aka, Salty Walt, one of the best known singers of sea chanties and pirate songs in the RenFaire world

I could swear I recognized him from the time JZ, Emily, myself, & someone else went to see him & friends at Edinburgh Castle to sing sea shanties.

{{{Hec}}}

{{{Hec}}}

I was so happy to receive those hugs in person.

Pastor Bea is who drew Jacqueline to this church. JZ found her online sermons. Pastor Bea is somebody that Jacqueline had been wanting for a long time: A woman religious leader speaking about faith in terms which were entirely aligned with Jacqueline's own.

I think Pastor Bea was also looking for a JZ, which made this service very personal. I so appreciated how inclusive everything was, and also really explanatory (yes you can take communion even if you aren’t Lutheran, which is always a question I have). I also loved little glimpses of tech guy running around.

And I was happy to give them. And you can get them anytime you want.

I think Pastor Bea was also looking for a JZ, which made this service very personal.

Yes, I think she was very excited to have Jacqueline in her congregation and felt that too-soon amputation of a possible future as keenly as we all did.

I’m glad of the youtube since I’ve been rather untethered from date & time. It was fierce & gentle, which is apropos.

(Emergency trip to NM to take over parents’ care & feeding for a week unglued everything. My brother is there now. He got the easy week. Hopefully all will be steady & ambulatory after his week. I’m sure my father thinks so, he discovered my stubborn tyrannical streak can meet his in full. And win. At least when he is under-oxygenated, but I don’t stop when he’s not & being a fucking dumbass.)

Oh, sarameg! Lots of health wishes for your father, and good vibes for you and your brother (and it's very good to read that you could win and do what actually helps your father).

David, I'm so grateful for being able to take part, even just as a viewer, in the funeral. It's such a great idea, to broadcast their ceremonies and prayers online, to let people participate from afar, and on different schedules. Very considerate and friendly and thoughtful.

Which should come as no surprise, once hearing Pastor Bea talking and managing herself, with such compassion and grace and care. She was so heartfelt, so honest. She wasn't just reciting words, she cared deeply, she was one of the people all over the world who cared about JZ and mourned her loss. And it made even the recited words, the rehearsed words, so much more meaningful. Just as JZ deserves.

It's sort-of-funny, because in some aspects, watching the funeral on YouTube is the most Christian thing I've ever done in my life, and I couldn't have participated any other way, so the not-obvious choice of a live online broadcast was the only way for me to participate. And how fitting, to take part in an online way, in the funeral of my dear online friend.

I have to admit, I didn't know what to expect. It was very different from every (obviously, Jewish) funeral I've ever participated in, and not just because it was my first online experience with that. What I've experienced usually contains a much more personal part, with a few people who cared deeply about the deceased talking about him or her, sharing memories, telling a significant story describing who that person was and what was important to them. There are religious parts to the Jewish ceremony, as well (surprisingly - or, rather, completely obviously and unsurprisingly - some parts are similar to the point of saying completely the same things, only in a different language).

I guess that people are people and love is love and care is care and faith gets to wear different outside appearances, but deep inside people's hearts, I deeply believe that, just the same, faith is faith. Good people are good people regardless of the outside definitions. There are always handing-of-tissues and lots of hugs and words trying to express what most words fail to manage to express (so, thankfully, there's music).

Sorry about the meMeME. I have to leave this post in the middle and get going with the chores and the running-around of my day. I'm just so grateful for - oh, I'm running out of sentences. It's been a horrible week-and-a-half. Who knew that a funeral across the ocean could be such a beautiful lovely reminder of so much of the good in the world. Then again, it's JZ, so of course.

It was lovely, and entirely appropriate for someone who had friends around the world for their funeral to be livestreamed. Thank you for letting us share it.

I had no idea that Jacqueline had spent a year at UEA in Norwich. So did I. I was there from October 1990 doing an MA in Film Studies. I actually sort of hope that we weren't there at the same time because then I will regret not having met her in person.

(In other MeMeMe news, colonoscopy went fine. I have some gastic juice issues and one small polyp which they removed. So, all good, it seems. Thanks for the ~ma).

Nilly and Shir: thinking of you too, so often these days.

David I am thankful I was able to be there and give you more than one hug.

There are always handing-of-tissues and lots of hugs and words trying to express what most words fail to manage to express (so, thankfully, there's music).

As always, Nilly, your words are wonderful.

Something I appreciated about the ceremony was the invitation to light candles at the prayer screen in the back. It gave those of us who weren't going to participate in the communion a way to be involved in the ceremony, if we wanted. For my agnostic/atheist self who uses candles as markers and remembrances, it was very welcoming.