A follow up to “innocence”
July 6, 2009
Something amazing happened here over the past week.
A blog post I wrote about attending the funeral of my friend Craig’s daughter – a newborn who passed away at only nine days old – transformed from an introspective study in loss to a holding ground for the family’s memories.
It began slow, but it quickly gained speed. One family member after another lent their thoughts, turning the comments section into a history of grieving. Memories were shared, losses lamented and an air of moving forward crept into the narrative.
More than anything, blogs are designed to be a two-way street. Sure, it’s one thing to write and send it into the ether of the Internet – it’s another to respond, to move ourselves toward community, answering and re-answering each response, commenting on comments and creating a conversation.
Sometimes, however, it’s best to simply let the comments flow, uninterrupted. To lend a little space for a family to mourn, to let loose with their emotions and remember a little girl in whatever way they feel right.
In that way, I feel honored to be a part of it. To serve as the small piece of ether in which their comments are stored. To be the guestbook for a time that none of them want to relive, but that no one will ever forget.
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About
Black Marks on Wood Pulp has been commenting on life and everything associated with it since February 2005. He's also photoblogging at Much More Sure and writing about advertising and marketing at Post Haste. Everything you've ever wanted to know about Black Marks on Wood Pulp and Corey Vilhauer is located here, on the About Page.
Posts
- On savoring the quiet times
- Unsubscribe
- On seeing Audis everywhere
- A receding hairstyle
- On getting sick, and how it faintly and probably incorrectly relates to Hume’s Fork.
- I don’t remember things anymore
- BMOWP by request
- Writing fiction: in which the writer attempts to get over it
- What I’ve Been Reading - McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Issue 31
- Another graphic day at Graphic Content
Comments
- Lozano on Olympics 2008, NBA style: "hey guys look up here are the best traffic system on the market and are free and with all the traffic we need to know our world is not?..."
- Corey Vilhauer on On seeing Audis everywhere: "That’s what I thought, too. But when I looked it up, De Bono’s idea of “Opportunity Thinking” is finding opportunities and..."
- KV on On seeing Audis everywhere: "It’s called opportunity thinking. Edward De Bono, anyone?"
- Randall Sanderson on A receding hairstyle: "Have you seen Chris Rock’s new documentary, Good Hair? http://www.goodhairmovie.net/s ite/ I’m so going to it."
- Corey Vilhauer on I don’t remember things anymore: "All I remember about the mole is that it’s 10^23, and we got to blow up hydrogen balloons in Mr. Erickson’s class."
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Corey-
I have been following your blog for a while and that piece you wrote was possibly the best post you’ve done. It was awesome and the fact that you seemed to move the family members to open up like that and start their healing is even more awesome. You moved some people and as a writer, what more can you ask? Keep it up…