Happy belated Pi Day, everyone! Yesterday morning, 3/14/15 9:26:53 is the most digits of pi I have ever experienced in my life.
In our city, the glorious-ness of Pi Day was overshadowed by the fact that yesterday also happened to be St. Patrick's Day Parade Day, better known as Getting Drunk in Public Starting at Ten in the Morning Day. I hate this city-wide holiday with a passion. Normally I don't even leave my room on this odious holiday, but yesterday was my Sabbath, so I wanted to get out while I could. I was going to go to a show called The Boyfriend being put on by my school, but I couldn't find the shuttle stop (it was moved because of the parade), so I decided instead to walk around the city a bit to get bagels (because bagels).
BIG MISTAKE.
On my way back from buying bagels, I walked by a short, white, visibly intoxicated man in his mid-20s attempting to sing along with a song he was blasting on his phone. He wasn't with anyone else, and he waved at me as I walked by. I smiled slightly, internally amused by his stupidity and drunken confidence, but also tragically aware of the pain and destruction that can be caused by the inebriated. I walked past him and immediately forgot about him.
Quick side note:
One of my "lovable" quirks is that when I talk to strangers on the phone (often when ordering food or calling a store to find some information), I speak in an accent. For some reason it makes me feel more confident, like if I say something stupid they won't know it's me if I'm in the store later that day. (I know. It's silly.) However, I can't really do that in real life, so something I will sometimes do when I don't want to have a long conversation with someone I don't know or random guys try to talk to me on the street (I live in the city), I will pretend I'm deaf and communicate in sign language until they go away. This usually works when it comes to butt-faced guys on the street because the language barrier proves too difficult of a challenge when trying to get my number.
End side note.
So I walked by the intoxicated guy, and put him out of mind. I had bagels to look forward to. Not fifty feet later, guess who saunters up next to me. Yep. I try ignoring him, but he keeps trying to talk to me. I walk a little faster, hoping my freakishly long legs will allow me to out-stride the small man, and he'll get tired and leave. What follows is a relatively accurate transcript of our conversation. I put what I signed in parentheses. Keep in mind that I am mouthing the words I sign as I sign them, so he can sort of understand me.
Guy: Hi.
Me: (Hello)
Guy: What's your name?
Me: (Some random name sign I picked up while learning sign language)
Guy: Are you deaf?
Me: (Yes)
Guy: Can you understand me?
Me: (I can read lips sometimes)
Guy: You can read lips?
Me: (Yes)
Guy: You're really beautiful.
Me: (Thank you)
Guy: Can I have your number?
Me: (No, thank you)
Guy: You're mean.
Now, this guy seemed super fascinated by my supposed deafness and didn't give up when most guys would.
Guy: Can you talk?
Me: (No. I'm deaf)
Guy: Can't deaf people talk?
Me: (I never learned)
Guy: Come on, talk. I know you can.
Me: (No)
Guy: Come on, I want to hear your voice.
At this point I turned to face forward, so I couldn't see his face, but I could still hear him.
Guy: Please? Let me hear your voice and I'll leave you alone. You're mean. Come on. Talk. Talk to me. You're mean. Won't you at least look at me?
He finally seemed to understand that I couldn't see his face and, as a result, couldn't "hear" him, so he jumped in front of me so I could see him again.
Guy: Let me hear your voice.
Me: (No. Please leave me alone)
I walked past him, but he kept following me. Every time he got in my line of sight, I signed "Leave" (as in go away). He started yelling to random people we passed.
Guy: Hey, she's deaf.
Random guy: She's deaf?
Guy: Yeah, but she won't let me hear her voice.
Random guy: Just leave her alone.
I kept signing "Leave."
The guy got in front of me again, so I looked at him and signed "Leave."
Guy: I don't understand you.
I stopped, pointed at him, and then in the opposite direction that I was traveling.
Guy: You want me to go away?
Me: (Yes)
I started walking faster. There is this one square around a corner and a block from where I was at this point where the main crowd of drunk people was gathered, and there were cops checking bags at all the entrances. I knew that if I could get to this checkpoint, I could alert a cop that this guy was harassing me and hopefully he'd stop.
I turned the corner, the guy right behind, and then I heard his voice start to fade. He stopped at the corner but continued to yell after me.
Guy: You're mean! Come on! F*** you! You're not even cute! F*** you! You're just a b***h!
And on and on and on until I got close to the checkpoint.
Through this experience, I got a glimpse of a single aspect what life may be like for people who are deaf. While this jerk was harassing me, I took comfort in the fact that, if I needed to, I could run up to someone and tell them what was happening. I know that there are many people out there that can't just
Being a woman in a city, I have had a lot of experience with street harassment - it has become a commonplace occurrence. I have never had something this bad happen, though. Yes, I will admit my own fault for going out in public by myself on annual Get Drunk in Public Day, but what happened was still unacceptable. Call me old fashioned, but I truly believe that no one deserves to be harassed by random passersby.
So, my dears, don't be drunken jerks, and have a safe and happy St. Patrick's Day.
