Mother’s Day – What It Means to Me

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. We spent the day with my other “Mother.” My girlfriend’s mother is very nice and wonderful, and shows a lot of enthusiasm in the things she does for Candice and me. Oftentimes, I think of my Mother and how she always does things for me. And unfortunately since the distance is far for my Mom to see her everyday like I do with Candice’s Mom; I feel like even thought I am Candice’s boyfriend, I still feel like a son to her and vice versa, Monica, feels like a mother to me.

So yesterday with Mother’s Day, we did what Monica wanted. A nice dinner, all three of us, and to have some Lobster and watch the Lakers. Well, sure enough, Candice, Monica and I went to the market and bought fresh lobster. It was my first time having lobster for a meal and I didn’t know to buy them, we had to buy them still living! I was amazed by how delicious these lobsters tasted. We had our little drinks, cheese and crackers as appetizers. While the Lobsters were cooking we watched the Lakers get spanked. All of this before I left for work, which was why I couldn’t go and see my Mother far, far away. I still called her, IM her and wished my Mom and Christina a Happy Mother’s Day.

Back to thinking of that day, Mother’s Day, was feeling like any regular day. Then I realized, wow, it’s great to be able to honor all the Mothers everywhere. I admired and respect my own Mother who strived to make sure we had the best of everything. My Mom, even though was the “stay-at-home” type of mother, she still was busy in her lives raising her two children – Christina and I. I show the love, determination and hard work in her as she raised us in her religious convictions: to be able to love and obey God in our lives. She raised us to love everyone and to be kind to everyone. My Mom went through so much effort to make sure we had everything – yes, our Mom spoiled us growing up. But it was out of her heart, her love and kindness that made us become who we are today.

I see that in my sister, Christina, and how she is now a mother raising her own son. Jake Michael Franks has become such a cute adorable young boy and he is so full of life! Christina and Larry of course are trying their best to make sure Jake is happy and living the life he should. This in retrospect has given me the perspective of Mother’s Day and what it means to me. Mother’s Day has the essence of respect, love and admiration for all those hard working Mothers. We shouldn’t just take this one day yesterday and say “I Love You Mom, and Thank you for being the best a Mom can be.” No, we should be able to show our Mothers through our own hard work and dedication and show appreciation everyday to our Mothers of our current place in our lives. Without our Mothers what we do today would not be possible for the love and guidance of our Mothers from the yesterdays we have lived in the past. Growing up my perspective of Mothers have changed so much with the ever-changing life of today’s society. There are a lot of single Mothers, a lot of Mothers who are working, a lot of Mothers still going to school, and so therefore, it’s twice the effort and hard work to be able to raise your children instilling the values that their Mothers passed on to them.

This is how I see Christina with Jake. This is how I see Monica with Candice and I. This is how I see the love and admiration I have for all mothers. It doesn’t have to take that one special Day of Mother’s Day to instill our values and appreciation for all our Mothers. It takes our appreciation for them by the things we do to make them happy and proud. Therefore, I say to my Mom, Annabelle Garcia, and my other “Mom” who stays with us in our home, Thank you for being my Mom and thank you for all the things you do through the kindness and love of your heart. And may faith be your strength for the new Mothers out there, and for my sister who is making one day at a time to be as enjoyable as the next for her own son. May God always Bless you with the gifts of love and life. You sure deserve it!

Newport Beach Film Festivel and Deaf West Theatre Acting Program

Here is my latest Vlog, which I haven't been posting a lot of these. I like doing blogs because I love to write. But with my experience with Vlogs, I am still a newbie and I am trying my best to make these Vlogs understandable and edited just right. Roughly put together, but immersed with The Chronicles of Gilberto will do this post justice. A lot has happened this past week and it was filled with Movies, Stage acting, Improv, and the likes. It was a fun time at our first Deaf West Theatre Acting Program last Thursday. Gary Austin, who is considered a great teacher in improvisation for the stage has given us great experiences and lessons in how to put on a scene. We are going to be working with him again this Thursday at Deaf West Theatre for our second class of the acting program. I am looking forward to it!



As for the movie, "See What I Am Saying" with CJ Jones, TL, and many others who documented on the Deaf entertainment field and how hard it is to actually find acts. With the noticeable community of Deaf people we tend to know all these people; but the struggles to make it out in the bigger Hearing World is a challenge. This is what this film was all about and it was well done and marvelously directed by Hillary Scarli. I enjoyed this film so much, that I hope it wins for the best film at the Newport Beach Film Festivel. I heard it won at the Philadelphia Film Festival and received great acclaim for its work.



