ellen5e.com » report http://ellen5e.com Blogging about my 5 E's Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:40:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Silent Surprise says “Open Your Eyes” http://ellen5e.com/p/silent-surprise-says-open-your-eyes/ http://ellen5e.com/p/silent-surprise-says-open-your-eyes/#comments Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:55:35 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/?p=524 DOWNTOWN INDIANAPOLIS- While I was putting coins in a parking meter on Meridian Street I glanced about the Indiana War Memorial Plaza and took in all the flags at half staff. Tomorrow is Veterans’ Day and most flags are at half staff in honor of a tragic shooting last week claiming the lives of many servicemen in Texas last week.

While taking in the serenity that was accompanying the sunshine on this fine, fall day, I noticed a peculiarity. There was a woman in white at the base of the flagpoles, all dressed in white, moving with tai chi like movements. No sooner had that registered when I realized that there was another woman several feet away mirroring these exact movements. They both were facing southward toward the World War Memorial Building on Michigan street where there were even more ladies in white making these same graceful movements. Now glancing all about, I noticed that there were about a dozen of these white clad dancers spread over the city block square area. What was going on?

Since I always have my digital camera with me, and my curiosity was peaked, I took out my notebook to collect some news. This is what I discovered.

I had stumbled upon RANDOM ACTS OF IMPROV. This was one of several surprise activities that will take place throughout the city during the ten days of the SPIRIT AND PLACE FESTIVAL taking place November 6 – 15th. (see Spiritandplace.org for more details).

This particular display, put on by Susurrus Performance Group (website click here) happened right at the noon hour, causing many city pedestrians stopping on the sidewalk and asking me what was going on. They joined me watching in wonderment momentarily before they continued on their way.

I believe that this is one of the goals of Susurrus and the many other performance groups partnering with the Spirit and Place Festival as they encourage some people to interrupt their mundane routine long enough to get involved in their surroundings; to stop and take notice of what is happening in their neighborhood. How refreshing it is to enter into a moment of wonderment and to take time to engage with other people that we would normally just walk by.

In that regard I challenge those of you in the Indianapolis area to keep your eyes open for surprise happenings and the opportunity to engage. There are going to be dozens of happenings over the next week that are unannounced. Thus, the Random Acts of Improv will surprise people. So keep your eyes open. Maybe we will learn to be not only see our community with fresh eyes, but perhaps, we might take it a step further and become actively engaged.

NOTE: not all events are surprises.  There are also 40 events–nature walks and driving tours, dance and theatre performances, conversations and workshops, panel discussions and potlucks, and much more! Over 85% of these activities are FREE!

Former Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut will be present at the marque event on the last day. There is simply too much to cover here… so please visit the Spirit and Place Festival web site by clicking here.

Thank you to Susurrus and the Spirit and Place Festival (and the many other partners) for being such a blessing to our community by reminding us that we all can bless one another by just taking a moment to engage with another person in creative ways.

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]]> http://ellen5e.com/p/silent-surprise-says-open-your-eyes/feed/ 0 Not the Report I Was Hoping to Hear http://ellen5e.com/p/not-the-report-i-was-hoping-to-hear/ http://ellen5e.com/p/not-the-report-i-was-hoping-to-hear/#comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:21:09 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/?p=374 I was very excited about the EEG test that I had a couple of weeks ago. The technician had wired me up to the machine to record brainwaves as I performed the requested tasks. However, the lady surprised me by having me sing “You are my Sunshine” followed immediately by speaking the words. I was excited to learn that she did this because of my demonstration before the testing began.

It was with great anticipation that I went to see Dr. John Scott, my neurologist for my follow up appointment on Wednesday. I could hardly wait to hear what the EEG scribblings would show. I bet that there would be irrefutable evidence that my speech area was located in a different part of the brain than that which I used to sing. And since I can since in my “regular” voice, I thought that meant that I would be able to fully recover my normal, unaccented voice.

However, my excitement turned to disappointment when I didn’t get such a report. “Your EEG is normal,” came the report. Although that is good news in regard to connectivity of brainwaves and such, it didn’t help shed light on what is actually going on with me.

When I put the doctor on the spot with, “Well, if I just came to you with these symptoms and I had never even mentioned Foreign Accent Syndrome, what would you do with me?”

Dr. Scott told me that there simply isn’t an easy way to figure out what is going on with me. He said that in this local hospital network there simply aren’t specialists who deal with speech and how one might suddenly be stricken with a foreign accent. The closest related doctors that he could think of deal more with dementia than speech. There are also doctors who handle speech problems as it relates to psychologically based maladies, but I don’t really fit into that category either.

The bottom line of our follow up appointment is that Dr. Scott was entertaining the idea that it might be Foreign Accent Syndrome, but we are unsure of where to go from here. What testing or studies should be done. Dr. Jack Ryalls, of University of Central Florida is an expert on Foreign Accent Syndrome. My neurologist asked me to have Dr. Ryalls email him with suggestions for tests and then he will consider those recommendations and schedule them accordingly if possible. For example a functional MRI has been known to show which areas of the brain are affected, but there may not be the proper imaging tools located around here.

It is looking more and more like I am going to be dependent on some sort of a School of Medicine to launch an investigation, or include me in a study of some kind, because there doesn’t appear to be anything around here like me. Truly, I am feeling very foreign now, not just in accent, but in the idea that people just don’t know what to do with me or this problem.

There are very many people who say that I have a beautiful sounding accent. They all are intrigued by the very idea that I have this affliction. It truly is bizarre, however what to do about it? That is the question. All in all, I didn’t get the report that I was hoping for.

