Sigh, I'm deleting the last PM I sent her from my outbox.
I hope her family is holding up well.
This is terrible news. I think I bumped into Mamaj. back on Abuzz over 3 years ago. While we often disagreed on how to do things we agreed quite often on what had to be done and maintained a cordial relationship. She was the Grand Dame of the A2K Political Forum.
She'll be deeply missed. My regrets to her family.
I'm in tears too. I was wondering where she'd been lately. She was a sound voice of reason in the political threads. She'll be missed. Shocking.
Please extend my sympathy to her family.
This really hurts.
mamaJ always wrote with such passion and energy, you just knew she was a force in real life. You also knew she was fun.
I followed her around here (and at Abuzz) to keep up on political goings-on. I have an enormous amount of respect for her. Her sharp, tart, well-thought out arguments taught me a lot. She gave me courage by her postings.
Tartarin, thank you for letting us know, and thank you for forwarding our very real condolences to her family.
That is so sad. I am very saddened to hear that.
She seemed, from her posts, like such a lively, vivid-minded woman - articulate, strong opinions, down to earth. A sensible voice. I didn't have a clue how old she was, or that she had been in bad health. The private lives hidden behind these atavars, and the emotions and commitments invested in them ...
Thoughts go out to her daughter ... nearly nothing on earth as painful as losing one's mother.
I didn't even know her as well as some of you, and I am still in shock. This was written hastily, but I felt the need to say something:
A spirit forged from passion and from life,
political, acerbic, sharp-witted,
fluttered amongst us, always shining bright,
topic to topic, issue to issue,
from anti-Bush to "my mom's peas were mush,"
everything had meaning, the important
and the mundane. Can unknown ghosts be missed?
It seems so, sad heart, and my teary eyes
betray this modern truth we know so well:
Familiarity breeds community,
community breeds friendship, virtual
or otherwise. Our mamajuana....
You will be more than missed, and more than mourned,
You shall be carried within all our hearts.
The comments above are all a fitting tribute to a valued contributor and a dear friend.
The quotation from Poet David Whyte at the bottom of my post seems very appropriate here.
(sigh)
I did not know Mama too well. No PM's, not many exchanges. Hope I can go with the same courage.
Mary Pope
himself
Mamajuana
Damn! It hurts just as much each time. No ... it gets worse. I am grateful to have been fortunate enough to have been touched by all of them.
Out of old habit, I've always called her "mamaj." I hope she didn't mind; it was my simple way of showing her affection. She's one of those grand ladies of our lives that dared share some of her personal pains and achievements. She will be remembered by many of us. It was a shock to learn of her passing, because I wasn't aware of her illiness. RIP
no doubt, timber, no doubt
I am very sorry to learn this. Mama's views were generally different from mine, always forcefully stated and she was not easily dissuaded. At the same time she was always willing to take a lighthearted view of things, never mean-spirited or angry, and always considerate of others. In short a delight. I will miss her as will many others here.
Mamaj has been a trusted friend to me on a2k for several months now and I've come to depend on her for sound reasoning and excellent wisdom. I am heart broken to learn of her death. My sympathy to her family. She was a marvelous human being. I am taken over by sadness to hear of her loss.
I didn't really know Mamajuana, but you are all bringing a warm piece of humanity to this thing called the internet and I have a tear in my eye.
I will miss her "common-sensical" approach to questions, i will miss her pragmatism . . .
I will miss her.
I always called her "mamaj" to, CI. I guess she thought it was okay....!
This is a wonderful series of tributes. When the time comes, I'll try to do a good cut-and-paste and will try to include names and avatars, if it works out.
This is terribly sad news. Mamajuana was one of the reasons that abuzz and a2k were places to go to find reasoned, intelligent conversation.
I was aware of her bad health, but had no idea that she was so ill. As someone else said, she was noble and never used her health to garner sympathy.
Her mind remained brilliantly alive and that's how I will remember her.
I just put a note on one of Seydlitz's threads on abuzz, not sure if the folks there had heard.
sad news,
i've read her posts. admirable woman.
my sympathy to her family.
