1 Answers
Log in to answer

Vanilla fires is a recurring idea. Walker, in talking about her repressed feelings erupting to the surface, describes the event as a "vanilla fire." This is a reference to her time with the deaf street gang known as the Nasty Homicides. She had gained the trust of the gang and spent much time with members of the gang for a magazine article. Once, she was with a gang member named Ortiz at McDonald's. He wrote the words "Vanila Fires" on a napkin and went to the counter. Walker writes often about the trouble deaf people have with writing and reading English, and this was Ortiz's way of asking for a vanilla shake and order of fries.