I've decided to aggregate here links to some of the blog posts that friends and fans of the late Jamie Eyberg have put up this week. I'm sure these aren't all of them (and people may leave more in the comments if they wish), just some that I have read since last night. My own words fail me in this situation. I can't quite figure out how to express what this loss means to me nor exactly why I feel it so strongly. One thing I am certain of, however, is that when people assert that life online isn't "real" life, that when they say that contacts with people by way of the internet and its social media is not "real" human interaction, those people could not be more wrong. It's different than face-to-face contact, but it's still real. Because I exchanged remarks with Jamie by way of Twitter quite frequently, I know that he liked to enjoy a beer, as do I. Sometimes, I knew that we were doing this "together" even though we were hundreds of miles apart and had never met in person. That I published him in M-Brane and got to know him casually by way of Twitter is different than if we had been "real" world friends, but it was certainly real to me. And the deep pain of loss that I feel now is certainly real. I'm sure the following people would agree:
Aaron Polson
Cate Gardner
Jeremy Kelly
T.J. McIntyre
Brian Keene
Andrea Allison
Gabriel Beyers
Barry Napier
Jeremy D. Brooks
Rebecca Nazar
Natalie L. Sin
Danielle Ferries
Kody Boye
The general profile of the names on that list give an indication of what a talented and creative person Jamie. He was always there for his fellow writers, popping in on their blogs or hailing them on Twitter with encouraging words. His own blog was regular stop on the web for so many of us. I've read his last post there (from which I took the title of this post) about twenty times, savoring its normalcy and wishing there could be another.
Kody's post contains information about a fundraiser that Library of the Living Dead Press is doing to raise some money for the memorial fund for Jamie's young children. The family requests that memorials be made to the Kennedy and Brendan Eyberg account at Iowa Savings Bank in Coon Rapids, IA.
3 comments:
I would like to thank you all for what you are doing for Jamie's family. I grew up with Jamie and graduated HS w/ him. As often happens we went our separate ways and over the last year got re aquainted over facebook.
He has always been one of the nicest people I know. He was always positive and never said anything bad about anyone,. He was a great person and friend and will be truly missed...
...but never forgotten!!!
-Brandy
brandyzbooks@yahoo.com
I've been at a loss for words as well, having shared space in anthologies with Jamie and learning about his love of family on FaceBook.
Thank you for expressing the very real emotions that we can have for friends we've never met and will greatly miss.
Nice job and well said, Chris. I know exactly what you mean. The last few days have been hard. As I've never lost an online friend before, I'm quite frankly surprised by the level of loss and real grief I've felt.
"Sometimes life really does get in the way." -- Such a profound way to end a blog.
Thanks for expressing what I feel so well, because I've found it hard to put into words.
-T.J.
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