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In Memory of Dewey
Sunday, December 7, 2008
DEWEY began blogging at The Hidden Side of a Leaf in April 2007. While her main topic was books - book reviews, book discussions, reading challenges, book giveaways - her focus was always on building community, as she said herself:
My main focus in blogging is community. I want to share my love for books with other bloggers, hear what they think of what they’re reading, and have lots of bookish fun. My non-review blog activities...are all meant to build community.
In just over a year and a half as a book blogger, Dewey quickly became a leader in the community she sought to foster. Her book reviews were well-thought-out, insightful, and thorough; her style of reviewing and the books she wrote about influenced the reading and blogging choices of many other book bloggers - and while she was a prolific reviewer, her reading outpaced her reviewing, and she often remarked about being behind on her reviews. In addition to her own reading and reviewing, Dewey organized and managed several reading challenges, and founded three events which spread across the book-blogging community: the semi-annual 24-Hour Read-a-Thon, the monthly Bookworms Carnivals, and Weekly Geeks.
In April 2008, Dewey proposed a new sort of "challenge" at her blog; not a reading challenge, but a blogging challenge, to be called "Weekly Geeks" - her initial post to gauge interest in the idea prompted 150 people to sign up! The challenge would involve a weekly assignment - a question, a task, a theme - to be completed and posted on the Geeks' individual blogs and linked at the main assignment post. Not every Geek participated every week, some assignments were more popular than others, and new Geeks joined in as the word spread. Visiting other Geeks' posts for that week was part of the assignment as well, which is where Dewey's community-building focus kicked in.
The book-blogging community was stunned and saddened by the news that Dewey passed away on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 - but it never doubted that Dewey's contributions to it would live on, and there was a drive to continue the events she founded. It will take committees of bloggers and several blogs to keep them going, though. Welcome to the new home of Weekly Geeks, part of Dewey's legacy to the community she was so important to.
Written by Florinda
The following table contains links to the many posts that have been written in memory of Dewey:
Blog Name | Tribute Post | Weekly Geek Post |
| 1 More Chapter | Dewey You'll Be Missed | -- |
| 1330V | Dewey | Thinking Of Dewey |
| 3 Rs Reading, ‘Riting Randomness | Book Bloggers Say Goodbye | Blogging For Dewey |
| A Garden Carried In The Pocket | Requiem | -- |
| A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore | Dewey | -- |
| A Guy’s Moleskine Notebook | Goodbye Dewey | -- |
| A Reader’s Respite | Rest In Peace Dewey | -- |
| A Striped Armchair | Rest In Peace Dewey | -- |
| APOOO Books | RIP Dewey | -- |
| Armenian Odar | Dewey, Thank You For Everything | -- |
| At Home With Books | In Honor Of Dewey | -- |
| B&B ex libris | Dewey | -- |
| Back To Books | A Sad Loss To The World | -- |
| Bart’s Bookshelf | :( | -- |
| Beastmomma | Losing A Blogging Pal | -- |
| Becky’s Book Reviews | Sad News Indeed | In Her Own Words |
| Belle Of The Books | Dewey Will Be Missed | -- |
| Bibliolatry | A Great Loss | -- |
| BlogHer | Remembering Dewey | -- |
| Bloody Hell It’s A Book Barrage | Farewell, Beautiful Dewey | -- |
| Bluestocking Guide | Loss In Our Community | -- |
| Bluestocking Society | Goodbye To Dewey | -- |
| Bold. Blue. Adventure | We’ll Miss You Dewey | -- |
| Book-A-Rama | Unbelievably Sad News | For Dewey |
| Book Addiction | -- | Remembering Dewey |
| Book And Cranny | Shock and Sadness | -- |
| The Book Mine Set | Rest In Peace Dewey | -- |
| Book Dads | The Butterfly Award | -- |
| Book Nut | -- | Geeky Tribute |
| Book Zombie | Remembering Dewey | This One's For You |
| Bookfoolery And Babble | This One's For Dewey | -- |
| Bookgirls Nightstand | For Dewey | -- |
| Bookish Ruth | Farewell Dewey | -- |
| Booklorn | Sad Day | -- |
| Bookopolis | Bookworms Carnival | -- |
| Bookroom Reviews | God Bless You Dew | -- |
| Books And Border Collies | In Memoriam | -- |
| Books And Movies | A Huge Loss | -- |
| Books And Other Thoughts | Remembering Dewey | -- |
| Books I Done Read | Sad News | -- |
| Books Of Mee | Bye Dewey | -- |
| Books On The Brain | A Sad Goodbye | -- |
| Bookstack | Loss Of A Builder | -- |
| Bookworm | In Memory | Tribute Post |
| brideofthebookgod | -- | Dewey |
| Care’s Online Book Club | -- | Weekly Geeks |
| Caribousmom | Remembering Dewey -- A Loss | In Memory Of Dewey |
| Casual Dread | -- | Dewey |
| ChainReading | -- | Remembering Dewey |
| Deus ex machina complex | Oh Fuck | In The Land Of Denial |
| Everyday Reads | Prayerful | Weekly Geeks |
| Fizzy Thoughts | In Memory Of Dewey | For Dewey |
| Fyrefly Books | In Memoriam | -- |
| Galley Cat | Book Blogger Dewey | -- |
| Giving Reading A Chance | Dewey, You Will Be Missed | -- |
| Hey Lady! Whatcha Reading? | We Love You Dewey | -- |
| In Search Of Giants | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| In Spring It Is The Dawn | Farewell Dewey | -- |
| Incurable Logophilia | Bookshelf Peeping | -- |
| It’s All About Books | Dewey We’ll Miss You | Dewey Tribute |
| Just Add Books | Huge Loss | Making It Count |
| The Kea | <3 -- For Dewey | -- |
