Brief Summary:
Molly, Britney, and Leland, especially, soak in the limelight of being featured on The Today Show and all the attention they are receiving publicly. However, Molly begins to feel some guilt for going about all of it without getting permission from or at least letting the O'Malley family know about it. Danny still doesn't feel too psyched about the mix up, but Jeannie, Maureen's mom, invites him to visit Maureen in the hospital. After Danny lets Jeannie know how people were saying they seemed ungrateful for Maury because they refused to talk to anyone and how people thought it was self-fish to just keep her to themselves, Jeannie calls up Henry, Maury's brother, to label him as "spokesperson" for the family. Henry begins a blog. But Molly, Britney, and Leland saw his new blog sort of like competition and renamed their blog "THESETWOGIRLS: Th original Bridget-and-Maureen Blog." In response, Henry titled his blog "The Official O'Malley Family Blog." After a few negative posts made by Leland, Henry calls her. During their conversation, Henry mentions how Maureen doesn't recognize her own father. The next morning, it was on the front page of the Star Telegram.
Jeannie and Bill, Maury's parents, also decide to pay the Flannerys a visit. Kitt, Bridget's mother, goes crazy on them for a second, but eventually Jeannie and Kitt begin to cry together. And soon, Kitt falls asleep in Jeannie's arms. Leland visits Maureen at the hospital and manages to get a picture with her cellphone, even though Maureen tried to block it with her hands. She sold it to a British magazine for a thousand dollars. She also goes around and says things like, "she talks in one word. 'Hi, Mom.' And she can't remember the easiest things, like the word for 'window,'" page 129. And when Molly tells her to shut up and get ready for practice because NBC is coming to film them, she replies, "ohmygod, I look like dung!" page 130. When Danny visits Maureen, he cries when the subject of losing Bridget comes up. And in her mind, Maureen begins to get angry thinking about all the things Bridget got to do with Danny. Before he leaves, Maureen asks that when he speaks at the service he mentions how much Maureen loves Bridget.
Unfortunately, it is not taken as planned. When Mr. Flannery comes over to him later during the service, he expects a handshake and thank you for getting up and speaking, but instead Mr. Flannery says, "How dare you bring up Maureen at my daughter's memorial!" page 140, and asks that he stay away for a while.
New Vocabulary:
• salvo-- [noun] a sudden vigorous or aggressive act or series of acts
• adamant-- [adj.] refusing to be persuaded or to change one's mind
• cumbersome-- [adj.] large and heavy and difficult to carry or to use
Reflection:
Dear Diary,
I hat leave alone. Leave. Left. Cap. Hat. Hate. I hate being left alone. I happy to leave hospital. Was. I was happy. But I scared when about to leave. Hospital sack. No. Sake. Safe. Hospital safe. My progress more signing. Signify. Significant. My progress is more significant in hospital. Outside is scary. People star. Stare. People try to take pictures of me. I talk fun. Funny. People will late. Loud. Lane. Lag. Laugh. Only people like Mom, Dad, Pat, Henry, Molly, and Danny understand. Doctors think I am good. They think I'm ahead of the play. No, of the match. No. No. Ahead of the game. But what about at school? I get nervous. I might get gothic. No emo. Emotional. Mom says I dived, deepened, developed a flame, fire, temperature. Temper. Mom says I developed a temper. And when I get nervous, I cats tack. I kitten pin. I tiger needle. I cat tack. Ahh! No. Wrong. I cat tack. I can tan. I can't tank. I CAN'T TALK! Huh!
It's so frustrating! But, Danny no. Now. Knows. I like when Danny visits. He makes me happy. I don't get nervous around him. Maybe he reminds me of Bug. Bridge. San Francisco Bridge. Bug. Bridget. I don't understand it. But, I get sad. No, not sad. Bad, mad. Mad. Tad. Mad! I get mad when I think about Bridget. Maybe not mad. Jelly. Beans. Jelly. Jealous. Beans. Jealous. Was I always? Did I always vine, vineyard, wine, envy Bridget? Bridget did it with Danny. She told me. I remember that. She is going to marry Danny. Was. She was. My face feels hot. Bot. Bought. Buy. Tomorrow, I'll ask mummy, tummy, mommy, Mom. Tomorrow, I'll ask Mom to buy some bubbles. Scent. Fumes. Perfume. I'll ask Mom to buy me perfume. For Danny. Yes. For Danny.
Maureen.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
All We Know of Heaven, Jacquelyn Mitchard. Cycle 25 Reading Response, 74-112.
