A Few Days Before March...

I got the news out of the blue that someone I had “known” for a few years had passed away during the month. I use speech marks perhaps unfairly because this was an online acquaintance/friendship, not one of the many longstanding ones that became part of my life during the initial blow up of modern social media. I use speech marks out of habit, online contact is the norm now. If people treat you well it should be acknowledged as such regardless of what form it takes. So I’ll say I knew Sue for a couple of years.

Sue Heinrich was a regular on the WFMU message boards as I began to get into the station (late nights as a carer changed my media consumption habits). The ‘boards became somewhere I would go to find out about the music I was listening to (or enduring…sorry but you know how it is). There were regular names that would crop up and Sue was one of them. I’m not sure I would have persevered if not for her because WFMU boards can be a bit intimidating when you first land on them. Depending on the show there’s a lot of activity and a lot of knowledgable people talking about music but once you have taken the time to get involved you generally find people on there are pretty warm and friendly and there’s a genuine feeling of family amongst the assemblage, many of whom have been involved for a long time. I don’t know how long Sue had been on WFMU but it has to be said she was the first to make me feel very welcome to the community. She was supportive of the station, the shows and the DJ’s and always had a kind word for everyone she spoke to. She was as regular as clockwork on Olivia’s Radio Ravioli in its old slot and usually checked out about half an hour before the show closed because she would be going to make dinner.

Off the boards she took an interest in my creative pursuits and again always had words of positive encouragement and support. Not many people see my drawings but I loved the fact that she was amongst an incredibly small number of people who got behind Betsy and cheered for the underdog. She spread the word to various other comic book lists and said some really lovely stuff about what I do.

When I discovered she had died I was surprised how much of a gut punch it was. I mean, we had never met…right? Still I found myself looking back over our interactions and while we never sat down and had giant conversations about stuff she was always there on the sidelines cheering Betsy on or commenting on music I was involved in.

The stuff I do travels very slowly and it doesn’t move amongst large crowds of people but if it meets with people like Sue on it’s journey, then I’m kind of happy with that.

My best wishes go to her loved ones.