Dear Jay,

Hey, how are you doing in Iraq? I am doing fine in school and home. I think you are brave in Iraq. I will be praying for you. You have to be careful in Iraq. How are you feeling in Iraq? I feel you are bored and hot in Iraq. Are you scared to guard prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison?

Take care of yourself!
Tim

Page design by
Mike Walton
Rosemary Stifter

The war in Iraq can seem like a world away unless you know someone there. For the deaf and hard of hearing students at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School (KDES) in Washington, D.C., the war was made more immediate through their on-line dialogue with U.S. Marine Sgt. Earl (Jay) Beatty. Through a new kind of correspondence commonly known as a blog, the students, as part of a Visual Literacy project, exchanged letters and photographs, and shared their extraordinary drawings of the war as they saw it with Beatty in Iraq, and with his wife, Donna, in the U.S.

How did all of this happen? Beatty, a Maryland state trooper and Marine, was deployed to the Iraqi town of Fallujah in late August 2004. Prior to leaving for his new post, he was asked if he would be willing to communicate with KDES students while stationed in Iraq as part of a visual literacy project. He eagerly accepted the offer. He and his wife corresponded with the students.

The students set up their message center in the TecEds lab where staff members helped them send and receive e-mail from Beatty. The spontaneity of the Internet and the flexibility of digital pictures enabled the students to have a front-line experience of the war through the eyes of a soldier serving his country.

UPDATE - JUNE 1, 2005

Sgt. Beatty visits KDES for an unforgettable
homecoming event held in his honor..

View Sgt. Beatty Homecoming Highlight Video

[Video includes captions and soft music; no dialogue]

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