Larry Nesvig
Larry Nesvig is the title character of the poem “The Politician.” The speaker describes the day that the honorable Mr. Nesvig showed up at the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf to address the class of ’97.
Although accompanied by a sign language interpreter, Nesvig jokes about having learned a little “sign language” when he was in the Air Force. It is actually a gesture involving one thumbs-up being held directly beneath a thumbs-up on the other hand. Nesvig is getting a robust response from the students which encourages him to continue.
What Nesvig innocently terms a double-decker thumbs-up means something completely different to all the students attending the school. The speaker ultimately reveals that the politician never had any idea that his gesture mean constipation in their own language.
Yellowcurls
“Goldilocks in Denial” presents an updated version of the classic fairy tale. In this version, she is on vacation from her home on Long Island. Goldilocks enters the home of strangers and eats a bag of Doritos.
In a conversation with Papa Bear, she says her name is “yellowcurls” which reflects the way in which Goldilocks is presented in sign language. The three bears briefly engage with her but then ignore her and go about their business while she just looks on.
This does not last long, and she immediately castigates them for being rude, demanding they acknowledge her presence. After making a big dramatic show for attention and failing to get it, she decides to retire upstairs to the bears’ bedroom. When none of the bears follow her, she commits to her denial by pretending that this had been her plan along.
The Bully
The title character of poem “The Bully” is never identified by name. The speaker simply refers to him as the bully. The two first meet when the speaker accidentally bumps into him, and the bully accuses him of purposely touching his behind.
The next day the speaker is watching Gilligan’s Island and the bully barges in and changes the channel. The next time he does it, the speaker responds by thanking him. Confused, the bully changes it back to the sitcom and laughs when the speaker pretends to beg for the channel to be changed. This becomes the turning point for the relationship.
Every time the bully tries to confront the speaker, the speaker turns it around on him. He graduates before the speaker and leaves by urging him to “take care.” A few years later he learns that the bully has been killed in a car accident in Texas.
Mrs. Schultz
“Mrs. Schultz” is a teacher of young Deaf children. She specifically notes that while she is referred to as “The Oralist” she is actually a supporter of Signing Exact English. Only one student in the class actually likes her, but she thinks he is a bit too cheeky because he always turns his hearing aids off.
One day the assignment is to create a penguin from construction paper. The kids are supposed to give the penguin to their parents as a gift. The cheeky boy instead offers it as a gift to the teacher.
The teacher innocently tells his mother, who is also Deaf, about the penguin. The kid immediately responds by saying he didn’t know it was a gift. This awkward moment serves to help Mrs. Schultz better empathize with students and she keeps the penguin on her desk for years afterward as a reminder of why she teaches Deaf children.
