New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might have thought that all eyes were on him during his multiple addresses to citizens of New York while Hurricane Sandy was making its way up the East Coast and into the city, but viewers' eyes were slightly skewed to left, where sign language interpreter Lydia Callis stood, enthusiastically and expressively signing Bloomberg's words to his viewers.
Callis has gotten almost as much attention as Sandy from those who have been watching the coverage. "I love that lady," wrote one YouTube fan. "Stupid news is blocking her on TV so they can show footage of something. But this lady is amazing."
Media outlets also took notice of Callis, with New York Magazine calling her "a legitimate reason to smile" amid the overly serious briefings. "Unlike Bloomberg's own stilted Spanish," says the magazine, referring to the mayor's attempts to translate his message to the Spanish-speaking community of New York, "another highlight of the updates, Callis's signing is both lightning-fast and emotive, her animated face lighting up and contorting happily as she goes, not unlike a guitarist during a blistering solo. Callis already has quite the online fan club," including a series of tweets devoted to her expertise and energy, as well as a Tumblr page called "Lydia Callis's Face for Mayor."
Callis, the official American Sign Language translator for the mayor's office, has become a fixture of Bloomberg's news briefings, and she's happy to contribute. "I'm here to serve the deaf and hard-of-hearing community," she told the New York Post. "I'm just glad, and I'm honored, that I was able to get the message out there … and that's what it's all about."
In explaining her expressive performances, Callis, whose mother and three siblings are deadf, says, "American Sign Language is a very visual language, so sometimes you have to use pictures to describe what people are saying in English," she said.
Watch one of Callis' performances here:
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