Brief Summary:
In the next two chapters, Chris Styles, a dental surgeon, comes to check on Bridget's teeth. The trouble is that the teeth of the girl lying on the hospital bed does not match that of the charts he has with him. The girl on the bed had braces and four teeth removed for them, but the chart that he has shows that the girl should have a chip on her lower left bicuspid. Lorelei, one of Bridget's nurses, exchanges a glance with Dr. Styles indicating that she already had a feeling that the girl on the bed was not Bridget Flannery.
Maureen, the true identity of the living girl, starts to have more thoughts about Danny: "she dreamed of Danny, sitting in the chair, his blond hair falling in a tangle over his forehead, his sleeves rolled up deliberately to reveal his powerful forearms. She dreamed of Danny kissing her every night and saying, 'that's my girl.' His smell, of some peppery shaving junk and the bubble gum he was never without. She felt her stomach lurch in her sleep," page 86.
On the upside, the O'Malleys will have the call of their life when social worker, Neely Cavendish, tells them that their little girl they believed to be dead was in fact alive. However, on the downside, Neely must also tell the Flannery family that their only girl, Bridget, was dead, and has been dead since a little before Christmas. They are devastated. Kitt Flannery is given a bit of sedative because of her reaction to the traumatizing news.
When the O'Malleys get their chance to visit Maureen, for the first time knowing that she is Maureen, they are undoubtedly grateful. Yet, sadly, Maureen doesn't seem to remember her twin brothers, her brother, Patrick, or her own father. On another sad note, Danny finds out that his beloved girlfriend of four years is dead through a broadcast on the radio. He is devastated, ignoring all phone calls, and avoiding his home because reporters are there to interview him. He spends the night at his older brother's and sleeps in until 4 in the afternoon.
The terrible mix-up had reached The Today Show; Leland, Molly, and Britney were interviewed by Matt Lauer about their reactions to the situation. From this interview, Maureen also finds out that Bridget, her best friend for years, is dead.
New Vocabulary:
• rectory-- [noun] a rector's home
• parish-- [noun] a small administrative district typically having its own church and priest
• Rh-- [noun] Rhodium
• unprecedented-- [adj.] never known or done before
• raucous-- [adj.] making harsh or loud noise
• perverse-- [adj.] showing deliberate desire to behave in unreasonable manner
• semi-- [noun] a semifinal
• inadvertent-- [adj.] not resulting from deliberate planning
• anguished-- [adj.] expressing severe pain or suffering
• borne-- [verb] past tense or 'bear'
• vigilance-- [noun] action or state of careful watch for possible difficulties or danger
• tendrils-- [noun] slender, threadlike appendage of climbing plant, often growing in spirals
Reflection: Relationship between book and class question: Who am I, and how does my language shape my identity.
The biggest problem that has just been identified in these last couple of chapters that I have read have been was that the girl they believed was alive, was, and has been, dead for months. This problem could have been solved earlier had Maureen been able to communicate to the people around her that she was not Bridget Flannery. In this case, language had a lot to do with her identity. She spent multiple months living as Bridget because she had no way of communicating to others that she was Maureen O'Malley.
Also, the accident had a great effect on the way she could communicate with others. Inside, everything was there for her, but it was a problem for her to get her thoughts across. When she was thinking 'Bridget,' what really came out was 'bug,' page 112. Though the accident would make walking, eating, and everything else physical, hard for her, it would also make everything mental hard too. Everything is there right at the tip of her tongue, it just takes a matter of time for her to actually find what she's looking for, what she's really trying to say; that is, before she forgets it or goes of on a tangent.
This is what is really going to change her. The way she communicates with others, her ability to communicate with others, this is going to change her. The O'Malley family will be undeniably happy just to have their daughter back, but as Dr. Park put it (at the time when the Flannery family believed Bridget was alive), "This is so wonderful. and you must be incredibly happy. This is just proof of everything we now about kids. They can turn around and surprise you. But, Mrs. Flannery, you can't expect her to be the girl she was before the accident. Not now. Maybe not ever. And certainily not all at once. It's a long, long road," page 65. The 'old Maureen' just might have died along with Bridget back at the accident, leaving a 'new Maureen' to emerge. People say this a lot, that they are leaving their "old" self behind and leading the rest of their life as their "new" self. Her loss of self during the accident left her with a wall keeping her from speaking and thinking in the way she did prior to the crash. This shaped her and will ultimately change her. She is still the same person; it's just her identity that has been (slightly) reshaped.
