At Steve Gilliard's Wake

I got up to Steve Gilliard's wake last night. I hadn't been up in East Harlem in years, but lived on 116th Street during the late 1980's, and the neighborhood is much as I remember it. Steve's wake was at a funeral home on 104th Street and 2nd Avenue.

When I showed up at around 5:00 PM, the viewing room was very quiet, and those assembled were mainly his family and neighborhood friends. But many others soon showed up: friends from NYU, and from the Blogosphere, including Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of the DailyKos, several folks from FireDogLake, Bill Lessard, of the NetSlaves project, and many others who had known Steve from cyberspace. Of course, Steve's longtime friend Jen was there.

As the crowd swelled, the silence yielded to many soft-murmered conversations celebrating Steve's life and achievements. We paid our respects and headed out into the warm night. It was sad to know that we had seen his face for the last time in this world.

Steve's funeral was today, in New Jersey.