Its my hope to eventually figure out how to get in touch with Todd so that I can ask permission to save his videos to share in case facebook goes down. For now, it will just be the story with credit, since he has shared it educationally in the original public ASLWrite group.
(Note: I’m adding these pieces in over time, and cleaning up the presentation, so this post will be half finished over the next 48 hours but hopefully will be completed by then)
Today, instead of a prompt, I’m posting something in ASLWrite.
This version was written by Todd Hicks in [Date here]
Todd has this story posted in the ASLWrite Facebook Group, in about 8 posts, which is publicly available, so I’m posting it here under educational use. If you want to do anything else with it, you will need to contact Todd Hicks and ask for permission.
I’m providing screenshots of the text in addition to links, because if facebook burps wrong, it will be lost. I’m not currently providing copies of the videos where he signs the work because I haven’t been able to get a hold of him for permission. Technically, since its publicly available in the ASLWrite group for educational purposes, it might be fine, but there is a difference between one’s image and one’s writing, so I’d like to wait until circumstances change before replicating the videos off of facebook.
I’ll be translating the title but nothing else.
Keep in mind that writing can change over time and from person to person. Todd is an expert at ASLWrite, but you might see sign variations elsewhere, or some signs representations may have changed over time.
Ahem.
Key
- “original paragraph” = link to the original image on facebook of the paragraph that the link is sitting under
- “signed version” = link to Todd Hicks signing the paragraph that the link is sitting under
The Lumberjack
Written in ASLWrite by Todd Hicks
Title Intro
“The written telling of “The Lumberjack and Deaf Tree, coming soon!””
Todd Hick’s Video Commentary
- Discusses him changing how he wrote a single finger moving “RED”
- Discusses experimenting with brackets to indicate quotations
- Discusses his prep to get skilled enough to write something like this in ASLWrite, how he landed on the beloved Deaf classic story-joke, and his process of getting it written and in shape
- Explains how he chose to write “CHOPPING-DOWN-TREE” in ASLWrite
- Explains that he will be dropping the story in chunks in the ASLWrite facebook group
Paragraph One
Paragraph Two
Paragraph Three
Paragraph Four
Paragraph Five
Paragraph Six
Paragraph Seven
In the comments someone asks for more explanation about
Note that he is only changing the motion line to indicate the hands come back down to the level they started, as the previous version now strikes him as ending higher.
So the motion line in the original paragraph here
now becomes this
This image was clipped from the video and brightened for visibility
He is not changing the facial grammar or the hand choice
Paragraph Eight
Reader and Writer comment dialogue
Commenter asks what this word in the story means
no response, but I (ASLWrite fan) believes this means “I said/he said/it said”, depending on where it shows up.
Commenter notes Todd signed two hands but the sign is written one handed
Todd responds with
“Hi [commenters name], thank you for [translators note, can’t replicate the next word, but I think it means “catching the writing for THANK-YOU”]. It does mean two hands, not one hand. I was thinking about writing the two handed way like this [shows method]. Is it ok?”
[translators note: this is how I read it, that doesn’t make it correct as its not Todd’s translation and there is no video accompanying it.]
To zoom in on Todd’s response, you can see how he adapts the sign in response to the commenters confusion with two motion lines in the side profile. This double line for two hands Todd floats has been adopted by the community as part of the side profile writing indicators.
This is an excellent example of what people mean when they say ASLWrite is a developing or evolving system in which pieces change over time as the writing system matures.
Commenter asks if this sign in Todd’s response means “that’s all” or “finish” and Todd indicates it means, in this context, “one handed”
“These opening and closing brackets together indicate quotation marks”
[ASLWrite Fan note: currently quotation marks do not use brackets, but instead use the digbet and motion rules to reflect air quote motions that occur in natural conversations in ASL/PSE. Here is a set of potentials, depending on which font version you are using, courtesy of Minnie B. 2026.]
Note that modifications might be made to this, as its been put to renewed discussion in slwrite.org after fb deleted the original discussion
All in All
This story is an ASL Classic, which, as Todd Explained in one of his videos, is why he chose it for one of his first stories in ASLWrite.
Here are two links discussing it more. Note that how they write it out is not necessarily word for word how Todd Hicks signed and wrote his version.
[“Lumberjack”, Deaf, HOH, and ASL Jokes…continued, #39; LifePrint] (https://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/jokes6.htm) “The Timber: a classic Deaf joke”; Handspeak 2021