SIGN NAME RJ

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. My maternal grandfather and his brother grew up in an immigrant household with a mix of languages and adaptations. Neither learned sign language, so our family communicated with them through facial expressions, gestures, hearing aids, and attention-getting techniques. My grandmother worked at the Valley Child’s Guidance Clinic by day and was my grandfather’s primary ‘interpreter’ at family gatherings, repeating things as needed. By the end of their long lives together, he could only really hear her voice.

As their only granddaughter and an observant, sensitive child, I picked up on the nuances of family communication. I studied Linguistics at UCSD and helped research mental rotation and use of space in native signers at the Salk Institute. I then learned to interpret between English and ASL and have had a rich, varied career in the field.

After a few decades in San Diego, I’m back in LA, enjoying a simple life with my cats, Riley and Zinn. My nerdy pursuits include reading, puzzles, music, video games, podcasts, and whatever rabbit hole has caught my attention lately. I’m drawn to things that are complex, interconnected, and difficult to reduce to simple answers.