Watch my Vlog for more information on the "happenings" of my life in The Chronicles of Gilberto!

Until Next Time. . . ! Thanks for watching.

Deaf West Acting Program - My Visit

Out of the blue, I decided to go ahead and take a ride down to North Hollywood and find the location of Deaf West Theatre. We took the 5 North all the way till we got to the Hollywood freeways. Passing the Dodgers Stadium and getting on the 134 freeway passing the Walt Disney Studios was neat. A bunch of other movie studios were on the way as well. I was excited to be back in the area of Hollywood after going to see Wicked at the Pantages Theatre awhile back.

As I took the drive into the Noho District, and getting on Lankershim Boulevard and searching for a place to park next to the Deaf West Theatre. Monica was my navigator with her trusty Thomas Guide showing me where to go. I had to memorize the way to come to Deaf West for I will be traveling alone along the 5 till getting to Hollywood freeways and getting on Lankershim Blvd. for the acting program starting Thursday. As I drove along the street and seeking Deaf West Theatre, we found a small place to park along the side of the Theatre. Since we were here and figuring out where I would be able to park, we decided to get down and look around. Monica wanted to find a bathroom; so we went ahead and went inside Deaf West Theatre. There's the office manager asked if we were lost. I explained the situation about finding parking and so forth. She gave me ideas for Thursday of where to park. Meanwhile we needed to beckon to nature's call and the office manager led us to the restroom. Passing the Theatre's huge library and into the facilities, I began to take in awe the space of this theatre. We didn't get to see the main stage (but soon I will, soon) and as I came out of the restroom, in the main office there was the Director of Deaf West, Ed Waterstreet. I met him once before at the Deaf Expo in Ontario. It was a pleasure to see him again.

Ed Waterstreet, Artist Director

I talked with him about the Deaf West Theatre Acting Program. He helped answered some of my questions and comments. It was wonderful experience to talk with him. I was happy to talk to the "main man" behind the Deaf West Theatre Experience. Running into him was a wonderful experience and he let me know what the program would be like, what will be expected, and various other comments as we talked briefly. He was very nice person to talk to. So my visit down to North Hollywood on Lankershim Blvd was pretty neat, and now I am comfortable to know where exactly to go. As we were in the area, Monica's nephew and Candice's cousin, Eddie lived not far from Deaf West Theatre, so we went to visit him.

Overall, the drive from Costa Mesa, California to North Hollywood, Lankershim Blvd was not too bad. I know I will encounter some traffic. But it is all worth it yesterday as I ran into Ed Waterstreet, the Director and creator of Deaf West Theatre. It was such a blessing to have talked with him.

As you follow my Chronicles of Gilberto, I will blog more about my acting experiences with Deaf West Theatre. Look forward to a fun filled day for it's going to be the start of the program and the start of my dreams to be involved with Deaf West Theatre!

Soreson Video Phone - Technology Benefits the Deaf

Hello, I would like to talk about technology and how it has helped the Deaf in so many ways. With technology rapidly improving and becoming more mobile, the access to information and being in contact with others has greatly improved for all people, especially the Deaf. Back then, Deaf people have used what we called Telephone Devices for the Deaf (TDD) and it was a phone that connects to regular phone lines to talk to someone else who had a similar device. Then the usage of phone calls with TDDs has spread throughout the Deaf people's homes to that of nowadays Relay Operator. This service was to call businesses or other people who's households do not have the TDDs. In a three way converstations the Deaf would rely on a relay operator to relay conversation from person A to person C, while B was the relay operator. This service has greatly improved communication from households who had TDDs and others who didn't. Still, the TDDs were sometimes so slow, and the typing was so long. The conversations would be so slow and we had to type "GA" (Go Ahead) and "SK" (Stop Keying) to continue a conversation or end it. Now the recent expansion of Internet and communication via Instant Messsaging, ex: AIM, Yahoo IM, or MSN IM; the usage of TDDs haver greatly declined since the late 90's.

Now with the newfound technology of Internet and phonelines disappearing, the usage of wireless networks and cable lines has brought about faster technology communications. I believe with the wireless networks and the ever-changing computer technology we are only going to get faster and better. Sorenson has provided a faster and efficient way to communicate with others by a phone. A Video Phone (VP) and this technology replaces that of the TDD. Instead of text conversation which mainly we had to depend on literal transitions of communication by typing. While Deaf Culture relies on the communication of a visual language known as ASL (American Sign Language) we have relied on this medium of Internet and Video conferences. Thus, the web cams and the fast speed internet was a must for all Deaf people to have. But we needed a realiable phone system in case we had to call certain places that rely on phone contacts. So with this technology of video phones, Sorenson has provided the Sorenson VP -200 which I have in my living room. This amazing technology is similar to that of relay on TDDs or Internet through IP-Relay or any other services.

