A Tribute to Huniii - Updated
Tue 4 Sep 2007
I am re-creating the blog of a good blogging friend, Huniii, who, as far as we can tell, passed away in May 2007 after a long battle with cancer. Via her blog (huniii.wordpress.com), Huniii’s words touched the hearts of many as she expressed her hopes, fears, desires and aspirations.
As Huniii’s readers, we laughed at her antics; we cried with her on the dark days; we soared when her son did well on the football field and we feigned shock at some of her language. Read some of her comments; Huniii could banter with the best.
What happened
Sadly, in recent weeks someone has cracked her password, broken into her blog and even boasted about it, writing some immature posts in Huniii’s name. Some commenters politely queried the wisdom of this action and met even more immature responses. Two days ago, I noted that Huniii’s blog has been taken down.
What I have done…
I immediately tried to recover whatever I could from Google’s cache before it fades. Then, as best I could, I have recreated Huniii’s blog at a similar but different address (hunii.wordpress.com). The only exception is that I am trying not to post any information that might identify her family.
It has been painstaking work, recreating not only Huniii’s posts, but her readers’ comments as well, taking care to get even the dates and times right. In many places, I have only fragments from syndicated blogs to work with. As I write this, the job is probably about 50% done.
…and why.
Note that I am not pretending to be Huniii and this new blog is not Huniii’s original blog. It is my recreation of her blog as a trubute to a dear friend.
I have placed only one post on Huniii’s new blog. While my name appears on that one post, the rest of the words are Huniii’s. I wouldn’t censor a syllable.
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Update 6 Sep 07
Lori has just come back with a sensible suggestion: we should publish Huniii’s blog as a book with proceeds to either cancer research or a trust fund for Bugalugs. Any thoughts?
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Update 11 Sep 07
Aurelius, a good friend of Huniii’s in real life has documented what he knows of the last weeks of Huniii’s original blog. It’s an interesting read.
But more importantly, Aurelius has put his finger on what we learned from Huniii; that it is possible to truly love our friends despite their flaws; even “Big Gaping Flaws”.
September 6th, 2007 at 4:54
Thank you for the comment on my blog. This is a wonderful thing you’re doing. Even though there are people out there who may not have liked her or agreed with everything she did I wish they’d at leave have some respect for her, at least some respect for the passed on. The world us full of stupid people I guess.
September 9th, 2007 at 14:50
You know I adore you for doing this, but I doubt we’d be able to get any funds to bugalugs anyway. Nice idea though.
September 10th, 2007 at 19:25
It’s a wonderful thing you are doing. I’d only begun reading her blog toward the end and found her - and the whole thing - rather remarkable. She and her words deserve the respect you are giving them.
I would suggest maybe contacting the cancer society and letting them know of her blog and seeing if they have any ideas. If you went at it alone you’d need to start with the press somehow I suppose.
Regardless, well done for keeping her blog alive and unmolested.
September 11th, 2007 at 7:31
G’day Suvvy, thanks for visiting. Yes, there’s something very un-Australian about picking on someone who cannot defend themselves or, in Huniii’s case, no longer defend themselves.
Steph, I think you might be right, so Cancer Fund it is.
Hi Eleanor, I know some north American cartoonists sell their books via printers who will take orders electronically and then print and dispatch individual books “on demand”. Maybe this is the way to go?
October 6th, 2007 at 9:42
Publishing a book in the name of the lovely Huniii would be such a wonderful idea..setting her wonderful words in concrete..and perhaps even raise some funds for her family…what a greatb job you are doing..keep up the great work, I shall check back time after time.
October 22nd, 2007 at 5:51
Wow, I have seen some people be low, but that is insane. It was very good of you to recreate this blog like that.
January 24th, 2010 at 1:40
Dude, she never died.