New Releases by James W. Van Manen

"The Fingerspelling Code is an opportunity to reinvent your experience with the hardest part of learning ASL and rekindle your success at getting what you want. This is a book about the real way the ASL alphabet works. You have the right to understand the linguistics of the ASL Alphabet. Dr. Jim Van Manen is a native ASL user, a nationally certified interpreter and a college professor with over 30 years of experience in this field and he believes in what you can discover ... "Back cover.

This book gives you entre into the life and art of an incredible woman who has done much with her life. She has traveled the world. She has met several presidents and prime ministers. She has charmed her way into situations and into places few would imagine possible for anyone. To say that she is a remarkable person is to miss the mark. While barely 20 and an undergraduate, along with a few others, she started the Deaf Art Movement. By 25 her artwork had been published in over 10 books. By 40 she had created an international symbol of sign language interpreting, and had her design work published on over 2000 book covers. By 45, after rededicating her life to studio art, she had completed over 150 pieces and defined a new art genre: Deaf Pop Art. She has taken more photographs of famous people using the ILY sign than most people can name. She found herself in Japan and within days of her arrival was living with a Deaf host family and being interviewed on Japanese TV. She has chutzpah, wit, and style in her 5 foot frame. When I tell you she has been Deaf from birth, I expect some readers will be more impressed. As Silver would say, "Pfft. Get over yourself." Being Deaf is a part of her, like being born Jewish or being born a lesbian. It isn't amazing that she's done what she's done because she's Deaf. She is just amazing. This book is an art biography because it is about her art, but it is also about her life. It reads in chronological format, starting with her birth and leads the reader through various stages in her life and artwork up to the present.