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Radio For The Deaf started as an idea: How can the deaf enjoy a radio talk show? From 2017 to 2020, Connecticut Public Radio partnered with Hartford’s American School For The Deaf and Source Interpreting to broadcast The Colin McEnroe Show as a simulcast on Facebook Live with sign language interpreters. You can see the shows we produced during that time. Please scroll down on this page to find the embedded video and click play for our interpreted Radio For The Deaf broadcast.

Shyness Is Not For The Faint Of (Their Racing) Heart

Vinoth Chandar
/
Creative Commons

I once took guitar lessons with a small group of people who met two nights a week in the basement of a local elementary school. We spent most of each lesson practicing in little nooks and crannies we each carved out in the old room. I enjoyed picking out tunes in my own little corner at my own pace. It was all going so smoothly until... the instructor mentioned the final "concert."

I lost sleep by night, fretted by day, and practiced a lot before forcing myself to show up on the scheduled night. But a funny thing happened: no one else showed up beside me and the instructor. I'm not sure what made me happier - that I showed up, that I got off the hook, or that I had an otherwise pleasant experience that was calm and not rushed.

Shyness can be a lot of different things, debilitating at its worst, sometimes lonely at its best. It's also a lot more common than we think.

This show is also broadcast as part of our series, Radio for the Deaf. Watch the Colin McEnroe Show Facebook page for a simulcast of signers from Source Interpreting interpreting our radio broadcast in American Sign Language via Facebook Live.

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Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show along with Heather Brandon, Joe Coss, Frankie Graziano, Sam Hockaday, Tucker Ives, Ryan Caron King, Josh Nilaya, and Catie Talarski. Thanks also to Source Interpreters Pat Clark, Janice Knauth, and Mary Sue Owens. This show originally aired on February 22, 2017.

Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows.

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