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NIM'S WORLDOne in 166 children is diagnosed with autism. Time For A Change. |
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October 19 autistic teen lost in woods for 4 days‘God breathed his warm breath down on us’Family of autistic teen lost in woods for 4 days thankful for good weather
 By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
Updated: 8:52 a.m. ET Oct 19, 2007
As the days stretched on and scores of rescuers came back from their grid searches of the West Virginia wilderness with nothing to report, Karen Allen’s hopes of finding her autistic son, Jacob, alive never faltered. The weather, chilly at first, grew warmer by the day, and that to her was a sign that a greater power was watching out for Jacob. “We knew that God had something in this for us,” she told TODAY co-host Matt Lauer during a live interview via satellite on Friday. “Every day the weather got warmer and warmer and warmer — it was as if God breathed his warm breath down on us.” Karen Allen’s prayers were answered around 2:30 p.m. Thursday — four days after Jacob, 18, had wandered away during a family hike Sunday in the Dolly Sods Wilderness area of the Monongahela National Forest. Jeremy Reneau, a 25-year-old physician’s assistant, was searching a grid with his father, Jim, and a team that included seven others when he saw Jacob sleeping on the ground. Jacob has the mental capacity of a 3- or 4-year-old and is not verbal. When Reneau called his name, he woke up and looked at Reneau. “I just happened to glance down and saw him lying in an open spot in the woods,” Reneau said, speaking from Elkins, W. Va., along with Karen Allen and her other two children, Brittany, 22, and Micah, 14. “He responded when I called his name. He rolled over. He sat up when I presented him with food. He was eager to get home.” Reneau checked Jacob’s vital signs, and, other than being hungry and thirsty, the young man was in good shape despite his four days alone in the wilderness. He walked with the rescue team part of the way to safety before getting tired. He got a ride on a stretcher from there to a waiting ambulance and an overnight stay in a hospital.
Brittany Allen had spent days helping with the search, at times crawling through the woods to look beneath the underbrush for her brother. She had earlier told interviewers that Jacob liked to get out ahead of the family during their regular hikes and sometimes wandered a short distance off the trail, but never far enough to get lost. But, she told Lauer, “We always had that fear that he would wander off.” Sunday afternoon, the fears were realized. Family optimistic “I was amazed,” Karen Allen said of the rescue team. “They were so focused. The search and rescue was so methodical. They just exuded confidence.” As further evidence that divine intervention was involved in saving her son, Karen Allen observed that on Friday, the day after Jacob’s rescue, it started to rain. Lauer asked Micah Allen what the drama revealed about his brother. “He’s a lot stronger than probably some of us out there,” Micah replied. “He’s a trouper. I guess he just found out a way to survive probably better than most of us would.” October 11 caroline Dicocco- Don't let The Door hit you....As many know, I was hoping for a new MPP in sarnia, and that has happened. Not who I picked, but least it wasn't Dicocco. We had our little fued back and forth on autism and now i think she's lost. She didn't let the people in. She would fight against the people. And she never did wear that bracelet for Autism I gave her.
Happy? Yes. She was going to lose, no matter what. I tried to get her to see that a few years ago, but she couldn't see that. It was time for a change and the NEW MPP will hear from me if I think my son's rights are being violated(again). She will be sadly missed for 1-2-3 seconds....Diccocco who?
Tim Mitchell. September 03 Best High School Movies, And Five Of The WorstPrepare to head back to class with our look at the 10 best high school movies, and five of the worst
By Kim Morgan
Special to MSN Movies
There's a reason Alice Cooper's anthem "School's Out" has left such a lasting impression upon generation after generation. Who's not excited when "school's out for summer"? And especially when, as the song goes, "school's out forever," as they say after high school. A time when dramatic life moments occur, leaving us usually saddled with neurosis well into adulthood, high school is clearly fertile ground for terrific big-screen entertainment.
