THIS PAST WEDNESDAY, PACIFIC PARK unveiled their new Ferris wheel with music and a pyrotechnic show. With its 160,000 LED lights the wheel can probably be seen from space. Andy, a doctor friend, worries it’s so intense it’s going to cause seizures. The wheel cost $1.5 million but it may need a 49-cent dimmer switch. For those interested, the old wheel sold on eBay for $130,000 to a man who had it shipped to Oklahoma. I’m trying to picture the giant FedEx envelope.
The first Ferris wheel was built by a man named Ferris. What are the odds? George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. (whew) built it for the World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Ferris’ wheel was intended to rival the recently erected Eiffel Tower. Tall order, no pun intended. I suppose if any Ferris wheel could our new one might. It’s certainly bright enough. And it remains the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel.
With Memorial Day gone, summer is almost here. Among those happiest is my niece, Jennifer, who completed her first semester at CSUN. What with two children, she was only able to take two classes, sociology and English and got A’s in both (Obviously she doesn’t take after uncle).
Having schoolteacher parents (now retired), Jennifer’s dream has always been to get a bachelor’s. This might seem no big deal, and Jennifer’s being a 42-year-old undergraduate isn’t all that noteworthy. But what makes my niece’s two A’s so special is that she was born deaf.
When my sister, Brenda, was pregnant with Jennifer she contracted the Rubella virus (German measles). Not only deaf, Jennifer was also blind in one eye. But from birth, the blessing was that Jennifer was extremely bright.
At 2 Jennifer was already wearing hearing aids. Her vision wasn’t totally diagnosed because it’s hard to test at that age. When Brenda and her husband, Dave, were on vacation in Hawaii I baby-sat, with help from my Aunt Amelia. One day, playing with Jennifer, I noticed she suddenly picked up a tiny ladybug off a blade of grass. Amelia and I rejoiced for it meant Jennifer’s vision in the one good eye was sharp enough to have seen something so tiny.
As Jennifer grew up, sadly, her education options were limited. This was long before the Americans with Disability Act. The place most recommended, the John Tracy Clinic, wouldn’t take her because she had more than one disability.
Brenda and Dave finally found the Hear Foundation in Pasadena which stressed lip reading. Jennifer was outfitted with heavily amplified headphones as her teachers mouthed the words. I would often drive her. I had a Samoyed dog named Jude who slept while we waited. When Jennifer would come out from her lesson, I would make an elaborate “sssh gesture” not to wake Jude which always tickled her. She giggled so loudly naturally Jude woke. I’d feign being upset and she’d even laugh more.
Jennifer and Jude were inseparable. One day, as a sign of affection, Jennifer painted a mustache on Jude. So I did the same on her. It seems my sister didn’t fully appreciate the humor. Needing turpentine to get the paint off, Jennifer’s and my mustache painting days were over.
One summer, while Brenda and Dave were on vacation, my girlfriend and I house sat. One morning Jude discovered a hole in the fence and apparently got a call from the wild. Jennifer followed. Panic anyone? I was completely frantic going door-to-door looking for my five-year-old, deaf niece. I’ll never forget an elderly woman in a wheelchair making me get on my knees and pray. Talk about eerie (This was before Nixon did it to Kissinger).
Seven long hours later, I was about to post flyers when Jude casually crawled through the hole. An eternity passed, probably 30 seconds, before Jennifer followed. I almost fainted. I neglected to mention this little story to my sister when she called from vacation.
Brenda and Dave moved to Santa Monica in 1970 but our schools weren’t very well equipped in deaf education so they moved to the valley. When Jennifer graduated high school she tested at 5th grade reading level. Helen Keller once said that of the two “limitations” she would much prefer to be blind. For the deaf, everything is more difficult, especially learning to read.
As an adult, Jennifer spent two hours a day, five days a week for a year in a reading lab and doubled her speed. It may take a few years, but I know one day she’s going to get that degree.
Jennifer’s coming to the beach to celebrate. I’ll probably wind up taking the kids to the new Ferris wheel. I might even try to convince them the old one was shipped to Oklahoma in a giant FedEx envelope.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 30, 2008. Read the original PDF.