A sample story map about Goodbyes and Grief in Real Time By Brian Stelter

1. STORY MAP
(Literary Element)
TITLE: Goodbyes and Grief in Real Time
By Brian Stelter
Published: July 31, 2013
SETTING: Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a Chicago-
area hospital
CHARACTERS:
Scott Simon- the one who’s tweeting and posting lot of things about his mother.
Patricia Lyons Simon Newman- 84 years old, mother of Scott Simon.
Burt Herman- co-founder of Storify, an Internet company that markets what it calls
social storytelling books.
Joe Lambert- founder of the Center for Digital Storytelling in Berkeley, Calif.
ICU nurses and doctors- According to Scott Simon, they are remarkable people who
are getting people through pain and anxieties.
PROBLEM:
A universal story involving heartbreak and humor into 21 words. Scott
Simon lost his own mother after being treated for cancer.
EVENT 1: Tweets, those 140 characters, have given us beauty, tender moments,
laughter and an intimate view of an amazing lady who Mr. Simon was fond to boast
was his Mother. Scott Simon is not the first person to tweet about the death of a
loved one but he might be the first person to live tweet an ICU experience, death
and the pain of grieving in a continuous flow.
EVENT 2: Mr. Simon gave us such a candid view of what life’s like for those whose
family members who are staying with them in ICU. Clearly ICU is designed solely for
patients; his tweets gave us a very clear picture of this reality.
SOPHIA MARIE D. VERDEFLOR GRADE
9-1 STEP

2. EVENT 3: Mr. Simon wrote on Monday morning that“her passingmight
come any moment” this was really a heartbreakingpart which actually
says that in an hour, or not for a day, her mother will die. The nursesaid
hearing is the last sense to go so Mr. Simon sing and gives a joke.
EVENT 4: Ms. Newman cries help me at 2:30 andbeen holdingher like a
baby since, and she’s asleep now, all that Mr.Simon can do is hold on to
her. After he wrote that heartbreakingpart,that evening it did, her
mother died after being treated for cancer.
EVENT 5: After his mother death, he said that he wanted people to
know that he wasn’t holdingher mother in his arms and tweeting with his
free hand. Andhe alsoadded that “As you may know, an incurable illness
like this is a lot like war. There are moments of panic andanxiety,
separatedby hoursof tedium.”
EVENT 6: Mr. Simon cried duringthe interview on Wednesday while he
was expressing thanksfor the “love andsupportprayers” from people.
EVENT 7: The outpouringof supportand admiration for Mr.Simon has
been tremendous. These tributes havebeen sharedin a variety of ways
but the universaltheme expressed over and over is thankyou.
SOLUTION: As a solutionfor this problem, Mr. Simon’s tweets abouthis Mother in her
final days alsohelped so many people to understandthatmeaningfulcommunication could
be achieved with only 140characters. This serves as a lovely tribute to her loving mother. It
may not be the best time to say this, but honestly,I have often found Scott Simon's
sentimentality to be cloying over the years I've listened. Not every time, andI still have
basically liked him, because I can tell he's a very decent and kind person. In this instance his
expression is not what I would call sentimental. It is courageous,wise, an example to learn
from, andperfectly appropriate. Aside from tweeting andposting about her mother’sfinal
days here in the world, he also showed his lovefor his mother throughvisiting her mother
in the hospitaland being with her mother allday.
MORAL: “There has never been, norwill there ever be, anythingquite so special as the
love between a mother and a son.” Definitely! Absolutelyyes! So, the article ‘Goodbyes and
Grief in Real Time’ gives us the moral lesson,as long as your mother is still alive andeven
your father, you shouldspendevery second, every minute, every hour,and every day with
your parentsvery well.
SOPHIA MARIE D. VERDEFLOR GRADE
9-1 STEP