Jen! XOXOXOXOXOX!
Be well, girl.
And 'eff the 'effin' Yankees.
JENNNNNNNNNNNN!!
So nice of you to check in - I was wondering how you were doing, but didn't want to bother you.
Sorry to hear that things are still teh suck - I hope the New Year will be better for you.
Peace, good health, and blessings.
Peace.
Wish you the best of luck.
Jen-thanks for letting us know you're ok. Now is the time for you to do what you need to do for you. All my best, and f the f'ing yankees, I'll never forget.
Oh, Jen....I hope you know how much you have been in all of our thoughts these past months....we knew it was hard on you just by the few things you did come and tell us about....with Steve's illness and his family situation on top of your own needs....so it is certainly understandable that you would need some really important down time to take care of yourself and get your own body back in order. We all really just want you to know we understand that and respect your needs and desires. (And the not moving decision....that was a wise one under the circumstances....you'll find that when it is time to move, it will all just be a lot easier....this move wasn't the one).
All I ask is that you don't forget us (the readers) and this wonderful place that was created by LM, Jesse, Hubris and Sara to honor Steve...come back and touch base with us once in a while....I would hope that would be do-able for you and not something that would come to seem like another burden.
We all care, a lot more than you and Steve will ever know.
Jen,
Thanks for letting us know how you're doing.
Sorry it didn't work out with a Manhattan apartment. Take care of yourself now, I'm confident we'll hear from you again.
And I'm always up for a low-carb meal (with a high-carb beer) in the City. Next year in Jerusalem, or in the Ginger Man.
Hey, jen":
Good to hear from you. I would hope you would continue your contribution here. These guys are a great continuation of Gilly's work, which is why I keep this web site as my home page.
Hang in there, kid. This remains a major progressive site, and it is a great inheritor of Gilly's work.
Ron
jen,
thanks for touching base!! be well (and check out probiotics - in yogurt or pill form - for the stomach issues).
It's wonderful to hear from you, Jen -- be well and stress-free, and know that we all love ya. 
Glad to hear from you, Jen. Be well, and don't be too much of a stranger.
Jen,
You'rve had one hell of a year, girl. Time to take care of yourself. Do what you need to do and hang out here when you feel like it. You are very special to all of us.
Jen, heal soon and please be well . . . and you have the best wishes and thoughts of this Larue.
And thanks for what you did all along when I first discovered The Blog just late '06 . . . words are not enough to convey my pleasure and gratitude at what you and Gilley did . . .
Namaste.
Jen,
You were heroic in those last months, and we were all terribly grateful to you for it. I'm glad to hear that you're OK and doing what you need to do to take care of yourself. This blog is doing a great job of keeping Steve's spirit alive on the web; it must be nice to know that his legacy is in good hands.
hey,
You don't have to explain yourself to us, stay blessed and look after yourself.
I mean really really look after yourself
Ahhh, that lavendar print!
I'm so grateful Jen that you've let us know how you're doing. Apartment hunting in NYC is its own health challenge without adding all the mourning & uncertainty of Steve's illness. I recognize how tough it must be to find yourself strung between the needs of Steve's flesh & blood and all of us who knew him this way. I'd zip you a copy of Robert Mirabal's song "Medicine Man" if I had the skills -- it says much about the loneliness of caretakers.
Without your sacrifice -- & Doc Wendell's & the others who guide the site now -- Steve Gilliard may have vanished without any recognition of his talents. I'm not the most voracious reader of blogs, but it seems to me he was the first 100% on-line stylist to come out of this medium.
Yes I know it's no longer Gilliard's Tavern, but I still recognize those knife marks on the bar. And thanks to you all for that.
Stay cool this summer, but don't stay a stranger.
Glad to see you -- urge you to take care of yourself! Be well.
We love you. Take care of yourself - we'll be here for you when you're ready.
Take care of yourself, and please do keep us updated on you. I have missed your voice too!
Jen-
Like everyone else it was so nice to hear from you. DON'T worry about responding to the condolence emails- i for one just wanted to let you know that there were people thinking of you and so sorry for your terrible loss. I sure didn't want to give you another thing to do and stress about.
