I was looking for something at work yesterday and found this site with an great description of WashU, my new day home. It's the second entry, "the best (and richest!) university you've never heard of" that I was interested in, and I got hooked into David's writing.
There are alot of blogs out there and I bounce around some new ones out of curiosity once in a while. Last week I found, via Yahoo, a place to search a community of bloggers for the topics I was interested in. There was a lot of junk out there, but some interesting sites too.
So David's blog stood out for being highly readable and thoughtful. He writes about his cancer but also literature, science, world events, local events and has connections to towns I know: St. Louis, Nashville, Atlanta, Philadelphia... he likes to hike and was in grad school but the cancer interefered with that.
I kept reading and thinking I needed to come back and read more later, follow his links, read more deeply. I realized as I went forward in time, scanning his posts, that the cancer might have won. Then I got to the most recent entry. It was posted in May of this year.
The last post is about his treatment progress in a new trial. Then nothing.
I went to the comments on that last post, and a few into it I found his brother's post. David died May 12, 2005 after battling melanoma for nine years.
It was sad and telling Tom later I got teary. I am carrying this small nugget of grief for the loss of a man I never met, for family and friends unknown.
There were many other comments on his blog, following the announcement of his passing. Check them out. And check out some of his other writings. David was very talented in his ability to speak of what was happening to him without sentimentality, and got on with his life as well as he could in his condition. There's an understated courage in his willingness to both lay out details for us to see, acknowledging the pain and the uncertainty that had completely disrupted a life, his life.
I'm entranced by the beauty of his postings that reach into a future where he is not corporeal.
This seems to me to be the highest use of technology, a cold world of zeros and ones, that can be transformed into art. And sometimes it becomes a tool for connection between and among us. If David's thoughts can be found and shared and appreciated with the click of a mouse, now and into the future, what else can we do with these tools to inspire and comfort and support each other?
I swim in technology every day, cutting edge stuff, old stuff, and lots of bad stuff, sometimes an electronic junkyard of developers with virtual sledgehammers doing their best with what they had just a few years ago. And I keep coming back to this: technology is only good when it actually improves our lives. We all need to hold it rigorously to this standard.
This is why I will go for days without checking my email. And I've tried a Blackberry and hated it. The Palm was good, but that's because I could look up imporant info. I think the pseudonym "leash" works really well for the BB - and I didn't make that up, other techno-wonks did.
More better faster is not the reason to go toward innovation. Let's just try to keep it to better. I don't need MORE technology or more information, I need better tools.
If a piece of innovation it isn't helping you live your life in the way you always wanted to, then chuck it. Maybe the technology isn't ready yet, maybe you aren't ready. But do what works for you. And let geeks (bless them) figure out how to keep beautiful writing/art like David's up for all of us to see.
I hope it doesn't get washed away in the tides of time. His spirit is in those pages. I can imagine what it cost him to write some days. And I suspect it sustained him through many dark moments.
I think he'd like that it's still sustaining people, still touching us, rippling out into a community, into the wider world.
Comfort to you and your family and friends - may your life and memory be for a Blessing.
Monday, June 16, 2003
This is the first post on my new blog. What will become of it?
posted by David # 12:41 PM comments(0)
I'm thinking there isn't much difference between the two, but the impression I get is some think that "biking" is what Hell's Angels do, and "cycling" refers to those of us who pedal...
I know I feel a wee bit smug when I pass a runner, like I have some magical wings, and feel sorry for the thousands of bones in his/her feet, pounding the pavement. When a Biker (motorized) goes flying by me I feel a bit envious, but still smug, like "Hey, I'm working out, what are you doing?!" Of course they smirk back at me like "So slow!"
But "cycling" means servers to me - not waitresses (oops that's not PC is it, like "stewardess" is now "flight attendant" - should be "server"), but computer servers. They get cycled and so do lots of other things. I never think of cycling my bike, I just ride the darn thing.
Speaking of which I got lost on Saturday on a 25 mile ride. I was a bit miffed about it, with ground support (Tom) being kinda slack and giving me directions like "North on Sksjfadfh", instead of "Right in .5 miles on ______" (I was hoping for an intelligible street name). Something about heat and hills and sweat and exhaust furmes can fry your sense of direction and sense of hearing. There should be a study.
Then I realized, what the heck, I don't know where I am, but that happens all the time anyway. There's no such thing as a bad bike ride!
Last year I rode in a tsunami and it was great. Flooded so bad we had to stop, and it was terrifying and glorious. Nothing like riding in a summer storm with lightening to get your sense of awe in order.
so cycling and biking, I do both. No more servers, but lots of going round and round, sometimes with my arms wide open in the rain, spinning.
v
Hi Everyone (that would be 3 of you, right? (grin))
I keep meaning to post a short entry about my new job - it's been 3 weeks now and I'm still loving it. Not that it's all perfect, but there is plenty for me to learn, reviewing contracts, and lots of great people to work with, and the very academic atmosphere, where folks dress to express without fear of recriminations, bulletin boards and groups grow freely, and we all work for the greater good.
Everyone who works there takes a cut in pay, but I'm very glad to be providing for the kids' futures. It's like a savings plan for their education, in a way, and if they all finish undergrad at WashU, I'll have earned more than I did on the "outside" all told.
I'm knitting a sweater for my neighbor, Loren, who has kidney cancer. It's a Prayer Sweater, closely akin to a Prayer Shawl, but for a guy. I love doing it. My other response to crisis is baking, which is also a regular thing these days.
I'm starting a prayer shawl for two local women, one the grandmother of a boy who died from heart failure, and whose other grandson is in custody for having shot and killed a police officer (yes, the two incidents are linked) and the other shawl for the widow of the police officer. It's had a big impact on Kirkwood, our suburb of St. Louis, and brought out the racial divide that exists here, much like most other cities. But what are people DOING about it?
Shalom and Tikkun Olam,
v
This happened a while back, but I did finish my shawl in time for LEAF in May - this festival is one of my, no my absolute favorite time of the year. I get to see my cherished friends, relax with incredible music, camp on Mother Earth and no housecleaning!
So my bird's nest shawl, View image
for the record, knits up several inches (feet!) longer than the pattern calls for. Instructions say it will be 80" and I'm sure mine is at least 120". I love it, but will check with other knitters before I tackle my next lace shawl (already in planning stages for Madeleine).
To see more pictures of LEAF, before we bought our popup camper, where it rained and we had a great time, click here (you'll have to register, if you don't have an account with SnapFish, but it's free). Look for happy pictures of Tom :D