Monday, October 26, 2015

In Memoriam: to Honor Dot Calm with Love, Let's Keep Fighting for the 99%!


Greetings, faithful Dot Calm readers -

I have the sad duty to inform you that the world lost its brightest star and most stalwart proponent of truth and justice at 3:45 a.m. on 22 October 2015: Dot Calm passed away due to complications from multiple sclerosis. She had broken her leg in a fall in April/May; the injury led to a contracture that kept her bed-ridden in a rehabilitation facility until she simply ran out of energy to fight the good fight any longer. As in all things, Dot Calm did her stellar best, but she always knew when to fold 'em.

Dot Calm was an amazing woman. She was incredibly intelligent and funny, sporting an irreverent sense of humor that caught the unsuspecting off guard. She was beautiful--shining with her own star-quality flair right up to the end, never looking her age even at 74. She was a consummate artist and appreciated beauty in all forms. From rearing two daughters to earn their own livings when professional women were castigated by society, to building a successful small business that funded her daughters' college educations, to becoming an activist later in life, which included marching on Washington in a wheelchair to stop war of choice and starting a blog, Dot Calm was ahead of her time. She had a heart for all the world, wanting only to drop soothing balm on those suffering and in pain. Right up to the end, she fought for the welfare of those around her, asking others to step in and help when she herself could not. She was generous almost to a fault with her money, time, and love. She chose her time and passed away with dignity. She is already sorely missed by her friends and family, including her husband of over 53 years--over whom her two daughters are "fighting" to care for and comfort. Even in his grief, he is holding up wonderfully well--as always, the rock of the family.

Those of us closest to Dot feel like we lost our better halves that sad Thursday morning--we lost our best friend and our best adviser. Words cannot express our grief. We all know the saying "nobody's perfect," but Dot Calm was perfect to us. As her faithful shadow, I will carry on the blog in Dot Calm's name and in her style the best I can. And I ask you please to stay tuned as we move forward.

With that, I offer two messages of which I am sure Dot Calm would approve:

1. If you love Dot Calm as we do and have benefited from her blog, please donate as generously as you can to the Myelin Repair Foundation:

http://www.myelinrepair.org/

They are in financial hardship at the moment--let's work to save them in Dot Calm's name!
 
2. VOTE-VOTE-VOTE-VOTE!!!

Democrats stayed home in droves during the last mid-term elections, proving that we get the government we elect. Please let's try for something better--a government that serves Us the People rather than Us the People serving the government.

Don't give someone who already disapproves of you authority over what happens to you and your body! And don't give science-deniers the authority to drive Planet Earth, our one and only home, into oblivion.

Thank you for your support, past and future!

- Dot Calm's shadow