Maddie Blaustein, 1960-2008; Second Life's Kendra Bancroft Passes

The sad news was making the rounds tonight in the SLogosphere that Kendra Bancroft's real-life typist, Maddie Blaustein, had died in her sleep of a brief illness at the age of 48. There was shock and mourning at sluniverse.com, where she was particularly beloved by the old FIC gang.

I'm proud to say Kendra was my enemy -- and I just know she's beaming at me right now from up there in socialist heaven with Bertrand Russell and the gang : )  She would occasionally come on this blog and make a snappy repartee and I looked forward to reading her comments.

In SL, your enemies are as important -- maybe even more important -- as your friends. In fact, it's a shame that these social media thingies don't respect the status of "enemy" more than they do, because unlike "friend," which is so casual, misused, amorphous, and stupid, "enemy" is very defined, and provides the shadows and dark undertow to your life online that makes it all seem more 3-D and robust than perhaps it is -- and for that we should all be thankful to our enemies!

Kendra and I first tangled on the forums (the old ones, where you could fight normally, and the Lindens would intervene on behalf of the FIC). She instantly took a disliking to me as a "land baron" and began sniping at me whenever possible -- and I returned fire. Kendra is best known in SL as one of the founders of the socialism-in-one-sim experiment known as Neualtenberg -- where, along with her partner in crime, Ulrika Zugzwang, and of course the protean Gwyneth Llewelyn reigned supreme in SL for some years as the Queens of Socialism in a land where it was always winter -- but sometimes Christmas, too, as the gals seemed to have a heavy predisposition towards all things Germanic. (In fact, in her last visible pose on her avatar inworld, Kendra adapted what seems a pose of almost Bismarckian military splendour (she wasn't a fascist, so I won't go there) -- it's curious how the Germanic thing starts with socialism and goes...elsewhere.

Kendra and I once had a famous fight at lunchtime at SLCC I. Hiro Pendragon caught it on tape somewhere, but then he also fueled the misrepresentation of it. It wasn't at all any sort of vicious attack on either side -- it was a spirited, valiant struggle in which each felt the other had won. There was a sort of MMORPegian hyperrealism to it, because just before that, we'd been outside having a more or less friendly chat on the sidewalk where she was having a cigarette -- my first recollection of meeting Kendra in RL at SLCC in front of NY Law  School in 2005 was, whoah, does that gal ever have a whisky, chain-smoking voice! And I had no clue at that time that a) she was transgendered and b) the voice of Pokemon characters. Who knew!

Kendra was very spirited and creative in SL. In fact, her shop is rather more modest than her accomplishments would show. She built a very realistic and charming houseboat village with all the nautical-but-nice props that was available for a time as a rental -- and she also built the New England sim Cape Cod houses -- but for some reason, never putting them on sale (making them all the more valuable).

In Neualtenberg, to which she remained loyal to the end, and the sim Ischia where her shop was, life seems to have slowed down somewhat since the glorious days when Haney Linden gave the Queens the purchase-price-free sim (yeah, I know you had to pay tier on it, Kendra, I realize! Yes, I realize, Kendra, will you stop *arguing* now, you're dead! Yes! No, I realize you don't believe it up there in socialist heaven, Kendra...and I don't either! Ha!)

Neualtenberg was the longest running paid-for-by-a-rich-lady socialist experiment in SL -- and Kendra wasn't the rich lady, but worked as an artisan very long hours and staunchly fought for the left -- even after the inevitable split with the other socialists, which led to the ousting of Ulrika as State Terrorist Number 1 (she was going to delete the buildings!) and the creation of Neufriestadt, which I promptly christened "FriesWithThat". Kendra would have none of it -- all this pandering to wealthy burghers, weekend steampunking capitalists, and *shudder* that...Ashcroft. She kept the cause pure -- and I respect her for that. It's great to have a worthy and valiant enemy in SL that knows her own mind. What's so awful about most SL debates is that they aren't real fights. The interlocutor is usally some uneducated Internet-raised creep who is ignorant and easily swayed and doesn't understand that you get to have your own opinion. Kendra wasn't like that -- she was very real -- which is the ultimate compliment in our virtual world.

Comments

[Noah David Simon]

fascinating. so your enemies you respect.
and your allies you question.

we really need to fight

[Gareth Nelson]

Reading this makes me wish I knew poor Kendra so i'd have a valid reason to give prok a virtual slap to the face.

Prok - are even the dead not safe from your rants about everyone being socialist?

If I end up getting knocked over by a bus tomorrow, someone print off the post prok makes about it and store it for me so I can read it when I wake up from cryostasis please.

[Desmond Shang]

She was a wonderful, witty, amazing, inspiring friend. The world is deeply lessened without her.

I am honoured to have known her.

[Prokofy]

Oh, Kendra was definitely a socialist, it's not that I'm merely ranting about it, and nobody else had the decency to mention this about her in all their weeping.

Gareth would not merit an obituary from me because he's not a worthy interlocutor, and not an enemy because he's not interesting, he's just an annoyance.

Yes, Desmond, witty -- I wish she had survived with her Weekly News project, it was funny.

[Aliasi Stonebender]

Yeah, Prokofy is wholly accurate here - Kendra WAS a socialist, and proud of it, and I think she would be entirely proud that Prok mentioned it. (It's one of the little back-and-forths I've enjoyed. Prok would hurl it like an insult, and Kendra would be "yeah, I am, so?")

It's nice to see even one of her 'old enemies' remember Kendra. The world is poorer without her.

[Lucifer Baphomet]

thanks Prokofy

[Gareth Nelson]

Aliasi - let me apologise then, though Prok does have a habit of calling everyone who disagrees with her a socialist.

My condolences to all Kendra's friends.

[Lucifer Baphomet]

I have to disagree gareth...

Let me take Des as an example.

Prok has had disagreements with Des, and hasn't ever called him a socialist.

I can't recall her calling Flipper a socialist, though I may be mistaken.

I'm not sure if she's ever called me a socialist, but if she did, she'd be right :D

[Demian Caldera]

Thanks Prok, for remembering an "old enemy" in a respectful way. Yes, Kendra was very real....and "very real people" should never be enemies. ;)