(no subject)

[cleolinda]

Update on Hopkin Green Frog:

As I noted here previously, sometime around September of 2003 some fliers appeared in Seattle, proclaiming the loss of what appeared to be a small boy’s frog.... In one of the MetaFilter threads, an enterprising researcher established that Hopkin was a toy distributed as a freebie by the McDonalds corporation. Others noted that someone had called the family and verified that the frog was indeed a toy....

The person who drew the flier is a sixteen-year-old boy who suffers from autism. His father was unaware that his son may have made more than one batch of fliers (it appears that new fliers were hung in May of 2004). He did know about the loss of the frog and I believe that he knew about the first batch of fliers.

He also did not want me to give the frog to his son. He’s forgotten it, he told me. Bringing it up again will probably only bring up a bunch of bad memories.

He was quite unaware of the interest in the frog and the flier on the internet. He reiterated that he did not think it would be a good idea to show the sites to his son.

He was pleasant throughout our conversation. But he was quite clear and firm in his opinion that reminding the child of his lost frog, even to the point of restoring it to him, would be inadvisable for the boy. On his behalf, he asks that no-one send other Hopkins to the child. I was happy to hear that apparently I have been the only person calling them about the frog. Left unstated was the suggestion that future calls will be unnecessary.

So don't feel bad for Terry. I think he'll make it through okay.

Comments

[suaine.livejournal.com]

Wow.

Wow

[disgruntledgrrl.livejournal.com]

I just finished the book about "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time "
so this strikes a bone.

Re: Wow

[lizzyrose89.livejournal.com]

Heh. Ditto that.

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

Aw, I want a hopkin! It's so cute!

[la-sonnambula.livejournal.com]

It’s a different ending to the story than I expected or had hoped for, certainly; but on another level, it means that Hopkin will remain forever lost

Awwww. There's something so bittersweet about this.

[lezopez.livejournal.com]

My godson and his two brothers are autistic and it's almost terrifying how attached they get to stuff they love since they, you know, have trouble making attachments to people.
One time I was babysitting overnight for them and the oldest child lost his special blanket and we could not go to bed without it. How sad, thought I'm glad to see he's gotten over it.

[lezopez.livejournal.com]

though. THOUGH I'm glad to see he's gotten over it.

Also ironically, my last post in my journal is about one of the boys and what he's been going through :-P

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

This is still the Best Icon Evah. But I wonder what Kristin is standing on.

This whole story is that much more fascinating now. The comment (on the linked blog entry) from the person with Asperger's is particularly interesting. And yay for the person who suggested a "Hopkin fund" to support autism-related research.

The human brain is such a weird, wild place. Not unlike the Internet. *g*

[word-herder.livejournal.com]

And here I thought this was just a joke!

[fangirlsays.livejournal.com]

I'm glad people are being respectful of the boy and his family's wishes.

food for thought

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

Totally OT/spammish, but I thought you'd be amused by this as much as I was.
From "News of the Weird" this week:

A Way With Words
"(W)e do not think it rises to the level of a safety defect" (said Chrysler spokesman Max Gates in December, fighting a threatened recall of 600,000 Dodge Durango and Dakota trucks even though, Gates acknowledged, "upper ball joint separation" might make the trucks' wheels fall off).

And then-this entry from my own lj on 12/10...
http://www.livejournal.com/users/mustang_bex1126/12515.html

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

There's something unsatisfying about this ending for Terry and Hopkin, though, isn't there? Don't you want to see the Disney ending where the Internets band together to bring him a new Hopkin based on their affection for his heartfelt plight? Isn't there something naggingly...incomplete or just not right of his having "moved on?" There's a sense of "Okay, we solved the puzzle, now we should get to have closure," but, of course, there's no real right to that, just a sense of expectation....

It just feels like an unfinished narrative somehow.

Not that I'm finding fault with Terry's father's wishes. I wouldn't want the combined weight of the web breathing down my family's neck. And it does dull a twinge of the humor of lostfrog.org -- but just a twinge. Which is a metric unit, I think. I think it's more of a gripe with the nature of the universe....

Oh, and if you're big on non-sequitur spam subject lines, you should see spamusement.com (http://spamusement.com/) -- some gent has decided to make cartoons based on spam subject lines he receives. A little hit and miss, but more gold than you'd expect. Also syndicated at spamusement!

[xuntamedx.livejournal.com]

I adore spamusement. Cabinet Sanchez graced my desktop for about a month or so, and my friends and I reenact the cartoons whenever humanly possible. :D

[wengeue.livejournal.com]

Whoa. The kid lives in my neighborhood. And somehow I had missed this whole story until now.

I worry about him, a bit... I am sure he hasn't forgotten the frog. His father wants to help him but that doesn't mean that he has absolutely done the right thing. I hope so.

[msposada.livejournal.com]

Depending on his level of autism, he won't ever forget his frog.

My cousin who will be 16 this year as well suffers from, what my aunt tells me level 7, which means that his mind will never mature from that of a 5 year old.

