Well, damn. Leslie Harpold, one of the bright stars of the early blogosphere, back when blogs were still known as online diaries, has died. I’m not entirely sure how, but this entry from a friend of hers seems to suggest it may have been related to chronic bronchitis.
Those of us who hung out online back in the day knew Leslie as smart and funny and one of the people who really seemed to get what the online world could be all about. She and I were friendly in the online way, both in the online diary world and as habitués of the alt.society.generation-x newsgroup. Leslie was still a big presence online right up until the last week, with her annual advent calendar a popular attraction online. In one of those coincidences, one of her final links out in the advent calendar was to me and this site. I am happy to think I was still on her radar after all this time.
This is just sad news, people. I’m at the age where I can reasonably expect my contemporaries to begin to leave, but it’s still startling when it happens, especially with someone who was as vital as Leslie, and someone who was a big part of my early days online — which don’t seem all that long ago, because they weren’t.
Goodbye, Leslie. Be well where you are. You are missed.