Margie & Luke - TAR 14

[DCBelleonWheels]

Great post!! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, NCLurker!

[DayByDay]

According to an article in the Rocky Mountain News, Luke had to learn to trust that his mother was giving him all the information he needed when they received verbal help from others. Margie does say "In the beginning" which leads me to believe they stay in the race for a while anyway.

Crimson, great post!

I was deeply touched that Phil has learned enough sign language to communicate with Luke at the pit stops. That speaks volumes to me about Phil and the sort of person he is. Producers can force you do some things but this appeared genuine. Something that also touched me deeply was the footage of Luke bungee jumping...you could see the adrenalin rush in his face but there was no sound. I thought it was a great insight into both what we who have all of our senses tend to take for granted and also what it must be like for a person who cannot hear to live in a sound oriented world.

And, yes, there are people out there who assume that just because you have any sort of physical disability that your mind is also impaired. I am a full time wheelchair user with a neurologically based disability. As soon as people know my diagnosis, even medical professionals, they tend to speak to me in monosyllables or to direct themselves to my husband, which irritates HIM to no end. I take great sadistic pleasure in answering them in monosyllables until they are well into the conversation and then I'll come out with some really long, medically technical statement...they are always quite taken aback. Mean? Probably, but also terribly fun for me. My husband calls it my "what you see is not what you get" routine. LOL

I say all that to say this: the only way people with disabilities will ever been seen as being on par with nonphysically disabled people is for those of us with disabilities to not only keep pushing the envelope to do things like TAR but to also just live our everyday lives as productive citizens to the best of our ability and to the Glory of God. It is in choosing to be like everyone else that you are eventually seen in everyone's mind as being just like everyone else.

Of course, that's just my opinion. Getting back to the point: GO LUKE AND MARGIE!!

Thanks for this insight, Rags.

[karalott]

Thanks for your thoughts Rags and Crimson, and thanks for that article DaybyDay!

I absolutely love these two And I love Phil for signing at the PS. I agree that seems like something Phil would think up on his own and not be told by the producers to do it for the effect.

[CrossingGuard]

I'm sorry, but I groaned when the other teams were shown talking about Luke in the beginning of the last episode. I knew his story was going to get shoved down our throats! Don't get me wrong, it's touching to see these two persevere, and I love how they are exceeding any expectations we had of them. But I really don't want TAR14 to be known as "The Luke Show" when I look back on it.

Also, I wonder if Luke isn't as exemplary as he is being portrayed. He had a bit of an attitude during the cake detour, which is pretty understandable since it can get a little tiresome getting a cake thrown at your face time and time again. But everyone else was enjoying their time with their partner and laughing along the way. He just rolled his eyes and had enough of it early on.

I know it comes across like I dislike them, but that truly isn't the case. But there are much more teams that I find myself rooting for.

[CrimsonLine]

As to the Margie/Luke praise at the top of the episode, let's see if they continue that as a new feature each week - for instance, will there be Tammy & Victor praise at the top of next week's episode? If so, then I have no problem with it. If not, if it's just a "message" thing, then it'll grate.

CrossingGuard - everyone has an attitude at one time or another. We'll have to see if that's par for the course for Luke, or if he was just caught in a bad moment. Truth to tell, Luke IS probably exemplary - an example of a human being, with all the faults, foibles, and glory that that entails. Deaf people are just that - people. And Luke has got his hang-ups just like we all do. And frankly, we have the right to find his hang-ups annoying, just like we'd find Linda & Steve's hang-ups annoying. Not because he's deaf, but because he's Luke. And because we're us.

[aname2]

Agree - he's human and gets frustrated which is normal. He is normal in every way except he can't hear. (He also has seems to have a little crush on the redheads - that's also normal.) He has a great mom and they have a terrific relationship (quite unlike the Momma's Boys). I like these two. They are great racers and good competitors.

[DCBelleonWheels]

As to the Margie/Luke praise at the top of the episode, let's see if they continue that as a new feature each week - for instance, will there be Tammy & Victor praise at the top of next week's episode? If so, then I have no problem with it. If not, if it's just a "message" thing, then it'll grate.

CrossingGuard - everyone has an attitude at one time or another. We'll have to see if that's par for the course for Luke, or if he was just caught in a bad moment. Truth to tell, Luke IS probably exemplary - an example of a human being, with all the faults, foibles, and glory that that entails. Deaf people are just that - people. And Luke has got his hang-ups just like we all do. And frankly, we have the right to find his hang-ups annoying, just like we'd find Linda & Steve's hang-ups annoying. Not because he's deaf, but because he's Luke. And because we're us.

GREAT POST, Crimson!

[Olaf]

I really get it that this team has a distinct disadvantage in that Luke is deaf and doesn't read lips. That's huge. But really, Luke is young, able bodied, appears very healthy and his mom is a superstar. Margie is athletic (wow-she ran down the hill!), communicative, understanding and exceptional. I really don't see that Luke's deafness will be that large a disadvantage at the end of the day. I think as a player he has to be perceived as stronger and more likely to win than Mel, who is 68 years old, and even moreso than several of the other players/teams.

[Trista]

I definitely don't see the deafness to be too big of a disadvantage, although the main difference between Luke and Adrian (TARA2) was that Adrian had a little bit of hearing, and he read lips.

I am just excited that we've had two good mom/son teams in a row.

[DayByDay]

Here's another article from Rochester Institute of Technology.

“When Luke started to apply, he started begging me to go on,” she says. “The more and more I watched it, the more I liked it. We went on the show for the experience. Luke had been away at college for five years and we hadn’t spent much time together.”