The Short Bus Ch.3

The Short Bus Chapter Three Response

Brent and Jon’s childhood experiences correlate with my own. I agree with what Jon wrote. Every experience he described I can relate to more then most people can imagine. I also have Dyslexia and ADHD.

Brent felt scared and angry when he went to school. He would go to the bathroom in order to get out of reading. When he read the kids laughed at him. The teachers labeled him the bad kid.
It is interesting that Brent found activities outside of school that put him in control. When he played paintball he was in a different world. There was not a school structure he had to hide from. Paintball is a game of survival. It is kill or be killed. When I was in grade school I developed a fascination with professional wrestling. I would watch every show and reenact scenes I saw on my trampoline. When I focused on wrestling I did not have to think about anything else. “They talked exclusively about paintball: the equipment, tournaments, guns, paint.” Brent could focus on his goal to kill and let out the anger he built up from school.
Brent had to go to tutoring several hours a day during the summer. That reminded me of many tests I had to take. Jonathan: “The moment the tutoring began, I wanted to jump out of my skin.” I did not like tutoring either. I can remember going to the office sitting down and being asked endless questions that didn’t matter. Like if Lucy gets on a train going 60MPH how long will it take her to… I think you know what I am talking about. I would stare out the window and dream about building something.

In my experience the test administrators have been friendly but odd. There is something about testing for dyslexia that attracts people who are more quirky than the average person. They were also nice and caring individuals who usually did what they did because they or a relative of theirs had a disability. Brent’s tutor “looked like a cross between a librarian and a Berkeley hippie” “Ann, professional yet kind, wore a blue dress that seemed childish for a middle –aged woman.” Page 53

While I think the book raises some good points. Jonathan Mooney comes off as cocky and arrogant. It is like he knew people did not think he would be as successful as he became and he wrote this book to rub it in. Part of the reason is because the negative experiences we’ve faced as a result of our disabilities are just that; a result of our disability. Jon blames society, the schools, and the teachers for the hardships he endured. He’s correct but because he shifts the blame away from himself he comes off like politician who blames everyone else for what happened in his district. It is Jonathan’s life. The details of our journeys are different, but the stories are the same. That doesn’t mean I hold the same beliefs they do.