Patterico's Pontifications

3/21/2007

Thoughts on Cathy Seipp’s Passing

Filed under: Blogging Matters,General,Real Life — Justin Levine @ 3:05 pm



[posted by Justin Levine] 

Cathy Seipp has left us. I only met her briefly 3 or 4 times myself, often at events related to blogging or journalism in Southern California. But the past few days have revealed another aspect of the blogosphere community to me that I hadn’t quite experienced before – that of collective mourning in the electronic form during somebody’s last moments on Earth, but before they pass away. It has been rather strange. It isn’t “strange” in the macabre sense of tawdry voyeurism or a media spectacle of publicly anticipating a death. It seems closer to a collective virtual gathering around the hospital bed in order to say good-bye as the final moments slip away. Obviously the public can’t do that for real, but the blogosphere provides something akin to that.

Can these tools be abused? Certainly. One could easily set up a “death” cam and watch somebody’s final moments in real time in order to tap into the purely voyeuristic impulse – perhaps even charging a fee for the event. But what happened in Cathy’s case seemed very emotionally fitting for someone I knew just enough to care about, but never had the opportunity to become an intimate friend with. If I couldn’t be at the bedside in person, it was still emotionally fulfilling to read the many blog tributes about her in the final days.

Best wishes Cathy. Your memory will live on in the virtual world, and many other realms as well.

— Justin Levine

4 Responses to “Thoughts on Cathy Seipp’s Passing”

  1. It was obviously far too soon for her to go, but it seems to me that if your time must come, there’s something pretty special about being allowed to pass in peace and dignity, with family by your side, knowing that you’re loved and that your time on this Earth meant something to people. It seems all that much more meaningful to know of all the thoughts and prayers from so many people around the world who know you only through blogging.

    Best wishes for Cathy’s family and friends, and all the blessings to her in the next life.

    Steve (43f553)

  2. There were times when Cathy reminded me just a bit of that Chinese student standing in front of the tanks as the TiananMen Square demonstrations were squashed. She stood up to the forces of stupidity, rather than those quite as evil as the tanks represented, but she is now gone, just as that student must be. Her weapon was humor. His was simple courage. We needed both of them and both are now gone.

    Mike K (416363)

  3. Of all the articles and blog posts Cathy Seipp wrote, this was always my favorite. Cathy Seipp was a wonderful parent.

    DRJ (6984d0)

  4. Cathy Seipp, RIP…

    Freelance writer and longtime blogger Cathy Seipp died yesterday after a 5-year-long bout with lung cancer. She was only 49. And, no, like a lot of people who die from lung cancer, she never smoked cigarettes.
    Her daughter, Maia, Susan Estrich, Virgi…

    Outside The Beltway | OTB (30d6b6)


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