Tag Archives: Alan Sullivan

The Seablogger on cancer

Divide and Conquer
The cells divide. The cells that will not die
divide too well and so they multiply.
They kill the host to keep themselves alive.
The blood goes bad. In vain physicians try
to purge the veins with drugs the cells defy.
The cells divide. The cells that will not die
mutate anew. The hardy few survive.
The few recruit the many teeming by.
They kill the host to keep themselves alive.
They colonize the nodes from neck to thigh.
The tumors grow, and scanners never lie.
The cells divide. The cells that will not die
stifle the very organs where they thrive.
Blind, stupid things—their purpose gone awry—
they kill the host to keep themselves alive.
Exploding through the flesh, they multiply,
but immortality eludes them. Why?
The cells divide. The cells that will not die
kill the host to keep themselves alive.

Good stuff. The fitting end to this good interview by his longtime partner. Too soon he died. Yet, as he says there, he could be proud of what he left behind.

Seablogger sinking

For some time now, the health of Alan Sullivan, the Seablogger, has been sinking. It seems that he is near death:

“Steve and Tim have conferred with Dr. D. this morning. He told them that there is little hope of Alan ever communicating again. Accordingly, they directed Dr. D. to discontinue ‘heroic measures.’ Father Tom is going up to the hospital to bestow a final blessing.”

Adios to a sometimes irascible, but always readable and interesting blogger whose last post was simple and compelling: “What I yearn for: Pineapple juice, orange juice, milk, oh milk.”

Via Instapundit. (Alan’s going out with an Instalanche.)

UPDATE:  It’s 9:24 p.m. Alan died earlier today. He wanted the blog sealed from comments. But there’s talk among his “rare readers” of a chat room, at least. As long as someone wants to pay the isp, I suppose… Which also applies to his blog.

Compassion in death

This is an idea I got today from the Seablogger, who is usually a good read. A thoughtful, lately-become-religious fellow. I share his belief in G-d, if not his particular creed. The expression refers to people who are able to go to their own death without continuing to blame others for perceived or actual wrongs. To forgive them, even reassure them, when one’s own end is near.

My own father, despite his religious belief, was unable to do it. But I suspect it is not a common thing. Indeed, I’ve only known one who achieved it. He was a scientist, and so I could presume that he was not religious, since so few of them seem to be nowadays. But, then, I really don’t know. If he wasn’t, if he had nothing to gain, so to speak, that makes his compassion in death all the more impressive.

Seablogger blogs a cruise

His Holland America cruise ship has "a nice deep sea heave," Alan Sullivan reports, as he sails into hurricane weather out of Miami. The water in the upper deck swimming pools is "jumping and sliding like limbo dancers." He had to pay one hundred dollars for two hundred fifty minutes of Web connection time via satellite, so he’s limited in what he can do. But he’s already promising photos soon. Click on the blog title at the top of the page to check for the latest post.

UPDATE:  A nautical tracking map shows where his ship, the Noordam, is at the moment. 

Fresh Bilge: Palin vs Obama

Alan Sullivan, the Seablogger, is a good writer and thinker. I don’t always agree with him, but I always enjoy reading him. But this time he outdid his usual good work, so I’m posting it. An excerpt:

"The cultural contrasts of Obama and McCain are stark enough, but those of Palin and Obama are even more revealing, because these two are contemporaries: their clash will define America in the Twenty-First Century, while Biden and McCain are figures from a receding past. From this point on, it will really be Palin versus Obama. And she will win, because she is a formed and grounded grownup, while Obama is only a character in his own memoir."

Read the whole thing. Unless you dislike Palin. In which case, what are you doing here?

Attacking modernity

Why the double bombing on Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad that killed scores of women students? Simple, says Alan Sullivan, the seablogger:

"If the women get ideas about liberty, they might change the Dark Age culture of honor, shame, and female bondage that blights the Islamic world."

The Jihadis only like women when they’re covered from head to toe, speak only to family and submit to daily beatings.

But even Israeli Arabs are not immune. A teenage girl in Ramle, near Tel Aviv, is dead in what police are calling an "honor killing" for not hewing to the dress code.

UPDATE  Mohammed at Iraq the Model has a memorial for the dead students:

"A policeman says: the cell phones didn’t stop ringing in their pockets and purses but there was no one to answer…they were gone. The ringing will keep me awake tonight, angels of Iraq."

Say a prayer

Give a thought and a prayer for Alan Sullivan, the seablogger at Fresh Bilge, who is struggling to win a second remission from cancer. Meanwhile, stop by and read his eclectic thoughts between bouts of applying fresh varnish to his oceangoing home.