He has been living in the US for about 3 years now, having lived in Canada all of his life. Now you Candians know of the Kids Network called Y-TV which is equivalent to America's Nickalodeon. Well, up to this day, you asked him, "Johnny, wanna watch Y-TV? Want to go to Y-TV.com?"

His eyes light up and gives you a big "YES!"

He still sings the songs from the shows, but rarely now, as SpongeBob has taken over his gray matter.

This from the boy who can't remember to dress after a shower.

[peot.livejournal.com]

All the best for Terry.

It's not a good thing that most of my knowledge about autism comes from "Rain Man", even though I used to work with handicapped persons for a while. It entails a very strange view on the world, so I heard. Anybody got any experience with this?

[meredith-mae.livejournal.com]

My mom works with 3 children with severe autism. (She's a service coordinator for the county she lives in - she evaluates children 3 and under based on recommendations from Doctors and child care workers and assigns services to them if needed, like physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech thearapy...) She also did her student teaching at a school for mentally and developmentally disabled teenagers (aged 14-16, some of whom functioned on the level of children half their age). It's very hard for them to be verbal, so depending on teh level of autism, they might not talk until they're 3 or 4 years old. They tend to have a lot of sensory issues. My friend's sister can't wear jeans because the material is too harsh for her skin. They also have issues with noise sometimes, and depending on their disability, they manifest different levels of anti-social behavhior. Very mildly austic children can function fine in society, go to school, and have jobs, but they have more trouble forming relationships than regular people, whereas severely austistic children have trouble communicating at all, to the point where some won't even look you in the eye. There are other disabilities as well that have to do with sensory issues and anti-social behavhior, austism is just the most well known.

[edda.livejournal.com]

This makes me sad. Although it sounds like he's being well-cared for. I just have this thing about frogs.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

OT but so funny:
You've probably seen this already, but... (http://www.livejournal.com/users/anne_jumps/745967.html)

...this one made me think of you:
Wears pins, stickers or anything else that contains these various phrases: "I'm so gothic, I'm dead", "woe is me", "I'm a goth".

Apparently Woe is not a gothic word...
Put away that WOE button, Right Now, you GOTH!!!!

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

*headdesk*
is NOW a gothic word...
I can't spell.

[peot.livejournal.com]

*can't stop laughing until he dies from exhaustion, is brought back and now a faithful goth*

Thesis: Goths express interest in sex
Deduciton: Everybody = Goth

That's my kind of logic! lol!

[caffienerain.livejournal.com]

"I'm so gothic, I'm dead."

Funny thing, once I made a button that said:

"I'm so emo, I killed myself."

Oh shit, does that make us all goth?

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

HEE!

We are all the epitome of everything Goth.

Have some black nail polish.

[caffienerain.livejournal.com]

I think that omgwtfpolarbear is goth too. We need to start a goth club. HEE.

I take your black nail polish and raise you a pair of ripped fishnets.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

A Goth club! ROCK.

I take your ripped fishnets, and toss a GOTH OR DIE button into the pool.

[caffienerain.livejournal.com]

We can be the founders! :)

... wait a second. Goths don't smile.

I take your GOTH OR DIE button and raise you... an album by The Cure!

(Oh hell, now I'm really goth. I like the Cure.)

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

I borrow your album by The Cure, because...I can't bear to part with my black lace-up boots. I love my boots. But you can borrow them!!

[caffienerain.livejournal.com]

I'll borrow them! And also, lend you my Evanescence CD. With my Seether one. Because. I'm like you. I can't bear to part with them.

*takes one last longing look at her Ev CD and runs like Shannon to go cry into her pink satin pillow*

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

Hee! For the lending of your Evanescence CD, I'll toss my KORN poster on the table.

[kohler.livejournal.com]

Aww, this story is sweet/sad.

Ahaha. (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=smackfarthing)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee. Yeah, Lylassandra showed me the link right after she submitted it. My dictionary fetish is pleased. : )

[eyeslikesugar.livejournal.com]

First I've ever head of this @_@ -- what a cute story, and I'm glad no one called -_-; I can only imagine the trouble that would ensue from that.

[elanorkat.livejournal.com]

Dammit, that made me cry. Cursed PMT. It's worse to know that he's autistic. I've known some boys with autism, and the single-mindedness they show when something material has been lost or destroyed is heartbreaking. His dad said he's forgotten it, but I bet he hasn't.

[caffienerain.livejournal.com]

OT: Cleo? Can I call you that still? Or do you prefer Lauren?

I'm so confused!

Okay. Well, back to my question. I need need some book reccomendations. One time, you posted about "House of Leaves" and I'll be damned if I didn't finish it in less than a month. 'Twas good, even though I read spoilers and such.

But now that I've finished, I need some new stuff, yo. Any rec. (from you, or from the lovely visitors) would be great.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Cleo works fine for me.

Hmm. Just off the top of my head, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer was good (and short!). I haven't read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell yet, but everyone's raving about it. Oh, and The Eyre Affair. Still in my pile of unread books, but everyone I've talked to loves it.

[caffienerain.livejournal.com]

Yay. Now, I just needs to get library accessable. Eh, I'll get them on Thursday, the next day of classes.