He Left His Ashes in SF

I stopped by the Columbarium in SF today. It's San Francisco's only cemetery for cremated remains. It's a beautiful building (see photo of the dome above). Do you want to know the most interesting thing about it? I got a genuine happy feeling from being there. That kind of surprised me. Maybe it was because the friend who I visited was one of the funniest, most interesting larger- than-life people I've ever known.

(BTW, Mary, the Family Service Counselor for the Neptune Society was great. After the tour she talked about people we knew in common and an upcoming live musical event there. I thought, "Yes, given the beautiful space and the uplifting music it makes great sense to hold a concert there, churches do it all the time.")

I learned a lot from my friend, and showing up was part of my reconnecting the my past as I move into my future. ( Tagline, "Spocko's Brain: Looking backward, towards the Future, Today!")

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I've been busy. I'll probably write about all the great people I met in Chicago (Mrs. Robinson! Shayera! TeddySF! David Neiwert! Glenn Greenwald! Digby! Mike! Larry! John! Occam's Hatchet! Lisa!) and all the interesting ideas they gave me. I've been breaking all the blogger rules by not cranking out 3 blog posts a day ("No more than three paragraphs! Include a graphic too!"). I'm sure for new readers it looks like I'm working my way back to obscurity, but my first 19+ readers know that although my blog pace is slow, my brain doesn't stop between posts.

Be assured I'll be doing some of my painfully long "think pieces" (which Rich dislikes, but Athenae says aren't really too long) and maybe I'll put up some videos since El Gato Negro liked my last one.

A couple of topics that I really want to dig into is reputation in the real world and blogosphere. Especially the power of right-wing talk radio and cable tv hosts to destroy reputations and how that is picked up from as well as mirrored by the right-wing blogosphere. I attended a brilliant panel where this was discussed and I'd like to share with others what I learned there.

I also will want to talk about the death of journalists and media workers (2007 confirmed total dead? 31.) I got an invitation to the Committee to Protect Journalists International Press Freedom Awards Dinner on November 20, 2007 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. I'm glad that they are honoring the work of courageous journalists from around the world.

The neo-cons in the US don't attack journalists with RPGs. But their continued attacks on them are devastating none the less. It isn't in the job description of most journalists to challenge the people who relentlessly attack them, but I would like to see more push back from their bosses and from the public who rely on good journalism to stay informed.
I would suggest that Rush Limbaugh buy two leadership tables for the awards dinner and attend. Then the next time he insults journalists and "the drive-by media" he might pause and reflect on just how wrong he is. (HA! I amuse myself envisioning Rush actually reflecting on the damage he does with his vicious word play and slurs toward journalists.)

We need journalists to do their jobs and when we on the left criticize them it's because we want them to be better. On the right they want them dead. Be sure you all note the difference.