| Kids Book Buzz | Farewell To Dewey | -- |
| Kittling Books | Dewey's Community | -- |
| Kristina’s Favorites | For Dewey | -- |
| Leafing Through Life | Missing You | -- |
| Life Happens While Books Wait | Dewey | -- |
| Literary Escapism | Sadness In The Book Blogosphere | -- |
| Literate Housewife | In Remembrance | -- |
| Lit*chick | Two Things | -- |
| Madeleine’s Book Blog | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| Maggie Reads | My Eyes Are Dewey | -- |
| Maw Books Blog | In Which We Say Goodbye | -- |
| Melody’s Reading Corner | Dewey ... You’ll Be Missed | Honouring Dewey |
| Musings | Remembering Dewey | -- |
| Musings Of A Bookish Kitty | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| My Friend Amy | Farewell Dewey | For Dewey |
| My Own Little Reading Room | My Prayers For Dewey | Remembering Dewey |
| My Years Of Reading Seriously | Life... | -- |
| Naked Without Books | Dewey -- Fortress Is Their Library | -- |
| Nothing Of Importance | This Is Real Life | Tribute To Dewey |
| Out Of The Blue | Dewey | Remembering Dewey |
| Page After Page | Life Is So Fleeting | Dewey Edition |
| Pages Turned | Remembering Dewey | -- |
| Passion For The Page | -- | RIP Dewey |
| The Printed Page | Thoughts And Prayers | -- |
| Random Wonder | In Remembrance | -- |
| Reading Adventures | Sad News Indeed | -- |
| Reading Derby | Dewey You Are Missed | -- |
| Reading In Appalachia | For Dewey | -- |
| Reading Is My SuperPower | Oh Dewey | -- |
| Reading, Writing and Retirement | Candle For Dewey | For Dewey |
| Ready When You Are C.B. | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| Rebecca Reads | A Farewell | -- |
| Savvy Verse & Wit | My Dearest Dewey | Dewey Tribute |
| She Reads Books | In Memoria | -- |
| Shelf Life | Sad News | -- |
| Should Be Reading | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| Sleepy Reader | For Dewey | -- |
| So Many Books, So Little Time | Hole In Our World | -- |
| So Many Precious Books | Today Is A Sad Day | In Memory Of Dewey |
| Some Reads | So Sad | -- |
| Sophisticated Dorkiness | Sad News | Remembering Dewey |
| Sprite Writes | Dewey | -- |
| Stephanies Confessions | A Terrible Loss... | -- |
| Stephanie’s Written Word | The Hidden Side Of A Leaf | -- |
| Stuff As Dreams Are Made On | Oh No... | Weekly Geeks |
| Subliminal Intervention | -- | Dewey |
| Tales From The Reading Room | Saying Goodbye | -- |
| Tammy’s Book Nook | For Dewey, With Love | -- |
| Things Mean A Lot | Dewey | For Dewey |
| Thoughts Of Joy | Extremely Sad News | -- |
| Tiny Little Reading Room | Rest In Peace Dewey | -- |
| Tripping Toward Lucidity | Loss | -- |
| Trish’s Reading Nook | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| True Confessions Of A Book Lover | Dewey | -- |
| Valentina’s Room | -- | For Dewey |
| West Of Mars | Public Service Announcement | -- |
| Word Lily | For Dewey | Remembering Dewey |
| Worducopia | Goodbye -- In Memory Of Dewey | Dear Dewey |
| The Written World | In Memory Of Dewey | -- |
| You Can Never Have Too Many Books | Dewey | -- |
Lisa Roe, an online publicist wrote a three part guest post in memory of Dewey. The posts can be found on these blogs:
1. Part 1 Dewey, Our Blog Friend Remembered @ AndiLit.com
2. Part 2 Lisa Roe’s Memorial Post For Dewey @ BookingMama
3. Part 2 Lisa Roe Remembers Dewey @ Reading Is My SuperPower
On BookBlogs.ning by Valerie Russo
“I was deeply saddened by the news of Dewey's passing. I actually wept at my desk. Dewey last emailed me the week of Thanksgiving and it was very difficult to learn that she is no longer with us I and the rest of the online marketing team here at Hachette Book Group; Kelly Leonard, Miriam Parker, and Anna Balasi, lament the void left in our community. She was truly special and we will miss her. We have made a donation to firstbook.org in her honour and have sent a letter to her husband to inform him of the donation in her memory, which will honor her passion for books by bringing books to disadvantaged children in her name, and to send our condolences and thoughts. Please let me know what the outcome of her blog will be - she had collaborated on a holiday giveaway with me that is already listed at her site and would've ended on 01/01/09. I would still like to send her loyal winning readers their prizes on her behalf. I think she would’ve loved to see the amazing outpouring of love and remembrance from her online friends. I'm really touched by the messages, tweets, blog posts and more I am seeing in her memory. It's truly lovely and well-deserved.”
3 comments:
you guys have been busy; thanks for listing my tributes.
I am a real-life friend of Dewey, and while I know how profoundly she touched my life and the life of our friends, I honestly had no idea her touch reached so far into the book blogging community. It makes her passing that much more tragic in one sense, and yet I feel even more strongly that her life was not in vain.
Reading all these tributes to her is absolutely overwhelming, and yet I feel as if I may be finding a semblance of peace about her death for the first time.
Thank you all for knowing her and appreciating her and respecting her.
Elaina, thanks for stopping by and leaving your comment...those of us who knew Dewey only through the blogs can only imagine the loss her friends in the "real" world are feeling. Dewey was a special soul who touched a lot of lives and I am glad to see that bringing you comfort in your grief.
http://www.caribousmom.com
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