Why Nepal?

When I first began researching Fulbright opportunities more than a year ago, I knew that I wanted to combine two crucial aspects of myself: deafness and creative writing. I've been writing since I was eight years old, and I've been deaf since I was born, though with the help of a hearing aid and now a cochlear implant, I've mostly lived in the "hearing" world with occasional journeys into the "Deaf" world.

I ultimately decided to apply for a Fulbright in Nepal because of the thriving deaf community here. I also formed a special relationship with this place after studying abroad in Mysore, India, as an undergraduate at the University of Iowa.

That was in 2001, the year the towers went down in the U.S. and the royal family was murdered in Nepal. The political situation was tense and the Maoist war was in full swing. But still there was a magical Venetian light over Kathmandu; a street child named Raju who was blind in one eye; an ex-Gorka soldier who warmly taught me about Nepali culture in the Shivapuri hills; a portal of light above 25,000 foot Dhaulagiri that seemed to lead to a "beyul," or hidden land.

I knew I wanted to come back and do something more meaningful. Since that time, I've become more involved in Deaf culture and American Sign Language. I spent two years doing community service with AmeriCorps in Portland, Oregon. I worked on stories and a novel and completed my MFA at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, which included two years of teaching English literature.

Now, with the help of a Fulbright, I have the opportunity to combine these three things: deaf culture, creative writing, and Nepali culture. I've been here almost two months and it's been an incredible experience so far.