With Sorenson VP -200 I have enjoyed the amazing results of this video phone which is hooked up to my TV and current Internet provider through the cable lines. When someone calls me, the phone flashes and change the input channel to pick up the video image of a relay operator saying someone is calling me, and we connect and thus continue our conversation through ASL. There is not "GA" or "SK," and this feels more relaxing and a more casual converstation comes about. I enjoy my Sorenson VP and I know there are so many improvements being made out there. Especially with a company called "Purple Communications," which is now making a mobile video phone (MVP) and this will come out pretty soon for us Deaf people to actually have our own "cell phone" system that is like the Video Phone. I can't wait for this technology to come out. With the phone that I have now, I am able to stay in contact with Deaf friends, family, and businesses. The best part of a VP for Deaf people is that you can contact directly to another who has the same VP and just chat through video without a third party (relay operators), because after all with ASL being a visual language, we are all able to connect to the Deaf-World through a medium that was made for us. Through video phones we are able to stay in touch with the world.

Deaf West Theatre Acting Program

Hello you all, I am sorry for not posting anything lately. I have been busy at work, been working alot of hours at Disneyland -- recent places I worked at at Disneyland include Adventureland Bazaar, Main Street's China Closet, and Penny Arcade which is the Candy Place on Main Street. Mainly I have been working alot of hours at the Main Street Emporium and have been having fun there. I am enjoying the job at Disneyland and it shows that people still want to have fun with their money and they show up at the "Happiest Place on Earth." So thank God for a stable job and swarms of people from all over who just want to have a good family time. Soon there will be graduations coming up and this will mean late hours for those grads who want to celebrate a milestone in their lives. I remember mine back then in 1995 graduating from California School for the Deaf, Riverside (CSDR) high school. Man, what a blast I had at Disney's Grad Night, and now it's my turn to be on the other side serving our guests with the joys of their celebrations that they will soon graduate and enter the world with hopes and dreams like I did back then.

Speaking of hopes and dreams, I would love to Blog about my Big Dream coming into reality soon. On Easter Sunday, when we were getting ready to enter silence of respect and read our Bibles at home on a quiet Easter Day, I checked my email as usual and got some big news to share. One of my dreams is to join Deaf West Theatre as an actor. I got something close to that: I sent in an application to try for the Deaf West Theatre Acting program this spring and I got the email saying I am in! I am so excited for this opportunity. I noticed that the program will start NEXT WEEK! I am excited to begin this adventure on April 23rd which lasts till June 25, and it's a 10 -week course of learning about acting from the biggest and most popular Deaf Theatre in the country. I can't wait to drive down to North Hollywood and begin this wonderful experience. I will, of course, keep up with my blogs and as well as my Twitters to see what has been going on. Check out the website link to see what the whole program is about:

http://www.deafwest.org/outreach/training09.htm

The joys of acting is my passion, and it's one of my many dreams to be part of the Deaf West Theatre tradition, and being selected to be part of this program has been a wonderful surprise. Talk about discovering the biggest Easter Egg and discovering what was inside. This was my Easter Egg on this Easter holiday and I was glad to share the news with everyone that follows my blogs. The Chronicles of Gilberto has taken a wonderful surprising turn into an exciting opportunity that will unfold in weeks to come.

Twitter - What Are You Doing Now?

A new craze I have found online: Twitter. Chirping away like mini-bloggettes of occasionally happenings in the dail lives of those who twitter. Twitter is the new found blogger's dream of tiny tidbits of what they are doing now. It's been around for awhile and became popular. I discovered Twitter like two weeks ago and found it to be addicting. I am enjoying the limited box to type limited text of the "going-on's" of Gilberto Garcia. Yes, the blogs I write on "The Chronicles of Gilberto" has been updated, but not as much as I like to. Sometimes I can't figure out what I want to write about! So with Twitter, the limited amount of characters one can type has been mainly challenging, and mostly fun. I found it to be an addicting website and I constantly feel like I have to keep it up. Unlike this Blog, where I have to sit down and think of what to write. Twitter allows you to "follow" someone on Twitter that they too can update. Somtimes you can send "tweets" as much as you want. Simply put Twitter is a journal of what you been doing but in a limited amount of space on the page. As you post your tweets, anyone who is allowed to follow you on their own Twitter pages will constantly keep up with what you are doing.

