"I saw something moving in the hallway and didn't recognize what it might be. Nothing registered when they arrived at her aunt and uncle's spacious two-story house, where Reagor used to stay on the weekends. After she was discharged from the hospital, Reagor was too frightened at first to get in the car with her mother, whom she still didn't recognize. Self-help and pop psychology books often advocate living in the present moment, but it can have its drawbacks if you have no alternative. The errant football had accidentally and substantially transformed Reagor into a new person. Most of us make the same assumption, and most of us are wrong. Sure, there were discoveries to be made and talents to refine, but Reagor figured her basic personality was pretty much formed. Until the accident, Reagor, now 22, had assumed that she knew who she was. The Reality of AmnesiaĪ convenient plot device in the movies, amnesia unfolds differently in real life. After a CT scan, doctors concluded Reagor had suffered a concussion and amnesia (see "What Is Amnesia?" below), expecting her to be back to normal in about two weeks. I'm your mother!!'"Īll Reagor knew were the stunned faces around her, the question after question about what she remembered, the medical equipment that kept prying and jabbing. "She asked, 'Who are you?' and I said, 'It's me. "She was just like a child," says her mother, Lashawn McKinney. "I had to ask, 'Y'all know what she looks like? Because I don't.' My head hurt really bad and my eyes were on fire." She didn't remember her mother, grandmother, aunt, or nephew. "I heard my mom was coming," Reagor recalls. The group scoured Reagor's cell phone for relatives' numbers and rushed her to the hospital. My friend Shea said, 'Oh no, this is not good.'" I pulled a card from my pocket that had my real first name, 'Shamekqwa' on it, but I couldn't pronounce it. When I woke up, I couldn't remember who or where I was. "In the morning, the whole right side of my face was swollen. Reagor slept at her friends' apartment that night so they could keep an eye on her. There was no signal indicating the blow was about to change her life. Her friends hurried to help.ĭazed but still conscious, she assured them she was fine and spent the rest of the game on the sidelines. When it struck the side of her head, she collapsed. "I don't remember it, but I heard one of my friends threw the ball to me too hard," Reagor says. She and some friends decided to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine by tossing around a football. She had been a senior at Texas Woman's University, a top student studying for a B.S. Then she remembered October, and the accident. "What is this?" she thought, peering a bit angrily at the mirror. The image didn't resemble the easy-going college student Reagor knew herself to be. She must have liked this shapeless silhouette once, because her weight hadn't changed and everything in her closet fit the same way. Her brown hair shot away from her scalp in spikes, and her brown shirt and pants hung off her body. And who she thought she was.ĭenise Reagor stared in the mirror at an image she barely recognized. The Amnesia Party captures a moment in time when America questioned its stability while being on the brink of war as fear and panic gripped an entire nation.Forget What You Know About Amnesia and MemoryĬan amnesia change your personality? In the case of Denise Reagor, concussion-induced amnesia fundamentally changed who she is. September 11th was a horrible tragedy and the consequences that followed were akin to the dark, paranoid fears found in a George Orwell, Franz Kafka story. Meanwhile, sex addicted mother might be having an affair with the Rev, the Secretary of Defense pressures Americans to spy on their neighbors, and worst of all, Son's imaginary friend Tommy reappears to make his life a living hell! The Amnesia Party is an all out visual feast with the likes of Natural Born Killers and A Clockwork Orange. Son's psyche cracks and he is pressured to go to war by Dad, a shell-shocked Vietnam veteran. Their idealist life is shattered as September 11th unfolds before their eyes on live television. In the pool, Son floats fully clothed observing the frivolity of it all. Dad tries to light the grill without killing himself and mom gossips with the gals about America's newest gay politician. Independence Day 2001, we find Mom and Dad 'keeping up with the Joneses' as they host a pool party. This groundbreaking film uses virtually every technique and format in the filmmaking canon from live action 16mm to many diverse forms of animation (including a stop-motion musical number) to express the surreal aftermath of September 11th.
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