Development over Nature (submitted via videotape)

Note: American Sign Language (ASL) is a visually based language that has its own unique rules and structure; it is not simply a signed representation of English. ASL poetry uses visual patterns (such as repeated handshape, movement or sign location) to create rhyme and rhythm. Because the poetic qualities of an ASL poem are visual, a written translation would not capture the poems’ essence. Therefore, we have provided a summary of the poem’s content.

With a limited number of handshapes, Jacy personifies a grass field’s response to being covered with concrete and having buildings pressed on it. Nature’s beauty is abandoned for rampant development.

---

Jacy Dike-Pedersen, Age 10
California School for the Deaf
Fremont, California
Teacher: Rory Osbrink