Jennifer Ball Focuses On Inclusive Language To Break Down Cultural Barriers

Jennifer Ball is a Chinese-speaking, magenta-haired, French horn-playing, rock 'n' roll singer/novelist who focuses on inclusive language. Jennifer explains how travel requires more listening because you're often in a new place. With listening comes thinking about language and word choice so you're not offending another culture. She lived in China for two years and taught English to Chinese college students. In the Fingerpuppets rock band she plays French horn, trumpet and keyboards and she sings too.

Jennifer has an MFA in Creative Writing from San Diego State University and a BFA in Theater from University of California at Los Angeles and is the author of Catalyst, Higher Math, The Book Moose Minnon Never Wrote, and she co-authored of The Verbum Book of Digital.

Jennifer Ball's Chinese name is 包弫 Bao Zhen (bao1 zhen3). In Chinese, last names come first. Bao/Ball. Zhen/Jennifer. The little known 弫  means "impactful, powerful." Very true.

Jennifer has researched ancient written languages and has compared cuneiform, hieroglyphs, Maya glyphs, and Chinese Hanzi characters—all ancient written scripts—in order to showcase the similarities that exist between them and the alphabet. 

Also on Speaking of Travel, find out how airport art galleries can provide a welcome respite and is a great way to get a feel for the area. For the first time in over a year, local artists and musicians are being welcomed back to the Asheville Regional Airport as part of the Art in the Airport program. Tina Kinsey from the airport fills us in on this exciting news.

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