Sometimes hitting the replies to, on the Twitter page, you can communicate with people. The website allows one to know another is following your tweets on the page. I think it's an awesome website that you can just daily post what's up with you and follow other people as well. Obama has his Twitters and other celeberties as well. The cool thing about this Twitter page is that you can send your tweets through your cellphone or any instant messaging tools. To be able to keep up with what one is doing, the keep the constant daily tweets posted is kind of fun -- not to mention a bit addiciting. I have posted here my page if you want to check out my tweets. I have been posting from my Yahoo! Messenger and it allows me to send my tweets through Yahoo.

Check it out: http://twitter.com/Gilbert_Garcia

I think if you read my blogs, you can "follow" me on Twitter as well! Have fun "tweeting!"

http://www.twitter.com/

Pippin Rocks!

Center Theatre Group and Deaf West Theatre knows how to put on a great show!

Since Deaf West and Center Theatre Group merge to create Deaf-musicals, they have been successful at what they do. The previous Sleeping Beauty Wakes got huge reviews and the first one that I saw at Mark Taper Forum was Big River. starring Tyrone Giodran. He again does the role of Pippin and Ty Taylor (picture shown below) as the scene stealing Lead Player – Both actors did a great job at this Deaf West and Center Theatre Group collaboration.

The songs and the music was awesome and it was such a great time to watch the musical numbers in ASL from both the Deaf and Hearing actors. The whole cast worked the play fluently and they seem to be having fun playing their parts. The minimalistic stage and props give the actors room to stage their ASL as the play itself. Watching the motion of the hands and arms, and the body placing themselves around the stage was such a spectacular feat in itself.

Stephen Schwartz who created the original Pippin was excited to have Pippin reproduced by Deaf West Theatre after the success of Big River by the same theatre companies, and the successful hard work by the cast and the crew displayed that this was indeed a new genre of ASL Broadway style productions. I was so impressed by the dazzling costumes, the actors and actresses who flaunt themselves on the stage and the role of the Player by Ty Taylor was very magical experience as he went from location to location singing and signing the lyrics to the musical beat of Pippin. It was such a magical experience that I enjoyed every minute of it. Let’s not forget the timing of the humor was on spot and the pace of the play was quite awhile, but worth every minute of it.

Here is a great critical review from the Schwartz website:

Pippin Finds a New Voice

By Suzy Evans

Stephen Schwartz has been waiting a long time for a revival of Pippin like the one at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. “Over the last several years, I've periodically been approached about a revival of Pippin and for one reason another the circumstances didn’t really make sense,” Schwartz explained in a January interview. There had to be enough of a reason. “And then when Jeff Calhoun called me about doing it with Deaf West, immediately that seemed the ideal way to do it.”

Deaf West is a Los Angeles-based company that casts deaf and hearing actors in their productions. Working with Center Theatre Group, they had already staged Big River with great success, and it was time for something new.

For Deaf West productions, hearing actors are required to learn their lines in American Sign Language (ASL) while the deaf actors must learn how to keep in time with the music while being voiced by hearing actors.

Schwartz thinks Pippin is a natural choice for this kind of presentation because elements of Pippin’s original production can be used to accentuate Deaf West’s interpretation. "The original production for Pippin and most of the revivals that I’ve seen involve the use of hands in various ways, gesturing etc.,” he said. “Obviously when you’re dealing with speaking with your hands and with signing then that adds a whole other element to it.”

Pippin is a story about discovering who you are, and Schwartz, who started writing the show for an extracurricular group in college, called the show “semi-autobiographical.” However, Pippin’s journey of self-discovery takes on a new meaning as these two distinct cultures merge. Schwartz wanted to play with the idea of having people who speak with their hands find their "voice." He comments, “There are ways in which certain concepts of the production and specific moments specifically speak to that issue.”

Musical Schwartz - March 16, 2009

LA TIMES is the best newspapers for Theatrical reviews as well. This one link will lead you to the Review of Pippin:

LA Times Review of Pippin from Deaf West

I am so glad I went to see this play. Since I missed Sleeping Beauty Wakes by the same Theatre Companies, I was so relieved to finally have seen Pippin. It was such a great evening with Kaisa, Candice and I. Later in the evening over a glass of wine before entering the theater at Mark Taper Forum, we met with Alex and his friend. I hoped everyone enjoyed their first Deaf Musical production if they never seen one before. But for Candice and I, this was our of of many and hopefully many more to come!

Here is a clip from Broadway World .. you can see the opening night party, rehearsals and more. And the Lead Player of Pippin Ty Taylor takes you on a backstage tour. ENJOY!

http://www.broadwayworld.com/videoplay.cfm?colid=40144

Hope you all enjoy this review of the Musical of Pippin for it was indeed a magical experience to watch it.