Discussing and Remembering Dewey

[Maw Books]

It is a sad week within the book blogging community. Dewey from Hidden Side of a Leaf passed away this past week. To say that she leaves behind a huge void is a understatement. Not only was she a prolific reader, reviewer and blogger but she was also the founder and organizer of Weekly Geeks, the Bookworms Carnival, and the 24 Hour Read-a-Thon. And I'm sure I'm unaware of many others. We have all been influenced by her amazing energy, creative juices and bringing the community together. She was a wonderful friend. Florinda at The 3 R's: Reading, 'Riting, and Randomness perhaps summed everything up best on this well thought out post. She already has a list of bloggers willing to help.

There has been a lot of discussion on many blogs and twitter about how to cope with that loss.

Some of that discussion has included:

1 - How to best express our condolences to Dewey's family. Many of us have her address in which to send cards/packages. It's been mentioned to donate money/books to her local library, donate money to have her family plant a tree in her name, gather all the online tributes to make sure that Dewey's family doesn't miss them all, send flowers, etc.

2. - How to best carry on the amazing community building events that Dewey started. Many have already expressed interest in taking up some of these projects, includes challenges, Weekly Geeks, the 24 Hour Read-a-thon (this has gotten so big, it probably should have a dedicated blog), secret santa (with Nymeth), and the Bookworms Carnival. Dewey already had a lot of help on many of these projects so I'm sure many feel more prepared than others to step up to the plate.

3 - Raych from Books I Done Read has asked for a RIP button to place on our blogs.

4 - Keeping Dewey's husband in the loop. He mentioned that he would like to either see Dewey's blog continue or just let it rest. Either way, I think he should be in the know how.

So what now? Let's figure it out! Ideas, like to help, etc? I thought that we should get a discussion going in just one place, so it's not spread out among everybody. This certainly doesn't make me the "moderator" here. I just want to be able to talk amongst ourselves. What have I missed?

And if you're reading this discussion that get the word out and direct traffic over here. I'll set up another discussion to list links of our remembrance posts.

[Callista]

I like the text but you're right, it won't be readable when the graphic is made smaller. You'll have to fiddle with it.

[Terri]

ps. I would have time to help out with Weekly Geeks. Definitely makes sense for it to have its own blog. Perhaps we could rotate, each person take it on for a month.

[Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)]

I'd be happy to help out with maintaining Weekly Geeks. I can't be in charge, but I'd like to help generate ideas for activities or maintaining a new Weekly Geeks blog. I like Terri's idea of rotating who is in charge per month or something like that. There are still a lot of ideas on the About Weekly Geeks page (http://deweymonster.com/?page_id=686).

Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness)

[Wendy]

This is wonderful to see - I agree that we should leave Dewey's blog alone. I wonder if (as Terri suggested earlier in an email to me) we should start a Remember Dewey blog where her events can be run from one site. It could be a multi-author site with several administrators...might be easier than creating multiple sites.

I am willing to help wherever I am needed.

I like the idea of donating to Dewey's library - or if that is not possible maybe Reading is Fundamental which I know she was fond of and believed in.

Terri - that is a gorgeous button!

[Maw Books]

Sheri at Bookopolis has edited the Bookworms Carnival this month in memory of Dewey. http://bookopolis.blogspot.com/2008/11/bookworms-carnival-memoirs.html

[jessi]

These are all great ideas! I'd love to help keep Dewey's memory alive. I was thinking about doing book donations in her name - the ALA website has a list of organizations that accept book donations to distribute internationally - and I also like the idea of donating to her local library system.

[Suey]

Add me to the list of those willing to help wherever needed. As I mentioned before on Natasha's blog, my special love was Weekly Geeks. (I think I only missed participating just two or three times.) The multi author blog sounds like it would work. In fact, all the ideas presented here sound great!

[Shelly Burns]

Just found you guys. It's been a crazy 2 days at school, getting back into the swing of things. My heart has been so heavy since yesterday. I had just started blogging right before the last read-a-thon, and Dewey really encouraged me to give it a go. I did and I loved it! I haven't ever participated in Weekly Geeks, but I'm willing to help out where necessary. Everything you all have talked about are great ideas. I do like Amy's memorial idea and checking with the family to see what ideas they have. I only knew Dewey for a short while, but she will be truly missed!

[Florinda]

I've got a list of people - some of whom have already posted in this discussion - who are interested in helping keep Dewey's events going. There may be more in response to this post calling for volunteers - I'll send them here!

In response to earlier comments, I'll help to keep the Bookworms Carnivals going if I'm needed, but it seems like Jessica's ready to lead that effort. Trish says the Read-a-Thon team is set. I'd be open to being a team member for Weekly Geeks, depending how many people are needed to work on that.

This is what "community" means, folks, and it's great to see it in action!

[Maw Books]

What I am completely amazed by is the sheer amount of community that Dewey created. I was just talking to my husband over dinner about this. She did SO MUCH! She was just one person (ill, at that) who lead all of this stuff that we have to split up among many of us. She really made a difference. If I were to be gone tomorrow, I'm sure bloggers would be saddened but would they need to carry on/split up my projects? No, because I don't have any projects! Wasn't she just amazing?

[Trish Collins]

I was thinking about this, too! I think if any of us knew how much work she put into these events, our heads would spin!

[Florinda]

These are the people who told me that they'd like to be involved in keeping Dewey's projects going. Some have already posted in this discussion, and some may not be on Book Blogs, but I just want to get it all in one place.

Jessica - The Bluestocking Society (Bookworms Carnival)
Wendy - Caribousmom
Kylee - Kylee's 2009 Blog
Amy - My Friend Amy (WG topics, Read-a-Thon)
Veronica - Viva La Feminista
Ruth - Bookish Ruth
Ali - Worducopia
Becky - Becky's Book Reviews
Jill (softdrink) - Fizzy Thoughts

It's inspiring to see how Dewey has affected us all.