I will never forget how Steve wrote about you. I loved how fierce his writing was - but the softy that so many people described after his death I always saw when he wrote about you. His love and respect for you was always very very clear.
Glad to hear you are trying to take care of yourself. Check in when you can.
smooches,
L.
Jen
Excellent to hear from you. Once again, I hope you (or someone) will post an account of Steve's funeral. Yes, his family seems to have claimed him, but we would like to honor him vicariously, if belatedly. He still leaves a big hole in the information available.
Take care. Thanks for your emails at difficult times.
Jen! Much, much love to you, as you can see. Thank you so much for letting your online family know how you are. Be here whenever, of course - we'll keep the homefires burning, as you did so beautifully for us in these last months.
I hope for better outcomes than you can imagine, in every way possible.
best,
Jen:
Thanks for letting us know. More importantly, thank you for everything you brought to The News Blog - and for being a wonderful human being.
Be well.
WF
Considering all the stress, yoga might help.
Jen -
Good to hear from you - it's been a while. Take care of yourself, and drop by when you can.
Sounds like you need a vacation!
love and hugs to you, Jen.
Glad to hear you are still fighting the good fight your way, every day.
We're here whenever you need a sounding board or just a friendly hello!
give a shout when you are able, and thanks again for being Gilly's blogpartner and true friend.
JEN!!
*runs to greet Jen and gives her a GREAT BIG hug -- then suddenly remembers that we've never actually met in person, so the hug thing is probably a little weird, so it's probably best that I let go now*
And.... ah, well, I'm just going to repeat what everyone else has already said. Thank you again for everything, we miss you, it's good to hear from you again, please take care of yourself, and if/whenever you're up for it, please hang around here.
*gives another quick awkward hug, and slinks back into the corner.*
Dude, you're not from Ohio. Why would you want to live in Manhattan?
Breathe, please. Nobody expects as much from you as you do.
Jen- lot's of love to you! Come back when you're ready, we'll leave the light on. 
We have been worried about you. Thanks for letting us know how you are. Take good care of yourself.
hey Jen, hope all goes well with you. my physical therapy folks say that stress often leads to weight gain, so an exercise/stress reduction regimen can often be a good thing. enough sleep and water can also help
Take care, Jen. I hope you come back in due time.
Take care of yourself for now, Jen. I know this has had to have been hard for you, far harder than I could ever realize. It was hard not hearing from Steve ever again, and I never met him in the flesh or had a personal conversation. I lost my best friend suddenly years ago, and it felt for years like a hole in the heart. To pick up a phone and realize a certain phone number dialed now would get another person is hard.
So take care of yourself, and don't worry about this blog. Just comment now and then.
To the goddess of snark.
Dearest Jen, you shared your soul with us all, and I am extremely grateful for all you have done to now.
Sending positive Canuck and Toronto vibes to you...from Queen Street to Queens
Best of luck; take as much time as you need.
good luck jen...its good to hear from you, now go get your life in order and keep your priorites straight....if bloging ever feels like an obligation walk away its not worht it.
As for houseign, hey you could always leave new york, im paying 1400 a month for a 5 bed room 4000 sqr foot queen ans vicctorian......
Jen, you have been through hell and back this year. It would have been a miracle if you DIDN'T have these health problems.
It's a shame that you and Steve's family can't be there for each other right now, but I don't pretend to understand anyone else's family dynamic. Just know that the Family of Blogtopia (™Skippy) recognizes everything you did and appreciates it.
The important thing right now is for you to be kind to yourself and reduce as many pressures as you can. The Group News Blog team is putting up about as great a tribute to Steve every day as you could ask for. No one can replace him, but damn it if it doesn't sometimes sound like he's the one writing. Who knows? Maybe he is.
At any rate, those of us who don't know either of you, but who admire both you and Steve through the love and care you put into the News Blog, send you a giant ((((((HUG)))))) and hope you know that we're out here and we care.
Best of luck with all of that, Jen. I hope you'll check in regularly.
Oh, hell, girlfriend, don't sweat it, we're just glad to hear from ya. Do what you gotta do, and get your life moving in the direction you want it to go.
