Edit: Judith Ann Maniatis - Tribute
After almost 10 weeks in hospital my mother passed away last night. There may be fewer updates to the site for the next little while. I just don't know.
I do know I want to leave these two passages from Infinite Jest right here for a bit:
"That boring activities become, perversely, much less boring if you concentrate intently on them. That if enough people in a silent room are drinking coffee it is possible to make out the sound of steam coming off the coffee. That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness.
[...]
That the people to be most frightened of are the people who are most frightened. That it takes great personal courage to let yourself appear weak. That you don't have to hit somebody even if you really really want to. That no single, individual moment is in and of itself unendurable."
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace pages 203 and 204.
Goodbye, Mum. I love you.
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Comments
Peace to you and yours in this time.
Thank you for all that you do.
Yet--and as sappy as it seems, it is also true: your mother lives on through you, in ways you'd probably not thought about a lot until she became ill, or afterward (if you're like most offspring). Of course, the great kindness you've shown all of us by your work and dedication to DFW's output reveals and shares something of your mother with we distant souls: had she been someone else, so would you, and we perhaps would never have benefited from your insights, from Dave's, and--albeit at a distance--from hers, through you. Her and your kindnesses are deeply appreciated; our sympathy and hopes for your comfort are all we can send--but they are genuine.