Judy Dundas:  

ynolds...where ARE you? was a major help to me. He taught me cartooning in summer school, and it was to him that I went to for guidance instead of my own counselor. He was an oasis to a sad kid struggling with family difficulties, schoolwork becauseof learning disabilities, & bad hearing aids, who just wanted to read and draw. I was happiest in Mr. Mora's classes or when my two best friends from my neighborhood and I terrorized Mr. Reynolds at lunch time. We can't have been too bad. I remember that we all laughed in his office a lot. I was relieved my second year at Franklin when my friends finally showed up. Honestly...I don't know if I'd do it this way again. My parents refused special education for me, other than speech therapy. As a result I now have better than normal speech for a person with my hearing loss and I am grateful for that, but it was a living hell growing up with poor speech and few friends because I was different and had hearing aids. I actually had one person in high school say that they used to not like me because I wore hearing aids. I was too dumb-founded to say much back to her. One of my English teachers, whom I won't name, refused to speak up so I could hear her. Hmm. My happiest day has to have been Senior Takeover day, where I was Mr. Mora for a day. He took me to the teacher's lounge and everything, and I did my best to teach art that day. That was the highlight of my time at Franklin. The funiest thing I ever did...well it was funny for me...was to put peanut butter on the door of the art building for Mr. Mora to celebrate Cinco de Mayo...I only peanut butter people I love...and he looked through a big crowd and yelled "Keiser! Get over here". Mr. Mora was never a stupid man. I celebrate Cinco de Mayo in tribute to him to this day, but not with peanut butter! I've become famous here on the east coast with my friends for making enchiladas, rice and beans, yes, from scratch...and buying tamales (I'm too lazy to make them) for New Year's day. I learned how to make tortillas as a kid, and my mom made me learn to make my own refried beans when I left for college,which was good, since it was my main diet. My neighborhood growing up was mainly Mexican, and my Dad grew up in a predominantly Mexican town near Fresno, & spoke Spanish, so I was familiar with Mexican culture before I met Mr. Mora. What I liked about Franklin was that we were already multi-cultural so we all were around different types of people. We didn't have to get bussed clear across town... we already had every-one...except for maybe those rich kids from up north...well, if you were from my neighborhood those kids were definitely rich! The funniest thing that happened to me as a result of going to Franklin, was that long after high school, when my husband was in the Army, I was in a big crowd and got very nervous...and it finally dawned on me that I had never been in that big of a crowd of white people before...and it un-nerved me...and yes, I AM white! Anyway, I thank those of you that were friends and had some kind words for me while we were all there. You mean more than you know. College I went to Delta for three years...and my only memories now are of my Anthropology class and all the German classes I took. I loved singing German beer drinking songs in Dr. Zeller's class, and I loved Dr. Dolberg's classes as well. I enjoyed being president of the German club and all the messes we got into as a result. I remembering me telling Dr. Dollberg that Dr. Zeller was giving extra credit for German club, and my boyfriend telling Dr. Zeller that Dr. Dollberg was giving extra credit...and unfortunately they decided to discuss that when I was in Dollberg's office....and suddenly I had two pairs of eyes glaring at me. All I could say in my defense, was "Well, it worked, didn't it?" I am grateful to the good Dr.s Zeller and Dollberg, because they got me ready for three years that I later spent living in Germany. From Delta, I went to CSU-Northridge...which is where you go on the West Coast if you're deaf...that was quite an education showing up on the first day of orientation and THEY weren't saying a word...! I knew some sign...but not ASL...but I learned very quickly. We soon developed our own little group that included my boyfriend who learned sign so he and my best friend could tell sick jokes to each other. My days with my deaf friends were the best of my life. For the first time in my life, I felt normal. Many of us had hearing aids, and I was fortunate because my speech was good. I took a biology class with a bunch of my deaf friends, and didn't talk to the teacher whole semester except through the intrepreter, because that's how he talked to me...and on the last day I nearly gave him a stroke by saying, "By the way, I CAN talk!"