Peace out.
Hey, Babe! :o)
Myrtle June just told you were up, and I hustled over to speak a heartfelt thanks to you, for all you did to help Steve give us the best of the progressive blogs.
I'm sorry; selfishly, it's a dagger, everytime I think of him gone.
But, we do move on, thanks to LM and Hubris and Jesse. And you. don't be a stranger. :o)
You ease back, do some meditatin', or something, and find yourself some inside hideout. We all gotta have that.
All the best, and much love, Tan.
You are doing absolutely the right thing. After a terrible loss like this even the simplest task can overwhelm you.
Pace yourself, take care of yourself, and I hope you feel better soon!
Jen,
Really, really glad you've resurfaced. You are our living link to those good times online with Steve. I figured that not having heard from you, that you needed to work it all out on your own terms and deal with the loss of our friend.
I still think that it's rather pissy that his family did indeed claim him, but we 'knew' him as well. (I never kissed off Steve's e-mails to me on gmail.) Know that I/we care about you, too; that I/we are concerned for you and that I/we hope that you'll be able to return to us none the worse for wear and tear to respond to the politics and culture of the day. And just have fun.
Be well, sister!
All the best!
Jen,
Take care of yourself. I have a neice who just moved into the city (her husband has a role on a soap opera) and she found what looks like a very nice place in Bedford Stuyvesant for 1200 or so.
I freaked when I first heard where it was but I guess the place has changed and they are close to the subway too.
Thanks for letting us know how you are doing, Jen. I was wondering just the other day what was going on with you.
I am always missing Steve and The News Blog, and probably always will, but it is terrific to see so many commenters I remember from TNB at GNB, not to mention the superb bloggers gathered here.
FWIW, I think you are going about things in the right way. When you've suffered a loss like this it's not the time to make enormous changes in your life.
I hope things look up for you on all fronts soon. Take care of yourself, and come back when you can
JEN! I can't add anything to the above but I'm glad you're alive and I hope to see one of your trademark hams here one day soon.
So glad to hear from you. I can really commiserate on the job stress, stress induced weight, insane rents (I'm paying 1700 for a 2 bdr in Irvine). Don't worry if you can't be a regular commentator, the reinforcements have arrived in force . But a sporadic update and a bit of ham always makes one's day.
One of the joys of email is that you don't have to send thank you notes for condolence emails.
Take care of yourself.
There's a saying in my church that "if bad things are happening to you, you must be doing something right".
Along with everyone else here, I am glad to hear from you. Take all the time you need to recover from what you are going through, and take care of yourself. Stress has a nasty way of dropping a heavy load on your body that tends to make life much more difficult than it should be.
I can empathize with what you are going through...I didn't find out about Gilly's passing until two days into what turned out to be The Vacation From Hell; what was supposed to be a visit to the Florida panhandle to see my grand-niece graduate from HS turned out to get ugly when my car's engine decided to blow it's heads AND crack it's block; three used engines, one maxed out credit card, a $7K signature loan, six lost discretionary days and seven extra vacation days, one VERY long car rental, an extra trip BACK to the panhandle, approximately $3K in missed overtime, one cashed in 401(k) to PAY for all this shit, and everyone and their friend second and third guessing my decisions, I finally get the car back. (We won't discuss why neither businesses nor banks won't accept "good as cash" cashier's checks and why certain car rental places won't take cash to pay for the rental when you turn the car in). And I still have three payments left on the POS. Go figure.
Not to mention my management has decided to jump in my shit numerous times since I've been back over ticky-tacky crap; they get pressured when mistakes get made so they have to try to bust somebody's ass.
And my church leadership aggravated me so badly when I got back that I finally told them I was taking a two year leave of absence because I got tired of being told I had to "follow the church's vision" but they were ignoring the collateral damage being pulled on me and I just refused to deal with it.
So yeah, dear heart, I FEEL YA. But just know, as I know, that all this...ALL THIS...will pass. And we will both look back in wonder.
Be well.
((((CYBERHUGS))))
Take care and take it one day at a time. That old cliche about time healing old wounds is just simply true. On the other side, you'll be surprised at how you feel.
