Missed Connection just wants to help woman up out of pit of despair
By adamg - Tue, 11/10/2009 - 4:24pm.
UPDATE: The video made the news around the world. See examples in the comments.
Maybe the author of this Missed Connection will have more luck than the reporters who tried finding Our Lady of the Pit on Twitter yesterday.
Via Chessie Monks.
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Sophia Hartdegen
The herald has her side of the story up on the front page ... four superpints of beer (22oz) + lightweight female = trouble.
Channel 5 talked to her first
Here. She's like Ted Striker - she doesn't have a drinking problem.
Exactly
She has a denial problem.
Quick judgement?
Do you think maybe you're judging a bit too quickly? All we know is that she had 4 big beers (~8 12 oz. beers). That's it, and you're ready to check her into Betty Ford.
Maybe not Betty Ford
But a woman who's staggering around North Station dead drunk (well, OK, not dead) might have some personal reassessment to do.
Also ...
Somebody with "neuroprotective" in her job title that doesn't consider 8 servings of alcohol to be a binge drinking issue needs to reassess her understanding for professional reasons alone!
Yeah, one-time behavior isn't always indicative of patterns
That data constitutes one episode of binge drinking, a form of problematic drinking, but it isn't enough information to diagnose her with alcohol dependence or alcohol abuse.
Binge drinking is pretty highly tolerated in the United States among 20-somethings. Not that this makes it a good idea, but if periodic binge drinking while in the company of others doing the same constituted rehab-worthy alcohol abuse, probably half of the population would enter rehab at some point in their lives.
Who knows though; I've heard from a lot of clients in recovery from problematic substance use that they ended up in recovery because of an arrest or an injury while drinking, and most say it was the best thing that ever happened and their friends are still out getting wasted. Many people choose to go into recovery who didn't ever meet a diagnosis of addiction.
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http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Lesson learned?
Channel 5 reported that she said she's giving up drinking.
We have no idea if she has a serious drinking problem or if this was a one-time thing, but it sounds like she got her wake-up call. Then again, all the publicity might drive her to drink!
And Lt. Hurwitz...
...thinks he's Ethel Merman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZdqsCW8vM
I'm withholding judgment
She acknowledges feeling "humiliated" -- and something deeper, I expect, like the existential awareness that she was ---> this far <--- from certain death. From my own experience, it will take a while for her to come back to earth, as it will for the train operator and some of the others involved.
Scary shit, but everybody lived through it.
Channel 5 frame-by-frame slideshow
I checked out the WCVB link and, in addition to the video, there is an interesting slideshow of stills. It shows she fell back in a second time as people were trying to help her back up to the platform and-- horror of horrors! --she was smoking before she took her initial tumble ! I guess, under the circumstances, the T is waiving the fine.
Also looking at the various videos from different perspectives, it seems to me that her foot grazed the third rail. When she first falls in, she tries to get up & get out but stumbles again. As she falls, her right foot seems to cross over the third rail and her body then seems to be jolted & repelled to the left. She falls limp & motionless between the rails & doesn't stir until she suddenly springs up from under the stopped train. Is it possible she could have been mildly shocked ? Just wondering...
"Never write if you can speak; never speak if you can nod; never nod if you can wink"-- and the Eliot Spitzer codicil -- "never put it in e-mail."
She likes rugby
According to her LinkedIn profile. Unless there's another Sophia Hartdegen in the Boston area.
Oh The Irony!
Also according to LinkedIn, she's a "neuroprotective research assistant" at MGH.
I guess when she's off work, she doesn't practice neuroprotection? Reduces the odds that she didn't know what that amount of alcohol can do ...
Ex-ballerina
According to her Myspace page, she likes ballet but no longer participates. Now we can see why.
It also says she is single, so maybe that guy on Craigslist has a chance!
Somehow, it just sounds better with a British accent
BBC report.
And for our Italian-speaking friends
En francais
Noticias de la Linea Naranja
Deutsche, ja
Portuguese
For those who like their Boston media in different languages...
Portuguese: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGU5j_JX3D0
Spanish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZGfyIUPi0k
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
I love those spot
Because now I know that "bof fri fleu" in Portuguese is "bof fri fleu."
Spanish too!
Llama nuevo uno uno y di STROKE!
(Now I'm fearing there's going to be a wave of people just calling 911 and saying STROKE and hanging up. The video said that's what you should do if someone's having one.)
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http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
which reminds us of the joke involving the flasher in the park
"...the second old lady had a stroke too, but the third refused to touch the damned thing."
Nuevo huevo?
O nueve, si?
From a family member e-mail
"what is going on out there ... there is this video of a woman nearly smashed by a train. It's orbiting the world on YouTube now"
Danish
Here.
Catalan
Hungarian
Here (scroll down the page a bit for the video report).
Because the video isn't dramatic enough without sound effects
Milagro en el subte
From Argentina:
Spanish is quite supple when it comes to describing drunkeness
So far, I've seen five different ways to referring to her state:
Alcoholized!
In the U.S. City of Boston
Reuters chimes in, Britishly:
Dronken vrouw
Dutch:
As you wish!
The Pit of Despair...don't even think...
*AHEH-HEM*
Don't even think about trying to escape.
(PS - It's "despair". Dispair isn't a word. Sorry...pet peeve word for me.)
$$$
So since it's on film, can we fine her for smoking on the platform?
MBTA says they won't
The MBTA says they won't charge her with any crimes. They probably figured the worldwide public shaming was enough for her!
Drunk woman falls on t tracks
I hope this person gets help. She was alone near the edge because she was illegally smoking. Maybe someone can help her with drinking and? smoking before she kills herself or someone else.