Daniel Greene

Blog

  • Publishing on the Web for the Greater Good

    I found the following blog post while searching the Internet to see who was linking to my pages. The guy quoted below found the answers he was looking for in my post “Legal Requirements for Self Employed Persons.” I feel happy that publishing my research helped someone!

    Wednesday, June 14, 2006

    Its so nice when you search on Google and the exact (and somewhat obsure) thing you have been searching for comes up on the first page, giving you all the information you need and ending your worries. This has, fortunately, recently been the case in my search ofhow to work from home in San Diego and report one’s own taxes. As I searched for the requirements in California one of the first things that appeared was this highly instructive piece from Daniel Greene. It really is so great and makes me optomistic about our society that people actually bother to put this stuff up on the web, simply for the use of other people. They themselves benefit nothing from doing so but they help people like myself immensley.

    Posted by Dave Hunter at 7:37 PM

    Business School in Cyber Space
    Blogged with Flock

  • VI Anonymity Diminishes Interpreter-Client Relationship

    The differences between text relay and video relay are so vast; it amazes me how the FCC and, in turn, the VRS companies continue to treat VIs (Video Interpreters) like CAs (Communications Assistants; i.e. text relay operators). The effects of this treatment are sometimes unrecognized until something happens to remind an interpreter of what it’s like to feel like… well, like an “interpreter” again, rather than an “operator.”

    Recently, I took a break from my regular video relay interpreting job to interpret in a seminar for which I was requested by the client. The client and I had professional and social relationship that went way back. While on that job, I experienced emotions that I had long forgotten as a VI: the pride in being asked for by name and the joy of being wanted for who I am, not just for what I do.

    What is the point of anonymity when the deaf client can see you? At some point, they are bound to find out who you are; what’s more, if you are active in your profession, they should find out who you are! Sign language interpreters are professionals who bank their businesses on their professional reputations. They make a name for themselves by publishing, doing community service on the boards of interpreting organizations and governing agencies, teaching classes and workshops, mentoring new interpreters, and socializing within the deaf community. Text relay operators, or CA’s, do not need to do any of these professional activities, and they are literally invisible to their clients. It makes sense for them to be anonymous. It does not make sense for video interpreters, who are visible on television screens in people’s homes all over the country, to be nameless. Interpreters who follow the NAD–RID Code of Professional Conduct are never truly anonymous, as they are active and visible members of their communities.

    Anonymity robs from us what many of us have spent years to develop: (more…)

  • Singing with ABBA

    I sang in a children’s chorus with ABBA when they performed a concert at the San Diego Sports Arena in 1978. It was the Year of the Child, and they were getting children’s choruses to come up and sing “I Believe in Angels” with them in every concert they performed on their world tour. I met Björn, Benny, Frida, and Agnetha and had them sign the yellow T-shirt I wore. I got a used guitar string signed (on the square paper package) by one of the guitarists. Frida and Agnetha sang operatically during the warm-up / sound-check and I was amazed. Being at their concert was thrilling, although way too loud. Singing on stage with them was one of the greatest joys of my life. My mother said I was beaming the whole time. Years later, when I outgrew the t-shirt, I considered making a pillow of it but ended up throwing it out. Same with the guitar string. Imagine my surprise when I saw the movie Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, and Guy Pierce’s character shows off a vial he wears around his neck containing the little “gift” Agnetha left him in the toilet! I thought, “Wow! This guy carries her poop around with him and I threw out the t-shirt she (and Frida and Benny and Björn) autographed?” Well, I do feel some regret for throwing out their autographed souvenirs, but who needs artifacts when no one can take away from you the thrill of actually meeting them and sharing the stage with them? I would much rather meet an artist, talk with them, laugh with them, perform with them, or shake their hand, than have an autograph or—gasp!—physical specimen of theirs to remember them by.

  • The arts are in my blood

    Okay, maybe I’m bragging a little, but I would like to tell you something about my family and their involvement in the performing and visual arts.

    • My grandmother on my mother’s side was a singer who performed in vaudeville. She toured the Orpheum circuit as Linda Preston with comedian Gene Sheldon. If you have an Orpheum theatre in your town, chances are she performed there! She was also a member of SAG under the name Audrey Arent, and she did a Mitchum deodorant commercial and appeared as an extra in the movies King Kong (1976), Network, and The Turning Point.
    • My grandfather on my mother’s side was Johnny Drake of The Modernaires– yes, Glenn Miller’s Modernaires who appeared in The Glenn Miller Story.
    • My grandmother on my father’s side, Helene Greene, was an interior designer and an award-winning painter.
    • My grandfather on my father’s side, Ernest Greene, played trumpet and harmonica in jazz bands as a young man.
    • My mother, Jonni Greene, sang in musicals throughout high school and junior college. She has sung in choruses of one form or another since I was 10.
    • My father, Andrew Greene, took some painting a sculpting courses and supported a friend in teaching and promoting her art classes.

    I am grateful to my family for passing down their tradition of performing and visual arts, and for encouraging me in my artistic endeavors.

  • Transforming My Site into a Blog

    Over the last few days, I have transformed danielgreene.com into a blog. I resisted doing a blog for quite a while for several reasons. Blogs can take a lot of time to write and maintain— especially when there are a lot of comments to monitor. I didn’t know anything about the software I would need to create one. Most important, I was afraid that once I got started, there would be no stopping me from saying absolutely everything on my mind. I was afraid my candor might get me into trouble.

    Then I had a talk with Will Pate, Community Ambassador for the Flock Browser, who said, “A professional blog is a great way to gain recognition in your profession.” It suddenly dawned on me— of course I don’t have to say everything on my mind! Of course it doesn’t have to be personal! A blog can be professional! Sure, why not? That one sentence from Will was all I needed to hear to open my mind. I had already been wanting a more interactive “Web 2.0” website. I wanted people to comment on my posts, comment on each other’s comments, blog about my blog, add me to their extended friends’ network, add “trackback” links to my blog, etc. Now the question was: what sort of blogging system will I use to “power” my blog?

    Well, I noticed that Will had a web site with his name as the domain just as I do, and I noticed that his was “powered by WordPress.” I checked into it, and found out that my host, pair Networks, supports WordPress on its servers. Other than the few extra dollars I have to pay pair Networks per month to upgrade my account, WordPress is free. I also chose it because it allows me to have danielgreene.com host the blog natively, rather than having to host it somewhere else like BlogSpot or LiveJournal. I like the fact that it is customizable, and I don’t need to have any navigation bar at the top advertising the blogging system.

    Now, when I go to YouTube or Flickr, I can actually click on those “Blog This” links and blog them. And I can right-click in Flock to “Blog This” anywhere on the Web!