jun1013.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/where_are_you__by_jajoo.jpg
You used to come by OS and play with us. You used to comment. You used to post. But the last time you wrote a post was on Dec 19, 2009 -- “Me on Open Salon?”
You wrote, in part:
“I read, I rate and I comment on Open Salon. I don't write as often as I think about writing. But I love it here, and many of you know that. I must also say: I don't check my inbox here as often as I should…. I have to be honest: I am drowning in email at work, I'm on Twitter and Facebook and Gmail as well as Salon, and of course I'm here too. I fall behind on everything.”
OK, so you’re falling behind. Last I checked you have 2,885 Facebook friends (I don’t even have 285) and you have thousands more followers on Twitter.
And yes, we’re proud you’re a regular on cable TV—we’ve seen you all over the place lately, even on "Morning Joe" -- with Nora! And you’re tweeting and social networking and appearing on more and more split screens. You must be tired of debating Pat Buchanan.
But Joan, not even a teensy-weensy comment over here on your own baby, Open Salon, every couple of weeks or so? Why oh why?
Maybe you flounced and I missed it.
What a thrill it used to be to get a Joan Walsh comment. On my fourth post ever you wrote one of the seven sparse comments I received. That encouragement kept me going.
Oh the memories. Remember when Lonnie photo-shopped Aretha’s inaugural hat on your avatar and we had the spring hat contest?
Remember when we had your back with Dick Armey and Bill O’Reilly? We helped you. You were in a safe place. Some of us even wrote posts about it.
And you used to post here regularly, Joan. You wrote about your daughter Nora and about Sadie, your labradoodle. And you asked us to suggest books to read on your ‘semi-vacation.
We were all so close. We were your BFF of websites.
Maybe it was something we did. Do we sometimes seem like a lunch table of Heathers in the high school cafeteria? Is it the larger pool of OSers and reading posts from newbies with the same complaints of former newbies of six months ago, and six months before that?
Has it gotten old? Is it the weekly dustups? Have your faves left? Are you -- ahem, too famous to stop by now and then?
Or maybe like so many of us here you feel dissed that you didn’t get more EPs and covers. Hmm. They were starting to come few and far between for you, I noticed. The editor must have been encouraging you in the beginning and then, just like us, you were left to your own devices.
You could have blogwhored since just about all of us have you as a favorite. Come to think of it, looking at your blogpage, you haven't added a favorite since our dear, departed Dakini Dancer.
Maybe you’re writing under another name – are you really "big fat trauma queen"? Please let us know. Multiple personas are popping up all over and you may be two of them.
Oh Joan, I’m hoping you're lurking and you read this, just to know we care. And that you comment, just so we know you’re still here, and still like us enough to come and play. In fact, a Joan Walsh comment even on someone else’s post would make me feel a whole lot better about OS, and life in general.
And it’s spring. Isn’t it time for another hat?
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David Kinne
Sean Murphy
Marcie J
Kathy Peacock
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Comments
Joan washing up for a TV appearance?
She may be on` Lawrence Welk Show?
Lea Lane.
Ya may create a big mess of `Deletes?
Joan Walsh walks her daughter's dog?
Please let Joan Walsh nap. She quits?
Joan wakes up Mr. Oscar`de grouch?
Ms. Walsh may not get another E.P.?
She may come back cranky as`skunk.
Maybe Art is right and she is on the Lawrence Welk show or Sesame Street. Or maybe she is just "cranky as a skunk" with us for many reasons.
this is a good funny, gentle nudge.....
Joan knows I am a big teaser and silly girl, hopefully! Can only imagine her role here has taken on more hats to wear and she is going in so many directions, as you indicated. This is one smart, busy woman and she has her baby to occupy much time. I like to imagine that Joan and her precious pup are taking long walks along the marina and that both she and he are frolicking in the water, tossing and retrieving sticks, looking out over the Golden Gate, waiting for the waves.
Joan - wherever you are...hope you are very well and loving what you are doing. Know that you are thought of, missed and loved by so many!
Time for another SF meet-up??? xoxo
It could be the work of Freaky Troll!
R
Eileen, thanks for your thoughts, I hope you stick around!
Joan Walsh
APRIL 10, 2010 12:09 AM
I hope not because I always though we were HER low-rent open forum.
I do remember the several comments I got from her early on, and several nice PMs she sent me in 2008 and 2009, also, some comments on some threads I started on Facebook this winter.
It was really good, as you say, to see her commenting and playing on Freaky's posts and elsewhere, light hearted and silly and very, very normal, relaxed; and now and then nibbling around the edges of issues that we thought at the time were vital to OS, bringing both good will and common sense to the dust up of the week.
I just think that those days are over, at least for a while. I hope that she knows that we are her sanctuary, friends who have her back, and a place where she can find some comfort from all the whirling chaos that she finds herself in now.
One of the prices of fame is forgetting where you have been, who your friends were. But the good ones remember, and Joan is a good one, so hopefully she will be back more often.
Time, as always, will tell.
Monte
Blogging, when it's not your paying job, is a lot like reading a book, getting a cup of coffee in a cafe, or writing a diary. You do it when the spirit strikes you. Sometimes that may not happen for months, years. As soon as it becomes a social obligation, blogging becomes a lot less fun.
So don't take it personally. Joan is living her incredibly busy life, and, from what I see in the media, she's doing it rather splendidly.
I do post occasionally, I lurk regularly. In terms of blogging again...it's hard to get re-started. But I'll try to come up with something. I am still reading! Thank you for this, it's so sweet.
I my, O Gads. This makes me as happy as sitting in West Virginia `
@ a Gentleman Club. But, of course, without the strobe lights, and pole dances.
What's happening tonight?
I recall a term "pot vagrant."
It is a fanny expression for:`
A Old Time Public Drunker.
It means a "draught"comes.
Yea! Hi! A old drunk Uncle!
In this case it is`Jan Walsh!
What a relief! Life is goods!
Goodness.
If I had a roll of dimes I's slip?
Slip a dime in a girdle or tutu?
You know? Old Lauren Walsh?
A old returning elk in a gown?
A return to the past Sr. Prom?
I am sure things aren't so bad!
Yea Lea Lane hauls Joan back!
Lea Lane will never get a E.P.!
O, a silly banter. Welcome Hi!
It's almost tulip festival time in Holland, Lea. I think you should pack your bag and come for another visit so we can meet in person.
Nope!!
Wait, for that matter, ever seen Tink and Joan in the same room?
Yep, except Joan had her security team along with her lawyers and restraining order.
Stupid restraining order. Piddle on one(okay, maybe it was more like a hundred times) person's roses. PFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTT!!
:)