In the next two chapters, Chris Styles, a dental surgeon, comes to check on Bridget's teeth. The trouble is that the teeth of the girl lying on the hospital bed does not match that of the charts he has with him. The girl on the bed had braces and four teeth removed for them, but the chart that he has shows that the girl should have a chip on her lower left bicuspid. Lorelei, one of Bridget's nurses, exchanges a glance with Dr. Styles indicating that she already had a feeling that the girl on the bed was not Bridget Flannery.
Maureen, the true identity of the living girl, starts to have more thoughts about Danny: "she dreamed of Danny, sitting in the chair, his blond hair falling in a tangle over his forehead, his sleeves rolled up deliberately to reveal his powerful forearms. She dreamed of Danny kissing her every night and saying, 'that's my girl.' His smell, of some peppery shaving junk and the bubble gum he was never without. She felt her stomach lurch in her sleep," page 86.
On the upside, the O'Malleys will have the call of their life when social worker, Neely Cavendish, tells them that their little girl they believed to be dead was in fact alive. However, on the downside, Neely must also tell the Flannery family that their only girl, Bridget, was dead, and has been dead since a little before Christmas. They are devastated. Kitt Flannery is given a bit of sedative because of her reaction to the traumatizing news.
When the O'Malleys get their chance to visit Maureen, for the first time knowing that she is Maureen, they are undoubtedly grateful. Yet, sadly, Maureen doesn't seem to remember her twin brothers, her brother, Patrick, or her own father. On another sad note, Danny finds out that his beloved girlfriend of four years is dead through a broadcast on the radio. He is devastated, ignoring all phone calls, and avoiding his home because reporters are there to interview him. He spends the night at his older brother's and sleeps in until 4 in the afternoon.
The terrible mix-up had reached The Today Show; Leland, Molly, and Britney were interviewed by Matt Lauer about their reactions to the situation. From this interview, Maureen also finds out that Bridget, her best friend for years, is dead.
New Vocabulary:
• rectory-- [noun] a rector's home
• parish-- [noun] a small administrative district typically having its own church and priest
• Rh-- [noun] Rhodium
• unprecedented-- [adj.] never known or done before
• raucous-- [adj.] making harsh or loud noise
• perverse-- [adj.] showing deliberate desire to behave in unreasonable manner
• semi-- [noun] a semifinal
• inadvertent-- [adj.] not resulting from deliberate planning
• anguished-- [adj.] expressing severe pain or suffering
• borne-- [verb] past tense or 'bear'
• vigilance-- [noun] action or state of careful watch for possible difficulties or danger
• tendrils-- [noun] slender, threadlike appendage of climbing plant, often growing in spirals
Reflection: Relationship between book and class question: Who am I, and how does my language shape my identity.
The biggest problem that has just been identified in these last couple of chapters that I have read have been was that the girl they believed was alive, was, and has been, dead for months. This problem could have been solved earlier had Maureen been able to communicate to the people around her that she was not Bridget Flannery. In this case, language had a lot to do with her identity. She spent multiple months living as Bridget because she had no way of communicating to others that she was Maureen O'Malley.
Also, the accident had a great effect on the way she could communicate with others. Inside, everything was there for her, but it was a problem for her to get her thoughts across. When she was thinking 'Bridget,' what really came out was 'bug,' page 112. Though the accident would make walking, eating, and everything else physical, hard for her, it would also make everything mental hard too. Everything is there right at the tip of her tongue, it just takes a matter of time for her to actually find what she's looking for, what she's really trying to say; that is, before she forgets it or goes of on a tangent.
This is what is really going to change her. The way she communicates with others, her ability to communicate with others, this is going to change her. The O'Malley family will be undeniably happy just to have their daughter back, but as Dr. Park put it (at the time when the Flannery family believed Bridget was alive), "This is so wonderful. and you must be incredibly happy. This is just proof of everything we now about kids. They can turn around and surprise you. But, Mrs. Flannery, you can't expect her to be the girl she was before the accident. Not now. Maybe not ever. And certainily not all at once. It's a long, long road," page 65. The 'old Maureen' just might have died along with Bridget back at the accident, leaving a 'new Maureen' to emerge. People say this a lot, that they are leaving their "old" self behind and leading the rest of their life as their "new" self. Her loss of self during the accident left her with a wall keeping her from speaking and thinking in the way she did prior to the crash. This shaped her and will ultimately change her. She is still the same person; it's just her identity that has been (slightly) reshaped.
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