Last Night

Everyone today is going to be saying something about last night's Academy Awards.  Honoring someone for their achievements is always a good thing.  We do that here in this space on a regular basis.  Sadly though award shows don't do that in the way they once did.  Last night for many of us will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons.

I won't be discussing the obvious problems with the television broadcast of the Oscars.  (I won't even go in to the less obvious ones).  If you look closely though you can see some bright moments.  We can also be happy for most of the award winners.

I do want to say something though about the moment when South Korean actress Youn Yuh-Jung graciously delivered the award to Coda actor Troy Katsur. Because Katsur is deaf, she signed his name in American Sign Language before saying it out loud. As Kotsur took the stage, Youn held onto his statuette to allow him to use his hands to deliver his acceptance speech in American Sign Language.

One more thing about Youn. She was wore on her dress a blue ribbon pin that read “#WithRefugees” in support of the Ukrainian refugees campaign.

While I don't want to think about the several negative moments from last night, I do want to keep those positive memories alive, and I'm grateful to caring people like Youn Yuh-Jung.