March 12th meeting lives up to expectations

Rita Pavone

March 12 was a lovely sunny day after a week of gloomy weather. It was also the start of Spring Break and SxSW. In spite of all that, a sizeable number of devoted translators and interpreters attended the general meeting and, as usual, were very glad they did.

The meeting kicked off with a cautionary tale about the kind of scams we are likely to face online these days. One such scam had recently been received by several members, in which the recipient was advised that payment would be in the form of a cashier’s check or certified bank check. This is something we have seen before, and most members are wise enough to ignore such dubious appeals. But it was agreed that it is helpful to refresh our collective memory on this subject from time to time, to remind ourselves that we must be vigilant, and must think carefully before clicking on attachments or Drop Box transfers that may infect our computers with viruses or worse. Think before you click!

Tony Beckwith, Fritz Hensey, Patricia de Ribes

We then had a most interesting presentation by Rita Pavone about interpreting in mental health situations. Rita is a Core Certification Healthcare Interpreter and a long-time member of the AATIA. She discussed “Role boundaries, and processes of transference and countertransference in which interpreters may become affected by the environment they operate in.” We are fortunate to have members who, like Rita, generously share their time and knowledge for the benefit of their colleagues in the field.

The final segment of the meeting featured Patricia Thickstun de Ribes introducing and interviewing one of the original members of AATIA, Frederick “Fritz” Hensey, PhD. It was a nostalgic look back at Dr. Hensey’s long career as a translator and interpreter and as a UT professor in both fields. At one point he read two of his poetry translations, with Tony Beckwith reading the Spanish versions of the poems by Maria Elena Walsh and Jorge Luis Borges.

The Therapy Sisters (Maurine McLean and Lisa Rogers) provided a couple of upbeat songs to introduce the interview and then bring the meeting to a close and the audience to its feet with a rousing rendition of “Everyone Deserves a Standing Ovation.”