girl. “I wanted to be a writer from when I was really very young,”
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she said. “I started reading books really early on. I enjoyed reading books, I would spend a lot of time reading and simultaneously, I wanted to create books.” Sirisena, who writes in both fiction and creative nonfiction genres, said she tries to choose the genre that would best serve a story. “I tend to choose the genre depending on the subject matter,” see STORIES PAGE 4
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Bookstore Basketball set to start By MEAGAN BENS News Writer
The largest five-on-five outdoor basketball tournament in the world, the Notre Dame Bookstore Basketball Tournament, will begin this week. The student-run tournament began in 1972, and it was not until 1996 when the program started to donate all the proceeds to the Jumpball Basketball Programme in Jamaica, co-president and senior Julia Pucillo said. “It was started by two Notre Dame alumni in 1996, and they were already down there volunteering in Kingston,” Pucillo said. “They saw the need for some sort of extracurricular opportunity for the school children, so they started Jumpball and it has grown to not only being in Kingston, but to other satellite locations in Jamaica and Haiti. Bookstore has helped fund it for a little less than a decade now. I was a coach there, a lot of Notre Dame alumni come back — some for several years
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— and it is just [a] really great way to teach kids basketball, help them and teach them leadership and teamwork skills while being active.” Thanks to their partnership with Under Armour and help from the Student Activities Office (SAO), co-president and senior Anthony Molinaro said, most of the money is donated to Jumpball. “In the past several years, we have donated about $10,000 to Jumpball each year,” Molinaro said. “Anything else goes into renovating the court and getting new basketballs. Luckily we have been partnered with Under Armour, who has been providing us with free basketballs or gift cards for the winners, and even the tent we sit under. It’s a minimum cost for upkeep because [Student Activities Office] does a good job helping us fund these things because we are technically not a club that gets funding at the see BASKETBALL PAGE 3
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