That is why I continue to scour the internet for more information on what may explain this. I am amassing quite a lot of documentation, but not getting to the answers yet. There is so little known about such a rarity. Still, I press on. . . there are others who are looking for the same answers out there. Still there are others who don’t know who to turn to for help. I, at least, have a group of doctors who are legitimately trying to get to the source of the problem.s

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]]> http://ellen5e.com/p/not-the-report-i-was-hoping-to-hear/feed/ 0 WIBC Interview for June 30th http://ellen5e.com/p/wibc-interview-for-june-30th/ http://ellen5e.com/p/wibc-interview-for-june-30th/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:24:27 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/?p=364 Today’s interview with Terri Stacey and Big Joe Stayzniak on WIBC 93.1 FM can be heard at the following link. Radio Waves imagesHowever, before you listen let me explain one thing. Earlier in the morning show, Joe and Terri were talking about a bit of a mystery that is happening at the radio station. Newsman Joe Ullery noted having found two french fries lying there at the station. Previously, there were found two fingernails (of the press-on variety) that had a FRENCH manicure. I found it funny that Joe Ullery has almost made a shrine of the fingernails because they make him feel happy. Why does Joe keep “noticing these things but not disturb the scene”?  So it was my bright idea to mention a possible solution to the mystery. LOL

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Summary:  refer jokingly to the French Connection mystery at the radio station, excited to see neurologist tomorrow for EEG results, singing is fine but speaking is accented, different parts of the brain?  Speech therapy scheduled to start in two weeks. When  you dream do you speak with your accented voice? Working on words to make it better. Is the accent getting better or not? One step at a time. Happy July 4th everyone!  Have a “Bangin’ Time”!

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]]> http://ellen5e.com/p/wibc-interview-for-june-30th/feed/ 0 WIBC interview June 23rd http://ellen5e.com/p/wibc-interview-june-23rd/ http://ellen5e.com/p/wibc-interview-june-23rd/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 04:04:41 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/?p=352 Here is the audio for the interview with WIBC 93.1 FM’s Big Joe and Terri Stacey for this week.  Radio Waves images

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Briefly: talk about whether they think my foreign accent is getting better? What is an EEG? What happened during the EEG? And the benefits of friending on FaceBook.

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]]> http://ellen5e.com/p/wibc-interview-june-23rd/feed/ 0 Weekly Report on WIBC http://ellen5e.com/p/weekly-report-on-wibc/ http://ellen5e.com/p/weekly-report-on-wibc/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:17:58 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/?p=314 This weeks report at WIBC 93.1 FM sound file is at the following link:Radio Waves images

WIBC 04 Sound File of Terri Stacey and Big Joe Staysniak of WIBC 93.1 FM interviewing me.

This episode is mostly about meeting another FAS person we’ve named Fishers Fran who has intermittent episodes of accented speech. There is a clip of the audio from the video that we took earlier in the week.

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]]> http://ellen5e.com/p/weekly-report-on-wibc/feed/ 0 Weekly Check-In At WIBC 93.1 FM http://ellen5e.com/p/weekly-check-in-at-wibc-931-fm/ http://ellen5e.com/p/weekly-check-in-at-wibc-931-fm/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:01:47 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/?p=189 Tuesday mornings at 7:45 a.m. has become a time to report in to the local Indianapolis radio station on what is happening with me and the Foreign Accent Syndrome. This is a time when I pray that God will use me to reach out to the community with what I am learning through this trial. It is a time to reflect and communicate on how people talk to one another. Since communication is one of my greatest passions, I see this as an opportunity and am thankful for the chance to bring some insight as I am going through it.

I do get a lot of compliments on my good attitude as I go through the frustration and predictable concerns of any person going through an unpredictable dilemma. Again, opportunity through the trial, as I am allowed to come back to the fact that even though I do know what is happening . . . God does!!! And there is the source of my peace. Not once is God surprised by what is happening.

Here are the two audiio files for you that can listen to them… the first one in particular is quite small as it is just a teaser.

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Then Terri and Jaimie do the actual segment with me at the link below.

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The general contents of this weeks report were about

What accent would you like to speak with if you could choose? How long has it been and what have they done for you? How do you react when people keep asking where you are from? What about speech therapy? It is very rare and research and hard to learn about. Will your original voice come back? How people can think or do to people with FAS that are so cruel. Are there any good things as a result of talking with an accent? Do people treat you differently? Mentioning of teaching 4-H dog club. Terri announced my website (this one) Ellen5e.com so that people can keep up and comment themselves.

Just before signing off of this broadcast the producer Dan recorded me saying the following sentence: “The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.”  They are going to compare me saying this sentence from week to week to see if the accent starts to change back.

They ended the broadcast by playing the Swedish national anthem saying that they may use that in future when I am coming on. However, I do not think that is such a good idea. I do NOT want true Swedes to be offended and as I said in today’s broadcast… though much of my word pronunciations take on a Swedish strong “oo”s and “u”s; it is NOT a true Swedish dialect.  So I will be thinking of a different theme song for the segment… do YOU have any good ideas?

As always I appreciate your reading this and sharing any information that YOU may have about this incredibly rare and troubling medical condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome.

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]]> http://ellen5e.com/p/weekly-check-in-at-wibc-931-fm/feed/ 0 Mayor delivers State of the City Address http://ellen5e.com/p/mayor-delivers-state-of-the-city-address/ http://ellen5e.com/p/mayor-delivers-state-of-the-city-address/#comments Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:15:00 +0000 ellen5e http://ellen5e.com/p/mayor-delivers-state-of-the-city-address/ On Saturday, February 21st, Mayor Greg Ballard delivered his State of the City address at Christel House Academy on Indianapolis’ south side. Despite the blustery snowfall outside, there appeared to be approximately four hundred people assembled in the charter school’s gymnasium to hear what the mayor had to report.

Click here for additional photos of the event

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