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RIP: Ericka Johnson
Jan. 12th, 2014 02:58 amOkay, by the time this is over, it's going to be the oddest memorial post I've ever made. But apart from that opening sentence, I'll start on all-too-familiar ground. Minneapolis fan Ericka Johnson died peacefully Saturday evening. My heart and sympathy are with Peter Hentges and with Ericka's other loved ones and friends near and far.
I'm not yet ready to talk at any length about my memories of Ericka, about the beginnings of friendship we shared back in the 1980s. Or about how I failed to be the friend I wanted to be after COPD and related disabilities severely limited her ability to be out and about at the same time I didn't make time to remain an active part of her life. I contributed to the isolation that so often comes with disability instead of moving into the circle of friends and loved ones who surmounted it, something I've always regretted...and never did much of anything to change or fix. Limits. Failings. Mixed up with admiration, love, and caring -- for Ericka, for Peter, for Ctein, for Catherine Crockett, for everyone who did the very things I wish I had.
I think Ericka was still able to come to Minicon back in the 1990s when we had the Oobleck in the Bathtub in the Minneapolis in '73 suite, though I know her mobility was too limited to dance on it even then. What I know for certain is that she would have gotten a kick out of the following video and that Peter will, too, if he sees this.
We so live in the future. While Greg Cotton may well not have been the first person in the world to both think of and investigate the possibilities of large-scale oobleck, it also wouldn't surprise me to somehow discover that he was. A few decades later, they're making bank commercials in Malaysia celebrating the wondrous possibilities of my favorite non-Newtonian fluid. I can all but hear Ericka's chuckle, and I know she would have had an observant, insightful comment to deepen the experience of sharing it with her.
RIP, Erica. You were a blessing in this world and your memory will be a blessing for many long after grief has run its course.
Edited to add: I think I've successfully muted the sound so![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pnh and others whose browsers auto-play embedded videos won't be blasted by it. At least, that's how it's working here when I view it in different browsers. Fingers crossed for luck on that, combined with this note to let folks know it's not a silent video and to adjust the sound slider if you want to hear it. And many thanks to Marc Abrahams and the Improbable Research website for bringing the video to my attention.
I'm not yet ready to talk at any length about my memories of Ericka, about the beginnings of friendship we shared back in the 1980s. Or about how I failed to be the friend I wanted to be after COPD and related disabilities severely limited her ability to be out and about at the same time I didn't make time to remain an active part of her life. I contributed to the isolation that so often comes with disability instead of moving into the circle of friends and loved ones who surmounted it, something I've always regretted...and never did much of anything to change or fix. Limits. Failings. Mixed up with admiration, love, and caring -- for Ericka, for Peter, for Ctein, for Catherine Crockett, for everyone who did the very things I wish I had.
I think Ericka was still able to come to Minicon back in the 1990s when we had the Oobleck in the Bathtub in the Minneapolis in '73 suite, though I know her mobility was too limited to dance on it even then. What I know for certain is that she would have gotten a kick out of the following video and that Peter will, too, if he sees this.
We so live in the future. While Greg Cotton may well not have been the first person in the world to both think of and investigate the possibilities of large-scale oobleck, it also wouldn't surprise me to somehow discover that he was. A few decades later, they're making bank commercials in Malaysia celebrating the wondrous possibilities of my favorite non-Newtonian fluid. I can all but hear Ericka's chuckle, and I know she would have had an observant, insightful comment to deepen the experience of sharing it with her.
RIP, Erica. You were a blessing in this world and your memory will be a blessing for many long after grief has run its course.
Edited to add: I think I've successfully muted the sound so
pnh and others whose browsers auto-play embedded videos won't be blasted by it. At least, that's how it's working here when I view it in different browsers. Fingers crossed for luck on that, combined with this note to let folks know it's not a silent video and to adjust the sound slider if you want to hear it. And many thanks to Marc Abrahams and the Improbable Research website for bringing the video to my attention.
