Light Posting
I'm feeling lousy, got no sleep last night, can't concentrate and completely distraught at the news of Steve Gilliard's death this morning. There are some days when this job is just too hard. This is one of them. What I feel like I need to do is go lie down.
Update: from Kossak Melissa O:
When a writer dies you must have faith that the words written will live on. As a writer, you never feel you have ever written enough words. No life ever seems long enough to do the work you set out for yourself. No life ever seems long enough.Steve's life was far too short, but take some comfort in the fact that his words mattered. He nurtured this community in its earliest stages. He advanced his causes, some of which each of us share in, some of which are shared in by thousands throughout history, and some of which are known to him alone. Through him, they progressed. When it was his turn, he picked up the torch and run with it until, finally, he could not. Now, even if in a hundred years no one remembers his name or reads his words, he will have made his indelible mark on society. Steve's life was too short, yet he accomplished all any of us could hope--when we dare to hope--to accomplish with our words, or our lives.
That's the best I can do at expressing the loss I feel.
Comments
I only just read of Steve Gilliard's death, Melanie, and I came straight here. I know how hard that will have hit you, Melanie, and I am so sorry. I know how it will hit such a community of people, so hard, and I am so sorry.
Posted by: June 2, 2007 06:26 PM
Melanie I am in tears. I'm one of so many people who had learned to rely on Steve's "voice" via his blog, to regard him as as the "place to go" to think about politics and history and military matters. I am so sad. I had so hoped that he would survive this terrible trial he has endured.
May light eternal shine on him.
Pax et bonum.
Posted by: dreaminginthedeepsouth | June 2, 2007 10:14 PM
This is really fucked up. Poor Steve.
Posted by: June 2, 2007 10:17 PM
Steve was for me a mentor and friend. I've spent most of the days in tears. He had one of the most unique and fearless voices in the lefty blogosphere and will be deeply missed.
Posted by: Melanie | June 3, 2007 12:16 AM
Steve taught us all to be fearless. My favorite post from Staeve will always be this one: We Fight
Posted by: June 3, 2007 01:34 AM
So anyway, yesterday afternoon, having worked on a computer project for a while, I went over to the News Blog, just to see what's what.......
Choked up last night. I suspected that things weren't good, but still, you always hope. A little hard to explain to the wife, but she understood. The gloomy weather today just about sums up my mood.
Posted by: Bollox Ref | June 3, 2007 02:06 PM
Today, for Lutherans, is the festival of the Holy Trinity. It’s one of the few times we celebrate a doctrine of the church. That’s because we’re reminded this day that the celebration of the Trinity is about being invited to share in a relationship with God. We are brought into the circle to share the glory of this relationship through the gift of grace.
The web in general, but the political web in particular, can be a very strange place. But if you come forward with an open mind and a story or two to tell, you can occasionally receive the grace – the favor – the mutual respect - of a given blog or two that’s worthy of the name.
Steve Gilliard had one of those blogs. He was in the battle early, fearless from Day One, resolute, and always willing to explain where he had went wrong when what he thought he saw coming twisted a different way. He was one of the first to understand the folly of the war and occupation of Iraq, and explained to us time and again, in detail, not only the war itself, but also how the war was the latest in a series of what happens when people with power decide to dominate those that don’t. He gave us probably the most clear-eyed assessment of New York City, in terms of the changing nature of it, and thus a peek at the likely or existing power struggles within most municipalities in the United States, any writer in this country has dared to make. And he understood and provided some of the strongest explanations of the historical underpinnings behind much of what he brought forward to his readers.
One of the traditions of the Lutheran Church on this day is the singing of what some call St. Patrick’s Breastplate, others "I Bind Unto Myself Today" (Lutheran Book of Worship #188, if you want to look it up). Most Americans probably connect St. Patrick with the wearing (or, often as not, the drinking) of something green sometime in March, but in fact St. Patrick was a pathfinder for the Christian faith in Ireland, often working alone, his life often at great risk, but always straightforward, never wavering. The hymn mentions his resolute faith, but also about the land that he loved, the joy of being alive, and the snares that came with being a human being.
Steve loved this country, cared deeply about how things were and where they could go, and it showed in his work.
One of our best is gone.
And the most we can do, in gratitude for his work, is to be as fierce and steadfast as he was. To bind unto ourselves today.
Posted by: palamedes | June 3, 2007 04:35 PM