We Interrupt this Blog
At this point I am feeling --well, sad. I have never met Kathy Sierra, never read her work, never seen her presentations, and until this morning never heard her speak. And after listening to her via podcast, the one word that overwhelms me--above smart, informed, funny, passionate, caring, intuitive, is just plain "sweet". I can't imagine any person hearing her remarks and not thinking that. I felt better about the world for having listened this morn.

So imagine my shock to find her blog closed down, her speaking engagements canceled, and her life disrupted by a bunch of juvenile miscreants who either see no shame or harm in verbal and graphic abuse, or who do and enjoy the results.

I started and continue this project because I believe the culture should be at a higher level. Not a huge amount; we're certainly not snobs here, and we argue frequently for accessible stories. In that sense, episodes like this vindicate and inspire me forward, as we aim for a return to some sort of minimum civility. On the other hand, in a case this absurd, one just wonders if a culture of openness and freedom can even survive.

The answer lies mostly in the 1128 overwhelmingly supportive comments Kathy received in 2 days. Some of the answer lies in an old sign I once saw: Gentlemen respect God; Christians fear him. But maybe some of it lies in putting overgrown children like this in the stocks on the public square, next to piles of rotten fruit.