this is the saddest news we have had to report in a long, long time.
the blogger who was known as jon swift has passed away far too soon. his mother posted this message on the comments on his blog:
i don't know how else to tell you all who love this blog. i am jon swift's mom and i guess i'm going to out him. he was al weisel, my beloved son. al was on his way to his father's funeral in va when he suffered 2 aortic aneurysms, a leaky aortic valve and an aortic artery dissection from his heart to his pelvis.
he had 3 major surgeries within 24 hours and sometime during those surgeries also suffered a severe stroke. we, his 2 sisters, his brother, his partner and his best friend since he was 9 years old were with him as he took his last breath. we have all lost a shining start who warmed our hearts, tormented us and made us laugh as he giggled at our pulling something over on us. he passed away on february 27, 2010. my beloved child will live on in so many hearts. i miss him more than i can say. if you are on facebook, go to organizations and join "friends of al weisel, unite!" it will give you just a taste of how special he was. farewell, jon (al)
readers of skippy will know that jon was our partner in in, and indeed the motivating factor for blogroll amnesty day.
it was his graciousness and tenacity to actual liberal values that inspired (and indeed, was the engine that created) the idea that all blogs should support each other, never mind the size of the sitemeter traffic stats.
he was a brilliant satirical writer; so brilliant that often times readers (especially conservative readers) had no clue that jon was making fun of the right wing by appearing to be one of their own.
we had wondered why i hadn't heard from him lately...we are sure that he had other, more pressing real life issues to deal with besides blogging.
his sense of humor made us all realize that it was unhealthy to take ourselves too seriously...and alas, his passing makes it even more pertinent to enjoy ourselves and be kind to each other on a daily, if not moment-to-moment basis.
we all here @ skippy international will miss him greatly, as will blogtopia.
rest in peace al/jon.
you made life on earth and in blogtopia a better place.
you can read other memorials for jon/al here:
tom watson
drinking liberally in new milford
mad kane
oliver willis
michael j.w. stickings
simply left behind
we are sure that jon would want his idea of linking to other deserving voices in blogtopia to continue. if you write a memorial on your blog for jon, pls. send us a link and we will post it here.