
Car painting by Bucky
Before I met Bonnie I had noticed an unusual vehicle parked in the Communication Arts parking lot. It spoke loudly about the free spirit who drove it. Later, when I met the person behind the wheel I understood it’s significance. This was Bonnie personified. I told her it reminded me of Ken Kesey’s Furthur and we were off and running. Together we worked on numerous projects, many of them new media driven including this blog Lansingonlinenews.com. Bonnie can be seen above getting a start on a replacement vehicle. One night after our radio show Bonnie and I were talking when a young girl in a car seat driving with her mom went by and seeing Bonnie’s car just went crazy with excitement. I’ll never forget the smile.
Each week Bonnie and I would talk hours about technology, the state of the news media, social justice issues and generally looked to cause hell about something. The hundreds upon hundreds of people we crossed paths with through the blog or on the radio show confirmed our suspicions that those on the “outside” should be running the state and country.
The day before I got the news that Bonnie had died we were talking about how we both would like to focus our efforts on young people who were making a difference or who needed some help that alternative media could provide. We’d had some successes in those areas and thought this should be the direction we should move. We both took great pleasure in watching young people and underdogs we knew thrive in their endeavors. We shared a love of Lansing and our mantra to ourselves and others was “if you want to do something in Lansing all you have to do is raise your hand.”
Drew Howard and I will be talking soon about the future of Lansingonlinenews.com and how it can move forward without its guiding light. We’ll keep you informed and I want to personally thank everyone for the outpouring of genuine emotion about the loss of Bonnie. I miss her and I know you do too.
A friend of mine has written a poem about a sudden loss; he ends the poem with these words “death steals everything but our stories.”
I’m sure at Saturday’s memorial to be held at the People’s Church in East Lansing at 11 a.m. “Bonnie Stories” will continue to roll out and we will have those to comfort us. My best to Tina and Drew; the best sister and the best husband a person could have.
Read Bonnie’s obituary here.