ASL-LLC Chicago Trip

This month the ASL-LLC had two events, the biggest was joining the other LLCs in a trip to Chicago this past Saturday April 12. We boarded the bus at 7:00 am and headed out for the windy city. We were dropped off at Millennium Park and of course had to have pictures taken in front of the Bean, then we split off into groups to independently explore the city. 

My group stopped at Starbucks on Michigan Ave, because let’s be honest we all needed a little pick me up after getting on a bus at 7 am and RA Leah needed her collectible mug. Then one of the LLC members knew a great place to eat so he led me and 2 others to a restaurant called “Yolk”.  When we arrived I saw the line forming outside the door and I thought it had to be worth it if that many people were here at 10 am. We waited around 20 minutes to eat in but that wasn’t bad, the temp in Chicago was in the 70’s so it was a beautiful day to sit outside and enjoy not seeing any snow in sight.  When the four of us got inside and sat down we got our menus and orders almost right away. I got the Pulled pork with BBQ sauce topped with coleslaw and Graham the LLC member that lead us there got an Eggs Benedict with cantaloupe and grapes on the side and a Nutella crape, as for the other two well I forgot what they had. We all were starving so we scarfed down our food, paid and we were on our way to go shopping. Jessica and I wanted to be the classic tourist and get a shirt that said “Chicago” so we stopped at a small shop while we headed back. The shop was called “Bye Bye Chicago” kind of ironic since it was the start of our day in Chicago. I bought a glass and T-shirt combo for twenty-three dollars and Jessica saw they had collectible spoons so she bought one for her mom. We stopped at a few more shops on the way back, most of them being shops I had no interest in so I don’t remember the names.

At 1:15 we all assembled back at the Bean to start on our way to see the Broadway in Chicago play “Peter and The Star Catcher” at the Bank of America Theatre. For some of the LLC Member this was the first time they were going to see an interpreted play so they were excited. We got out tickets and went to our seats and got ready for the play to start. The interpreters filled the Deaf students and staff that came to the play in about the character’s name signs, and explaining a few things that they might need to know that would better help them understand the play. The play is a prequel to Peter Pan, which means it’s the story of Peter Pan before he was Peter Pan. I didn’t watch as much of the play as I should have, I was more focused on the interpreters and how their use of Classifiers and how they role shifted to become the characters in order to give the Deaf students could follow the play. The best part was when the actor out of the corner of his eye say the interpreter sign “oh my god” the actor kept saying and saying it, sometimes fast and others long and drawn out so see the interpreter sign.

After we had the opportunity to chat with the interpreters about their prep work for this play and get to know their story. The interpreters were a team that flew all the way from St. Louis to interpret, they have a contract with the company that they come out at least once a month to interpret (more if needed), and the company pays for the flight, the hotel for them to stay in and obviously for the show. The interpreters got the full script two weeks ahead of time to practice. When asked what advice they had for future interpreters their response was “socialize, when you think you have done enough socialize some more”. They also added on that when you socialize you are making your face familiar to the Deaf consumer and a familiar face helps when you are first starting out interpreting.

After the play we had two more hours free. As a group we tried to head to get some of the world famous Chicago pizza, but the restaurant we went to had a two hour wait for 26 people and a 45 minute wait for just five people. So we split up for the last two hours and did what we wanted to do with our remaining time in Chicago.  Then at seven we boarded the bus to go back to UWM.