As you'll see here, the high school movie has always been a popular, drama-comedy filled genre. And with the critically heralded, uproarious "Superbad" now released, the genre looks to be getting even better. Judd Apatow (who created "Freaks and Geeks"; if it hadn't been a TV show, it would have been No. 1 on this list) produced the comedy about two friends (Jonah Hill and Michael Cera) looking for sex, booze and basically all kinds of new experiences and trouble before they leave for separate colleges the next year. In honor of "Superbad," and to get you ready to get back to class, we've listed our 10 favorite high school movies and five not so favorites. Some are fun, some sad, some masterful and some demented. Like all those nutty, surging hormones we had to endure, they swing wildly and also prove, in some way, that we do need an education. You may want to take notes.
10. "Brick" (2005)
Rian Johnson achieved an almost impossible feat with "Brick" -- he created a neo-noir and set in a contemporary California high school with characters gabbing dialogue straight from 1940s crime fiction, and it wasn't ridiculous. A sensational Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Brendan, an outsider high schooler who channels Sam Spade while investigating the mysterious death of his ex-girlfriend (Emilie de Ravin, from "Lost") while his trusty friend The Brain (Matt O'Leary) shares clues and quips. Brendan contends with all sorts of characters, including teenage femmes fatales; bossy, Moose Malloy-ish dumbbell athletes; useless stoners (one he slaps around with Bogart panache spitting out: "Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you"). The greatest creation, however, is Lukas Haas' brilliant sociopathic drug dealer named The Pin, a bug-eyed and quietly menacing cross between Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet. The drama, tension and fantasy of high school is astutely observed via the picture's shadowy style and clever one-liners (who wouldn't want to be that quick-witted when a bully puts up his dukes?) and though adults hang in the periphery of the film, you'll never forget a scene involving The Pin, his mom, milk and cookies.
9. "My Bodyguard" (1980)
Tony Bill's "My Bodyguard" is better than it has any right to be. Its David and Goliath story is a cookie cutter set for yucks, easy inspiration and a big payoff that, as a critic looking to get quoted might write, leaves the audience cheering. But then it becomes a lot more than the nerdy new kid Clifford (Chris Makepeace) enduring the high school bully (Matt Dillon) who steals his lunch money when the 98-pound weakling hires himself a real Goliath, a moody, brooding hulk named Linderman (Adam Baldwin). In spite of the scary rumors surrounding Linderman (that he raped a teacher and murdered his brother), Clifford seeks out the bad boy, at first to simply make his hellish high school existence endurable. But as the two hang out, he learns more about the so-called school "psycho" -- that the poor kid is gripped with guilt about the accidental death of his brother, his family life is tragic and he's reverted to a shell because his life contains little joy. Both performances are astoundingly touching (especially Baldwin, who manages to be incredibly real, poignant and then actually kind of scary) and the movie works as a darkly sweet ode to all of the freaks and geeks slouching through the hallways, hoping for a real friend.
8. "Heathers" (1989)
A startling, darkly funny teen picture, "Heathers" -- starring Winona Ryder and a Jack Nicholson-impersonating Christian Slater -- remains a nice antidote to all those life-positive '80s John Hughes films. Here, the jocks and the snobs, particularly a Nazi-like clique of girls all named Heather, get theirs in creative, incredibly mean style. Heather-ette Ryder (her name is Veronica but she manages to get in with the cool chicks), longs for something more than the "diet coke heads." When new boy Slater swaggers into the lunchroom, she's smitten. The two become a homicidal duo, engaging in a murder spree that looks like a rash of suicides (one involves a cup of Drano). The humor's positively black and the dialogue is priceless: "Heather why do you have to be such a mega bitch?" Answer? "Because I can be."
7. "Election" (1999)
This movie isn't just a dead-on satire about the tumultuous, dog-eat-doggedness of high school overachievers (and popular underachievers), it's also a savvy satire about U.S. politics in general. Written and directed by Alexander Payne (before he skewered oldsters in "About Schmidt" and dumpy oenophiles in "Sideways") the brilliant "Election" stars Reese Witherspoon as the hysterically and insanely ambitious Tracy Flick, an A student who is running for class president. She's so earnest and single-minded that the movie could simply revolve around what an unlikable, secretly contemptuous brown-nose she is. But instead it reveals that her archenemy is none other than a likable teacher, Mr. McAllister (Mathew Broderick), who is still upset with her getting his creepy colleague fired for having an affair with the teenager. So, yes, he's not exactly one-note sympathetic either. When he convinces the dim bulb but nice school jock (Chris Klein) to run against Tracy, her world spins out of control when she realizes her hard work means nothing in the face of massive popularity. When the jock's lesbian, anarchistic sister enters the race, the movie becomes an accidental examination of the Bush, Gore and Nader campaign (I'm not saying which character represents any of these candidates). The acerbic, witty and wickedly funny movie only goes to show that life is always like high school.