I second blksista's comments. As a native NYorker, I was saddened not to have been able to pay my respects to Steve and I just can't accept that his family didn't understand. (I'm also speaking as a black person who understands how important paying respects is to black folks.) I think they missed an important opportunity that would have given Steve a chance to receive all the accolades and credit that were due him. I certainly hope that there is some way for his blogs to live on in a book. He was a trailblazer and a pioneer and a powerful writer. He deserves for that recognition to live on. He deserves to be remembered.
Jen,
Props to you and a big cyber-hug. You are doing the right thing now -- you need to heal, too. Just lay back in that quiet, cool apartment (even if the super is a dick) and give yourself time. It's the only gift that you can truly give yourself.
be well, namaste.
dt
Jen, everyone understands that you need space right now. Thanks for letting us know how you're doing. Be well. Take your time, do what feels right for you. Remember that there are a lot of people keeping you in their thoughts and hoping for your best.
jen,
go on living
be strong
and let yourself be loved by others (just because they do)
be well
sabine
Jen,
glad to hear from you.
Take your time and think of yourself for a change.
Hugs from Berlin,
Thomas
Jen,
I am truly sorry that you and other bloggers feel Steve's family have somehow taken him from you. We did our very best to include you in his final arrangements and are working to consolidate his writing for all of you to see as well. We certainly never intended to take him from you. I think Steve would have agreed that we had to share him and we tried our best to do a good job of that for his funeral.
I apologize for anything we have done to make you feel that Steve was not yours to mourn as well as ours to mourn.
Since Steve's illness, Steve's father has been hospitalized and may be put in a nursing home, Steve's uncle (his mother's brother) has had a heart attack and the same surgery that Steve had and is now suffering some of the same results.
His mother is still struggling with Steve's death and is now facing the same situation with her only remaining brother. And just yesterday, my Dad had a stroke and is hospitalized. We have a lot going on.
Can we get a minute please? I'm not sure what we have done to make you feel like you are a unwelcomed reminder but right now everyone's feelings are still very raw and our thoughts are on all of these issues.
I ask that those of you who are offended by Steve's family's actions to note that we had Steve a lot longer that you did. His mother lost a son, her first born child and daily companion. He is no longer there to watch the news with or go shopping with, she is alone; what is the right way to grieve losing a child??? What prepares us for that???
His sisters lost a brother who is no longer there for those phone calls to catch up on and share what was going on in their lives;
To his neice and nephew Steve was an unbelievable uncle who is no longer there to help with those tough homework questions or school projects or to share with them on their wonderful visits to the museums in NY.
He was our family. We were his family. Steve loved his family and we loved him and lost him way too soon.
While some of you may think it's "pissy", that we claimed him, he was ours to mourn too and we willingly shared him with you during his funeral. How we have left you out post-funeral is a mistery to me.
Jen, I'm sure contact with us is a reminder to you as well. Never feel that you can't call, email or write or whatever you need to do to make contact with us. Steve loved you as his best friend. That means a lot. We respect your relationship with him and don't want you to feel ignored or not included.
We all need time to grieve.
Feel free to give any of us, especially Steve's mother a call and check on her if you feel it. She is heartbroken, lonely and still very angry. All the normal stages of grief. Knowing that anyone who cared for Steve thought enough to check on her would make her day.
Feel free to call his sisters, or me, even if you just want to talk and share or vent. None of us would ever refuse to talk with you or show you anything less than compassion.
Finally, I would ask you to get yourself better. The last thing we want is for you to get sick. Our health is truly one of the most important gifts God has given us. De-stress, Lose weight (i'm working on it too) and get well.
Fran
mimi,
Steve's funeral was open and attended by many of his friends and bloggers, not just from NY but from all over. If you weren't there, you missed the opportunity that many had to share their accolades and comments about Steve.
Not sure why you missed it but you did.
Guys - give us a break please. We did'nt take Steve away from you. He was taken away from us.
Hi Fran:
First, much, much love and healing to the whole family, and thank you for writing. I feel in my heart that that's what many of us who loved Steve from afar feel. If you are ever up to reading the posts, especially of long time NewsBlog folks, in the months of Steve's illness, you would see such care and concern for all of the Gilliards, because Steve wrote about y'all with such love, and especially, in many ways, for Steven's Mom, because Jen helped paint such a heartfelt picture and we all hurt for her, very much. We would have done anything in our power to help, truly. Folks were ready to fly in and sit with her, find patient advocates, generate money, find specialists, pray, light candles, build e-readers, send a laptop and an iPod, get wifi in the hospital...anything. I still have the archive of podcasts I was going to send once he had an iPod and could operate it...
Shoot, I'm in tears now just remembering.
That didn't mean to negate his real life family in any way. We just didn't know what else to do, to deal with our own fear of losing someone who became such a key part of all of our inner lives. And, of course you are his real life family. We are 'mind family', if you will, because his generous heart made us so, and his brilliant mind kept us there.
I, for one, don't think Jen meant anything but that she wanted to give you all time - she didn't want to be a raw reminder, and I think I'd feel the same way in this situation.
I have to get back to work, but I just wanted to say thank you, and to gently say that, if there's any help needed with anything to do with his writing, or understanding the blogosphere, or anything to do with his online life, you'll find folks here that would consider it an honor and a privilege to help.
My best prayers and hopes for healing in your family.
all the best,
Terri MacMillan
oh, and, can I just suggest, again, gently, that everyone who loved Steve on and offline treat each other with extra care and patience and benefit-of-the-doubt?
We're all, at some level, in mourning, and, having lost both of my parents and other precious people, I know for sure that we are not ourselves at these times...
Jen, I just want to echo what everyone else wrote above. Please take care of yourself and continue to heal. All my love, Jill
Family, my heart goes out to you. It's hard dealing with sudden loss, and what looks like additional loss.
As for the funeral, I didn't really expect much more info than Kos gave anyway, though I hoped to find an obituary with his gravesite so I could make him an entry on Find a Grave. Find A Grave allows people to pay their virtual respects and honor the dead distantly.
I knew that Steve had made more than a few wingnuts angry, and some politicians were also less than happy with what he said, so I expected that his funeral would be private.
As a friend, I know what it's like to not be family in that situation. Not being family, you don't want to intrude or add to the grief by adding your own grief to theirs. You don't know what to say either, or what to do. And if you didn't know the family well......
Prayers go out to all who knew Steve in the flesh and who miss his voice and touch. May all the sick heal, and all the grieving peace.
As for me, I've gone to the old site every day. Not looking for new posts, just for a memorial thread and news on the book. And of course for news on what will happen to the domains he had.
Anyway we could send Steve's mother cards/letters, either virtual or literal? Having her receive some from many of us would doubtless help her right now.
I looked for an address to send condolence cards and didn't see any. If Jen could provide a place, perhaps even people at Big Orange could send her some.
This post is simply a point of fact: I did not know Steve personally. And there was no posting online about arrangements (and I searched). I assumed that this was due to the wingnuts who hated Steve. So in the end I accepted that.
But, there was talk of doing a memorial posting on the old site and I had hoped that someone might even offer a sense of the actual service. It means a lot to know someone gets a decent send off. At least to me.
I realize there are a lot of fools in cyberspace and certainly some of them, if not all, made hurtful remarks at the time. But one of the things that I enjoyed about Steve's blog was that he did not suffer fools lightly and was always ready to counter with a 'fuck you!' Or some such for the troll who has no life. And certainly it's understandable that people tend to be protective of the deceased, because they can't defend themselves. But I can't shake the feeling that Steve wouldn't have wanted to shrink from a verbal challenge. Afterall, what could they do to him now other than talk and say stupid meaningless things. That's all they ever do anyway.
Ultimately, what matters most is that his writings are preserved in print. And that when the history of blogging is written, his name should figure prominently in the section on who the people were when it all began.
I am grateful to the people who have created this site and see this blog as a wonderful tribute to Steve Gilliard.
These are my final comments on this.
Jen!! So glad to hear your voice again! I HEAR ya!
Thank you for the stellar job you did to take on the blog for Steve, for us, for the cause. Much admiration for all you did and you did it just right. Thank you to all who helped Jen keep it going as well.... and for this place too.
Be patient with yourself, it does take time. Take the time to do what you need to do. You've got a good plan and I say work it! You've got your priorities in order. I'll be cheering for you from way over here.
Take good care of you.... HUGS.
great to hear from you jen
sending metta, s
To Jen and to Steve's family:
I am so sorry for your loss. I have experienced devastating bereavements in my life, and I know that it can easily take one to two years to achieve any kind of equilibrium in your life.
Trying to eat well and take walks in the sunshine helped my body physically, which did help my mood on a lot of days.
A book I recommend for anyone who is bereaved is A Time to Grieve--I think the author's name is Staudacher.
what mimi said.
To all, God Bless and please please take care of yourself.
I know too well, it never ends.
I second Mimi's post.
Jen,
It's great to see you posting again. Get healthy and take care of yourself.
Blue skies!
Fran,
Will also email you offline, but wanted to clarify in public also--please don't feel that I am anything but grateful for being allowed to be involved in Gilly's life, and the mourning process.
I just truly did NOT want to be Yet Another Thing for all of you to deal with. You have all been wonderful to me, and I just wanted to make sure to give everyone--including myself--time to work through everything.
To the rest of the blog community who was wondering why no public info was posted RE Gilly's funeral/viewing: We really did have REAL, CREDIBLE threats all along--from the day he went into the hospital--against his safety and that of his family. If we had made a big announcement, the possibility that truly hateful people would have shown up to be disruptive was very, very real.
Back in the day--before the whole Netslaves thing--Gilly did some work on the Sally Hemmings project (the project to prove that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with at least one of his slaves) and was also an advocate of a lot of the "hidden history" of Blacks during the Civil War. This got him on more wingnut's "wanted" list than you can ever imagine; these are violent people with their entire identities vested in their revisionist history. A few of the very persistent ones sent him private "I know where you live" letters years ago, which he shrugged off, but we sure as hell didn't want them showing up when he was ill and vunerable.
Thanks all for your continued support and understanding, and thank you Francine for bridging the gap and coming to the online family out here.
--Jen
Jen, one more thing. If you are open to the idea of acupuncture, I would recommend finding an acupuncture with a good reputation for dealing with digestive issues.
I know a woman who struggled with these problems for years until she found a good acupuncturist. Once she got things sorted out, she goes every couple of weeks to prevent problems from coming back. She isn't on any prescription drugs.
I never used to "believe" in acupuncture, but it has helped me with several minor health issues, and it has helped some of my friends with more major issues. It's important to find a good acupuncturist with real training (not a chiropractor who just took a weekend course in acupuncture).
I hoped to find an obituary with his gravesite so I could make him an entry on Find a Grave.
Everyone -
I don't believe it is a good idea to give out ANY further information on Steve's burial site, including not giving out any details about the funeral, the burial or the Gilliard family, anything at all which people of bad intent could use to trace back to the Gilliard family or find Gilly's grave.
I'll explain...
If you read the racially-explicit threads over Gilly's death written by the those on the (way too many) different right-wing sites their talk was filled with vile hatred, joy, and racial & violent imagery over Steve's death. I won't go into detail.
While he was alive, Steve routinely protected all of us from these obscenities including a few credible threats. There was enough specificity in (again, a few) post-death comments from the bigots and haters that I am certain we -- Steve's TNB and larger blogosphere family -- need to act very responsibly to prevent Steve's actual family from further pain even if only emotional.
I don't want the Gilliard family, Jen, or the families where Gilly is buried to have to deal with any of the hatred still directed at Steve now that he has died. Let his body rest in peace; it's only proper.
I believe it would be a major mistake and seriously ill-considered to post details touching on the Gilliard family or their privacy (they are private, not public people), the location of Steve's grave, the town/region where he is buried, or any details having to do with Gilly's funeral or burial. I strongly request no one do so.
Thank you.
Jen! Be well.
Jen, Fran, Jesse,
Thank you, all of you, for clarifying things.
I hope Fran understands that the family didn't make Jen feel unwelcome; Jen didn't want to intrude at a time of grieving. Decent, well-meaning folks are on both sides of that staticky communication.
I regret to inform you that Steve's mom has lost her brother this morning. We will not post any details on where to mail cards but emailed condolences can be sent to Steve's email and I will see that she receives them.
This is a very sad sad time.
Jen, Thank you for clearing things up. Please stay well.
Jesse - Thank you for saying what I did not know how to say.
Sometimes when I read things such as the threats Steve and his family received during his illness I wonder what the hell country I live in.
Online life is a strange thing; something that people who do not have vivid online lives can't fathom. But as a not-quite-regular but fairly frequent commenter at the News Blog, and as someone who respected Steve Gilliard to the point that he either inspired me to want to do better or to hang it up because what could I possibly add to what he said (depending on the day), I think we all accept that there are many facets of loss and the loss we "virtual people" feel, however raw and painful it may be, shouldn't blind us to the hole his passing leaves in the life of his real-life family and friends.
Respect to all.
Jen--do take care of yourself. Stress can fuck you up in innumerable ways. Give yourself twice as long to recover as it took you to get this way. About the Female Plumbing: look at ExAblate before you consider surgery if it comes to that.
Jesse and others: I got chills when I read about the haters who wanted Steve dead long before blogs were invented, let alone before he became ill. Sometimes we forget that while words are virtual, other, more deadly things are all too real.
The Sally Hemmings project...I now understand where Steve's fire came from, and why he had no patience with people who thought fascism was already here in November 2004 and wanted to flee the country.
Blessings, Steve, wherever you are.
I apologize for once again being so ham-handed for trying to ensure that someone great isn't lost in the pixels. I mean nobody harm or do I want to intrude on anybody's privacy, intellectual rights or anything.
So Gilly gets no memorial site or anything..does he?
Jen, I'm just guessing here, but you may want to research uterine embolization. The procedure is one day in the hospital, a week of light rest, and back to ordinary living. Pain is very manageable with moderate painkillers.
FWIW, I think in every important sense his archives are Steve's memorial site.
He made a difference, and he left an awful lot of fierce, wise words behind him for his niece and nephews to find when they're ready. I suspect that's how he'd like to be remembered.
I have been very concerned about no news from Jen and I am very glad to see she is still battling the regular demons and continuing the personal struggles. I wish you very well, Jen, and wish you success in your latest efforts, particularly the health improvement.
Yes, I am very sorry that you and the family lost Steve. I only knew him through the blog and many emails and his passing was very hard for me to accept.
I still am upset about his death and the time he spent in the hospital.
For those who knew him much longer and much more personally I can understand the pain of the loss.
The list of problems that Steve's immediate kin are now going through is also difficult to contemplate.
I hope that these difficult days soon pass.
Jen -
I don't know if you'll be back to this thread, but just in case, I want to let you know what a lifeline you were to those of us out here in cyberspace who were shocked to find ourselves suddenly unmoored from our accustomed cyber haven when Steve's illness cut him off from us. It mattered a lot what you did, along with the irregulars, keeping the light on for Steve's return at The News Blog, even though all of our hopes were frustrated in the end. I'm sorry for the toll that took on you, that life in general took on you. You deserve all the best, and I hope life is a lot kinder to you from here on out.
Now, just to throw my medical advice in with all of the other lay experts -- I think you should consider whether you may have developed some food intolerances. Gluten intolerance and celiac sprue often emerge after severe life stresses and are difficult conditions to diagnose because they manifest as other illnesses -- like irritable bowel syndrome -- and those illnesses are then treated as stand alone without the underlying issue getting dignosed. You might also have become lactose intolerant, which can happen as you age, but is also a celiac symptom. Just my two cents, so take it for what it's worth, and please take care of yourself.
To Steve's family, my deepest sympathies for the loss of your uncle and brother.
I just found this thread, but wanted to give Jen my very best. I remain amazed at how sad I am about Steve's passing, and how concerned I have been about Jen--two people I've never met. I will be sad about Steve for a very long time, but am relieved to hear that Jen is trying to take care of herself.
My deepest condolences to Steve's family.
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