If there ever was a Pulitzer Prize for blogging, then certainly Jake Seliger would have won it hands down for this year’s blogging….
On August 7 Jake Seliger died of cancer at the age of 40. He had been fighting it for a while and last summer he made the shocking announcement on his blog that the cancer was terminal and acting quickly. Amazingly, Jake and his wife were able to get experimental treatments to prolong his life, but this outcome was (by his own admission) preordained. Before last summer’s announcement, Jake was a frequent blogger who blogged about literary and social topics. Amazingly, despite his ailments, he blogged harder and deeper than ever before. Some of those posts from the previous year are about his illness — and somewhat hard to read — but often he blogged about the usual topics — as though cancer were just a figment of the imagination. I’ve been busy catching up on his old blogposts — he’s been blogging for over 17 years and will be uncovering some great posts from years past. Here’s a thoughtful post from exactly a year ago — before Jake would travel down that long and harrowing roller coaster ride.
His wife Bess Stillman has been blogging on Substack during the year as well. When Jake enters hospice, his wife (a physician and also a great writer) talks about how she made her peace with the outcome and reflecting on his death.
One of the most amazing things about this year is that in addition to all the writing, they have regularly taken selfies of themselves during these awful times. They are a beautiful testament to their marriage and fidelity. It was a pleasant surprise to learn that Bess is pregnant with Jake’s baby. They are at the bottom of their blogposts.
I left a long message on his final post:
This last year has been an amazing year of blogging! You have gone to places which I never thought possible (and yet you still have thrown in some “normal posts” as well). If there was a Pulitzer Prize for blogging, then certainly you would have won it hands down for this year’s blogging….
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Back in my late thirties, I was still pretty gungho about web technologies and working in IT. Recovering from a romantic breakup, experimenting with different kinds of storytelling, impatient with the retro-conservativism of the Bush Administration (lord, if only I knew what would be coming later). That was where I was at during that stage of life. I certainly wasn’t pondering mortality or stoicism or anything philosophical. I was rewatching the Blues Brothers, playing around with Python and cameras and trying to read Petrarch. It was shortly after that time that my reading dropped off significantly, though I have picked it up again in the last 5 years or so). In comparison, I feel as though you have traveled around the world several times (metaphorically speaking) while I was still learning how to walk. Of course, nobody could have predicted or sought out your path, and frankly good health and time is a luxury that people take for granted until they can’t.
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I’m glad to hear that Bess is expecting a child. How promising. I’ve been watching the charming TV series on Apple+, Lessons in Chemistry. One of the main characters dies unexpectedly in an early episode while the girlfriend is pregnant. By the end of the series, the baby grows up into a precocious little girl who is driven to find out more about her father (and stumbles upon some amazing insights into the man without ever meeting him). You’ve certainly led a full life — and your wife certainly will preserve your memories. I’m sure that will be enough material offline and online to appease your child’s curiosity about you when she grows older.
As I said, I know that hospice is the next logical step (and yes, the final one), but from the perspective of a reader and fellow blogger, I feel as though my contact with you and your writing is only just beginning. I can see by the comments how many people your life and words have already touched (and WILL TOUCH). Thanks for generously sharing this last year with readers like me — even when it must have been painful and harrowing and exhausting. Please enjoy the rest of your time as best as you possibly can.
I am glad I had time to give that final message — which hopefully Jake was able to read. It’s funny. I’ve been blogging for a few years longer than Jake, but I admit I never really felt obligated to post regularly. Sometimes weeks — and even months — have gone by without my posting a thing. In fact I have sometimes questioned the value of spending too much time on the blogging thing. (Similarly, I don’t post too much on social media even though I have streaks where I simply don’t shut up online). Part of the reason is that nobody really reads bloggers anymore (perhaps they never did), and blogging is something you do to document recent intellectual discoveries. I’ve going to be saying a LOT more about this topic in a longer post — stay tuned. Ha, ha, it will be a while before I write this post, but I’m pretty sure I will title it, “The Itch that must be scratched”.
A year ago I started digging into Jake Seliger’s blog archives, but frankly, it will take a long time to go through everything.
In the meantime, I’ve been digging through Jake’s blog archives — there’s a lot to discover or rediscover. Eventually I’ll do several megaposts on some of Jake’s literary stuff (which were always interesting and fun to read).
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