6. "Carrie" (1976)
High school can really suck. Especially if you're a quiet little red-haired wallflower with a psychotic overly religious mother and a violent dose of telekinetic powers that are unleashed when angry. And if you're Carrie White (the fabulous Sissy Spacek), you've got plenty to make you angry. Brian De Palma adapted Stephen King's novel perfectly, making high school a playground for the cruel and unusual, reflecting the real-life horrors of later, adult life and the surging, hormonal complications of becoming a teen. When Carrie is invited to the prom as a trick, we watch with deep compassion as she dresses herself into the truly beautiful young woman she is, only to be doused with pig's blood when crowned prom queen. Spacek made history with this role speaking for all the teenage disenfranchised with her final act of retribution (destroy ALL!). The finale is strangely liberating but also terribly sad. This remains an absolutely touching classic that transcends its genre.
5. "Donnie Darko" (2001)
OK, there's much more to "Donnie Darko" than simply high school, but it belongs here because the film wouldn't work in any different milieu. Young filmmaker Richard Kelly directed Jake Gyllenhaal as our titular hero in this intriguing combination of science fiction, teen drama, romance, '80s nostalgia and teen-film satire. And more. It's 1988 in affluent Middlesex, Va., where a sleepwalking Donnie Darko receives news from a horrifying 6-foot-tall, charred bunny -- in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 16 seconds the world's gonna end. When a jet engine smashes into the bedroom of his house while Donnie's walking the night, he realizes that creepy rabbit just saved his life. What to do? Explore the significance of the event while attending school, argue about the sexuality of the Smurfs, fall in love, out a pedophile teacher, attend hypnosis sessions with a psychiatrist, and endure the self-help mumbo jumbo of a teacher who feels love and fear are the polar extremes that guide our life. You know, normal high school stuff. The film also features some brilliant musical sequences showcasing Tears for Fears and Echo and the Bunnymen tunes. Unseen on first release but discovered on DVD, "Donnie Darko" is now a deserved, bona fide cult classic where popular revivals are filled with the rightfully obsessed.
4. "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" (1982)
You were probably wondering when we'd get to this one. Writer Cameron Crowe went undercover in an '80s Southern California high school (when you see his autobiographical "Almost Famous," you understand how he was able to achieve such a feat), coming up with a smorgasbord of inside info that is now part of our popular vernacular. As directed by Amy Heckerling, the picture follows the new sexual exploits of mall-working Valley Girl Jennifer Jason Leigh and her more experienced older friend Phoebe Cates (who gets one of cinema's -- or locker rooms' -- most talked about bikini moments). Poor Leigh takes advice from all the wrong people, resulting in some sexual moments that never play as merely titillating, but incredibly pathetic and disturbing, especially in a comedy like this. Making up for Leigh's dramatic dilemmas, however, is the comedic icon of surfer/pothead Jeff Spicoli (yes, remember that was Sean Penn all those years ago), whose stoned-out stupidity belies a clever sarcasm that's not as dumb as it looks. Genuinely touching, with terrific music and smart, funny performances, "Fast Times" still works. Must we quote? OK one: "All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine."
3. "Dazed and Confused" (1993)
We know some of you will get angry not seeing George Lucas' "American Graffiti" gracing this list, but Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused," a film that's been compared to Lucas', really feels like high school. Chronicling one day in the life of a group of Texas high school students circa 1976, the picture walks us through the drama of eight seniors who wonder about their future, search for Aerosmith tickets, and haze (and we really mean haze, '70s style) incoming freshmen. The picture's filled with future stars, all who give terrific, authentic performances, like a wonderfully sleazy Matthew McConaughey (in the greatest role of his career), Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Cole Hauser and the lovely Milla Jovovich. Linklater really captures what the last day of school feels like (then and now) but also the issues of the era, like drugs, Watergate, feminism and other topics relevant to the '70s. Like "Graffiti," we really wonder and care about what'll happen to these teens as they cruise around to some of the era's greatest music. And we also laugh a lot. A landmark in teen cinema.
