Monday, July 29, 2013

Tweeting from the brink of death

No doubt you’ve all read about the violent mysongyny abroad on Twitter.

If you read my blog last week, you’ll have seen the use of Twitter to get some action from a company that was dragging its heels.

Twitter is used in all sorts of ways. As I write, there is a National Public Radio presenter, Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon), tweeting bulletins from his mother’s death bed in Chicago. When I saw his tweetstream it reminded me of me, writing at my father’s bedside when he lay dying. I wrote in The Guardian about this. And I also used the material in my novel, Zuzu’s Petals.

Here is the latest (as at Monday 11.15 GMT) from Scott Simon.

You have to start from the bottom and read upwards.

image

Things have moved on since I took this screenshot. If you’re interested in the developing story, you can look at his tweetstream for yourself.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do people tweet such private, personal stuff? Curiosity, not criticism...

Sue Hepworth said...

Well, he is a journalist, so a kind of writer. And writers do write about this kind of thing. I did. When my father was dying I kept a bereavement journal, and if my siblings and mother hadn't minded, I would have published it. I saw it as a personal account from a foreign land - "the land of having a parent die." It was a huge HUGE experience that I was wrestling with, and writing about it helped me. