My friend kateyule died this afternoon after struggling with brain cancer. Kate and I have known each other 20+ years and were very close the last ten or so. We shared a lot of things--art and craft and books and some very personal things. She was funny and very smart, very practical and creative. Kate and her husband davidlevine and I went to Disney World together, ( Read more... )

I joined Facebook long after it became a Thing, and only after being shamed into it by a coworker. Within the space of 24 hours, I had over 300 friends. Said coworker was blown away and asked how it had happened, given my reluctance to join. "Life," I said. "A long career," I said. "Lots of friends," I said. With time and the peculiarities of the ( Read more... )

On Sunday morning at 7 AM, my friend Margaret's husband Bruce passed away after a five-year struggle with colon cancer. Bruce was a film enthusiast of the first order, a reader, a maker, a master of the obscure detail, and a science fiction fan. He always had something he'd want to share. His first instinct was always to be generous, offering help ( Read more... )

In my last post, I mentioned that this past weekend I'd received news of a death. The death in question was that of my brother's best friend's wife. While this may seem like a distant connection, it's closer than you may think for reasons that will become clear.( Cut for flist mercy and for cancer and triggery stuff )

jaylake provides more specific details about yesterday's cancer newsFive weeks ago, the wife of my brother's best friend, a woman I've known since high school, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer stage 4. She looked terrific at the wedding on Sunday. She is a fighter and she won't be taken down without doing everything she can to prevent, or at least delay ( Read more... )