2. "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955)
"You're tearing me apart!" Who can forget young James Dean struggling with his meek father and shrew of a mother while attempting to fit in as the new kid in a '50s Los Angeles high school? Directed by the great Nicholas Ray in vibrant color and gorgeously stylized eschew angles, the film's title alone has become a catch phrase for the smart loner who wants to make any kind of mark, but, living in such an existential world, only ends up lashing out. In Dean's most popular movie, the method actor begins life in town in a police station, where he's picked up for being publicly drunk. There he meets two other misfits who will later become his best friends, Sal Mineo (who's charged with killing a bunch of puppies -- harsh!) and Natalie Wood, who's got some serious daddy issues. The three form a deep but somewhat bizarre bond after a deadly chicken race, holing up in an abandoned house where the cops and other gang members can't find them. A deeply philosophical film, Ray's picture is filled with layered musings. Dean's family life involves a lot of talking but not listening (timeless) while high school means initiation by knife. The picture is also incredibly homoerotic with Mineo and Dean engaging in some intriguing subtext attraction. There's a reason this film's so famous, of course for the iconic performance, cool, sensitivity and gorgeousness of Dean, but also for its emotionally charged subject matter. "The Catcher in the Rye" of cinema, generations of young men and women have deeply related to this film.
1. "Rushmore" (1999)
Co-written and directed by then-relatively unknown Wes Anderson and co-written and co-produced by Owen Wilson, "Rushmore" is one of the most creative, touching, and hilarious pictures to come out in the past few decades. For some, "Rushmore" is more than a movie -- it's a sublime milestone. "Rushmore" is named for the posh prep-school academy that the film's main character, 15-year-old Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman), attends with an enthusiasm that borders on pathological. Unlike the rich kids at Rushmore, Max is there on a scholarship, though he's barely passing any of his classes. But he's got tons of spirit (he heads about every extracurricular school club) and heavy doses of arrogance. He's driving the administrators at Rushmore crazy but he's also made a friend in Herman Blume (Bill Murray), a millionaire whose speech to the students of Rushmore makes a strong impression on Max. However, thanks to a bizarre love triangle, Max will learn what heartbreak is and, in one of the film's saddest moments, be kicked out of Rushmore only to attend the drabness of regular high school. Beautifully filmed, scored, acted and so genuinely sweet, "Rushmore" is the kind of movie that makes you cry from your well of bittersweet memories, many from your high school years. And it's got one of the greatest soundtracks in film history. When Blume asks Max, "What's the secret?" Max tells him: "Find what you like to do and do it for the rest of your life. For me it's going to Rushmore." Of course it doesn't really work out that easily for Max, but his sentiment is, as future Anderson character Royal Tenenbaum would say, "true blue."
And Five Really Bad Ones ... "She's Out of Control" (1989)
I'm cheating a little bit here because this teen movie, about a once gawky, nerdy girl who transforms into the hottest chick in high school, is really about her father -- her creepy, unhealthily obsessed, leering father. In studying the changes that some so-called geeky girls experience when they blossom into young womanhood, the movie chooses to use an agitated, sweaty, therapy-seeking Tony Danza, who's so disturbed by his daughter's breasts bouncing in a bathing suit that you realize the movie could be interesting if it were, I don't know, entirely and honestly about incest. I truly feel sorry for any teenage girl who actually sat through this movie with her dad.
"The Hot Chick" (2002)
I was thinking, how is one of the Coreys' movies not making this list? And then I remembered the touching Jason Robards transforming into Corey Feldman and doing that horrific Michael Jackson bleacher dance in "Dream a Little Dream" being much funnier and entertaining than Rob Schneider transforming into a cheerleader and dropping tired, unending gay, ethnic, bathroom and penis jokes in "The Hot Chick." Also, there's just something unsettling and player-hating when Schneider tells us that the prettiest girl in high school is really a bitch.
