When I first read the assignment for this week, I misinterpreted our task as finding a narrative that had been established through these social media sights. My mind immediately went to a critical movie site I visit daily where a story sort of unfolded before my eyes. It doesn’t quite fit the criteria, but I think it’s an amazing example of modern community and friendship.
Pajiba is a smart, snarky website dedicated to pointing out the folly of most Hollywood schlock while also taking joy in some of its superior, lesser known achievements. (And the occasional B-horror film) As time went on and contributers amassed, TV, music and books became post-fodder as well. The site has always welcomed comments and the tangential turns they usually take. The commenters are a particularly rowdy bunch that often spend less time ruminating over the latest Lars von Trier film than discussing household objects that shold be amassed for the coming zombie apocalypse. The community has been going like this for years, the commenters know each other, follow each other’s blogs and organize meet ups. It’s a following who’s loyalty I really haven’t seen duplicated on the web.
One of the superstar commentors went by the screen name AlabamaPink. She contributed to the blog from it’s inception. It’s impossible to demonstrate here how years of banter and conversation threads led to profound friendships and honest admiration from those ghost visitors like myself that read but never comment. She suffered from leukemia and passed away earlier this year. See the complete farewell post here. Read her blog chronicling her illness here. Donate to leukemia & lymphoma research here, if you’re so moved. Below is a selection from the farewell post, which demonstrates the power of online relationships at their purest. No narrative that I could come up with can really compare to this genuine love and grief. I urge you to take the time to read the comments in the link. The website never had as much traffic or as long a comment thread as the day after AlabamaPink passed away.
“We are otherwise at a loss for words. We’ve never met Amanda, but she became a part of this place several years ago — she was one of the original Eloquents. Over the last year or so, since she was diagnosed with cancer, we’ve followed her battles with leukemia. And even when several rounds of chemotherapy and radiation failed, she never lost hope. What was even more inspiring about Amanda was the way she faced cancer with brave determination and an unflinching sense of humor. She was amazing. Amanda was in Houston getting experimental treatments for leukemia when she passed.
“She meant a ton to us, and the people on this site meant a lot to her, too. She sent a handwritten letter a few months ago, written on a handmade card she and her son had created, and — appropriately — Alice in Wonderland stationary. In it, she wrote:
“’During the entire clusterfuck of a spring and summer as I slogged through this cancer mess, I have never felt alone. I know that even in some of my worst moments, flying solo in the hospital, I can post my blabbering out onto the Internet, and magically people across the continent and beyond respond — with love and support … without the quirky as fuck little community at Pajiba, I’d be without some of the lifeboat of support that has carried me this far.’
“During the last year, Amanda inspired a lot in us. She brought out the prayers and hopes of a community that more often than not, relishes in squashing them. She inspired The Girl with Curious Hair to run a marathon. She inspired Prisco’s Cannonball Run. And she made many of us think about how we’d deal with the same hand if it were dealt to us. Not a one of us, I can imagine, would’ve managed it as well as Amanda.”
