Comments on: R.I.P., Anita Rowland

R.I.P., Anita Rowland

ewagoner — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:37:04 -0800

Anita Rowland (User 113), old school blogger, inspiration to many, has lost her fight with cancer. She'll be missed.

By: dhammond

dhammond — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:45:20 -0800

Link?

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:46:44 -0800

I'm very sorry to hear that. My condolences to her family.

By: ewagoner

ewagoner — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:54:23 -0800

News of her death this morning is making its way through weblogs and journals, which is appropriate since she helped bring the two forms together back when they were both small and different communities. From Anita's LOL (List of Links) and Anita's Book of Days, to Twitter and Flickr streams, Anita made a vibrant contribution to the internet as a whole.

By: kindall

kindall — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:55:25 -0800

Oh no. I've seen her at many a blog meetup. In fact I can't really imagine going into Ralph's and not seeing her there. Farewell, Anita.

By: dg

dg — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:57:58 -0800

By: rollbiz

rollbiz — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:20:32 -0800

.

(Good to see she was looking forward until just weeks ago)

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:22:48 -0800

Oh my god, I'm so sorry to hear that.

Anita was quite possibly the first other blogger I met in the early blogger days in Seattle in 1997? 1998? She had a big heart and was realy interested in using these tools to connect not just online but in real life. She welcomed me in almost immediately and allayed a lot of skepticism I had about the whole meetup thing. She invited and encouraged me to go to my first Santa Rampage -- I can remember following her in her jinglebell hat yelling at us all to keep moving -- and was a really formative part of me getting involved in the "fun people who like to do stuff" crowd in Seattle. As a result of her, I swear it, I also became a fun person who liked to do stuff. She was one of the first people who linked to me blogwise and even after I moved from Seattle, it was neat to see her turn up in my referrers from time to time. It always felt like a mitzvah when Anita pointed out something you'd done.

She was the last person I read regularly still using Greymatter. I'll miss her

By: dhammond

dhammond — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:35:19 -0800

In fact I can't really imagine going into Ralph's and not seeing her there.

She worked at Ralphs?

By: kindall

kindall — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:42:43 -0800

No, the meetups were at Ralph's. I never go there otherwise, since Belltown is a bit out of my way.

By: sillygwailo

sillygwailo — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:00:54 -0800

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:10:56 -0800

By: yhbc

yhbc — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:17:32 -0800

Condolences to her friends and family.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:22:31 -0800

So sad, I'll miss her, I do remember her blog from the early days. Back in 2005, a friend told me she was diagnosed and on chemo.

God, this stuff always comes as a shock because I don't think of weblogging as being old enough that people can pass away. I still imagine everyone from the late 90s is in their 30s and 40s and just getting started on life.

By: wendell

wendell — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:23:22 -0800

.

My deepest sympathy to everyone closer to her than I was. I was in semi-frequent communication with her in '99-'00, and she was always just plain 'good people', yet like so many other good people I've known, I just lost touch (this isn't supposed to happen in the Internet Era, dammit - but then, we were also supposed to get cancer cured by now...)

I will always remember that LOL really stands for "List of Links".

By: girlhacker

girlhacker — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:50:01 -0800

Anita was a wonderful human being. She wrote me several times always with helpful information, welcomed me by email to Seattle with a list of resources, and now I'm kicking myself for never taking the time to meet her. I'll miss her presence very much.

By: stefnet

stefnet — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:53:54 -0800

Oh dear... I remember her from the old days. I actually mentioned her in a post here a long time ago when people argued about the length of posts.

My sympathies to her family and friends.

By: Lynsey

Lynsey — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:24:34 -0800

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:25:12 -0800

Wiki updated.

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:07:20 -0800

Crap, that's bad. I knew her too, in the way that blog people kind of but not really know one another, and have good but vague feelings about one another even though they've never met.

Sympathies from me too, to her family and friends and everyone who knew her better than me.

By: dw

dw — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:29:43 -0800

Anita was one of the nicest people I ever knew, always engaging, always friendly, always trying to get people talking, always getting people to blog.

She was a connector. Were it not for her, I wouldn't know at least a dozen people here in Seattle. She was the "den mother" of us Seattle bloggers.

It's hard to believe she's gone.

.

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 22:56:26 -0800

From her husband: "There is a memorial post on my weblog. Please go there to leave comments and memories about Anita. Spammers will be hunted down and their entrails fed to crows."

By: netbros

netbros — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:55:18 -0800

By: litlnemo

litlnemo — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:53:50 -0800

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 03:22:02 -0800

By: yerfatma

yerfatma — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:14:46 -0800

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:40:48 -0800

mecran01: link please?

By: SoulOnIce

SoulOnIce — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 05:41:48 -0800

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:23:43 -0800

jessamyn: It's on the front page of ewagoner's last link, but here's a link to the last post on its own: http://www.anitarowland.com/gmarchives/00002532.html

By: Dreama

Dreama — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:36:41 -0800

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:06:54 -0800

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:11:12 -0800

She was one of the first people who linked to me blogwise

Same here.

like so many other good people I've known, I just lost touch

Same here, dammit. I wish I'd kept in touch, and I wish I'd gotten to meet her; those of you who did are lucky. My condolences to her husband and everyone who loved her.

By: dw

dw — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:26:29 -0800

jessamyn: Here's the memorial post.

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 07:26:36 -0800

By: GaelFC

GaelFC — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 09:26:52 -0800

I so admired how she and her husband took in his young grandson when his parents couldn't raise him. Her spirit and attitude were indomitable. She will be missed.

By: deborah

deborah — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 20:26:18 -0800

I posted in her husband's memorial post: About a million years ago I emailed with Anita about something that escapes me at the moment. I remember her being so nice and helpful to a new-ish 'net user. She will be sorely missed.

By: webmutant

webmutant — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:44:28 -0800

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:34:33 -0800

rebecca blood posted a link that has photos of the first Seattle Blogger meetup that Anita put togther way back in February 2000. Awww.