"Pretty in Pink" (1986)
Don't yell at me. I happen to like "Sixteen Candles" and "The Breakfast Club." And it's painful for me to include any movie on a worst-of list in which character actor legend Harry Dean Stanton appears (and he's wonderful in this movie). But the ending, the ending. Not only do I personally hate it, it's also not consistent with the spirit of the movie. Sure, even spoiled rich boys deserve a second chance, but please. I'm supposed to believe that this creative, pretty girl who sews her own clothes and drives a nifty old car puts up with Andrew McCarthy's drippy pampered-boy embarrassment? I know she's not going to run off with perpetual friend Ducky (though in John Hughes' original ending, she did) but maybe, just maybe, she'll date some interesting older guy in a band. Or get on with her life -- alone. Or, here's a twist -- she could have surprised everyone by pairing up with the evil James Spader after their discussion of his Brooks Brothers-meets-Miami Vice suits revealed a shared passion for fashion design.
"She's All That" (1999)
See, this girl, she's really ugly and weird because she paints and wears glasses. Gross! Sure, she looks just like Rachael Leigh Cook (because she is Rachael Leigh Cook) but still, ugh! Those glasses are sickening. And she's a freak! OK, so I've repeated the running gag of the infinitely superior teen movie spoof, "Not Another Teen Movie," but it's exactly what I was thinking when I watched its object of derision. A movie that gives us the ever-useful instruction that, in order to truly win jock Freddie Prinze Jr.'s heart (even if you began as a bet between Freddie and his obnoxious buddy Paul Walker) all you need to do is take off those glasses and show a little skin. Because, Lord knows, no girl would want to grow up to become as successful and interesting as Tina Fey. She wears glasses!
"She's the Man" (2006)
Oh how I wanted to like this cross-pollination of "Just One of the Guys" and Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," but alas and alack. Amanda Bynes strapping down her femininity just can't touch the bard. It's not even as good as that other stab at teenage Shakespeare, "10 Things I Hate About You" (which stars a terrific Heath Ledger). The movie in a nutshell is basically Bynes dressed as a boy (so she can get on the soccer team) and clearing her throat a lot to say "guy things" like "I'd tap that" while wasting any chance of offering some kind of interesting commentary concerning gender bending in high school. And I mean any kind. She also looks about 10, which is kind of disturbing. August 28 Summer Oh Summer!This summer, we ventured to the great world of camping. someting i am use to from growing up in a Family which did the yearly Two week camping trip all over up North. Well we did the left saturday back Tuesday route, as per my working schedule. We went to Bigeman's Park, a great place with waterslides, rides, and indoor stuff as well. Enough things to keep our little ones busy.
We rented a cabin, which worked out pretty good. The Water Park was amazing. Alot more attractions added since I was there as a kid. There is a nifty kids play area. Imagine a park play set, but surrounded in water, and the slides are actual mini water slides! There even is a big bucket of water that splashes all over, soaking anyone in it's path. Then the Wave Pool was the kids Favourite. They would have stayed in there all day, if given the chance.
One thing I recomend to Parents, is make sure your children are old enough to go on the big slides by thier selves. They won't let you go down with them. Which was a big disappointment for my daughter who would have gone if mommy could go with her. My son went down, after alot of self confusion for himself. Being Autistic, makes him very confused on what he wants to do. He really wanted to go on the slide, but was scared as well. Look at it this way. We can make up our minds on doing a scary task and not show it, but be very scared inside, but still do the task. He can't do that. It all comes out at once, and he won't be happy til he completes the task. Sooooo, after a bit of a long time, he was able to do it. And he was sooooo proud of himself, and so was mommy and daddy. He ended up going two more times then said"I'm Done."
My daughter went on the trampoline which you are attached to bungee cords, and she was also proud as we were of her. A great trip with the smores, open fire hot dogs, and warm family time. Only thing is our digital camera died and didn't get one picture. but, the images in our minds will last a lifetime.
Cheers,
Tim Mitchell. |
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