Stars in Our Sky Series #10

Lianne Moccia and American Sign Language

Stars in Our Sky #10

Lianne Moccia, American Sign Language

For the August Star in Our Sky, we’re featuring a different method of communication. This month’s Star is Lianne Moccia, who’s had a long career as an American Sign Language interpreter.  (She’s married to Allyn Field, the Zen priest featured in an earlier Stars in Our Sky.)

Lianne, like Pa, is from Revere, Massachusetts, and their families have been close for over a hundred years.  In fact, her father and Pa's father grew up on the same street, in big Italian families.  Lianne tells us that she was “supposed to be on the road to an education where I might become a teacher.”  The Vietnam war intervened and she veered off into activism, worked at a collective vegetarian restaurant, and then has had a long working life as an ASL/English interpreter.   She lives in Lebanon, NH, on 34 acres with her husband, two cats, seven chickens, and lots of flowers and vegetables. “Two grown children have now added four grandchildren to the mix.  Abbondanza!”

ZAN AND PA:  Lianne, what inspires you?

LIANNE:  What has inspired me has been delving into the lives and communication of many people in many different ways.

I happened into the work of being an American Sign Language (ASL)/English interpreter by accident.  I had no Deaf family members, had never even met a Deaf person.  Years ago I was waiting on tables at a collective vegetarian restaurant that I was part of.   Four women were laughing and obviously “talking” to each other.   I was fascinated.   That chance encounter started me on a path that has taken me near and then deeply into the world of the American Deaf community.

Language and communication fascinate me.  What are people saying?  What do they mean? Why are they saying what they’re saying?  How are they saying it? All of that is the “message”.   How does one convey that meaning and message from one language and culture to another?  

As a visitor to both, I’ve spent over 40 years learning this language and this culture. I have been allowed into the most hallowed (births, deaths, weddings, adoptions, therapy, terminal medical diagnoses), mundane (tax preparation, safe lifting practices), interesting (microwave repair, cosmetology classes, medical school), and, even, dangerous (high ropes courses, quad bicycle riding with deafblind riders, skiing backwards downhill) places.   What an honor and what an education!

Working for and with a linguistic and cultural minority in our society, I have witnessed great oppression and great rising up and empowerment. I have honed my listening skills both for work and in my own life.   I’ve been fortunate to have highly competent and supportive colleagues.  And, even more fortunate to have had the encouragement and mentoring from more Deaf people than I can count.  These days most of the work I do is with younger interpreters, with interpreters who are isolated in rural parts of our country.  It has been fascinating work for me, work that has taken me far from my own life and into the lives of others.

Translation:

My name is Lianne Moccia. For over 40 years I have been an American Sign Language/English interpreter. I have worked in intimate settings, in small groups, in front of large audiences. These settings have included: births, deaths, mental health, legal, employment. I’ve interpreted auto repair and even microwave repair classes, to name a few. It has been a rewarding and enriching work life for me.

***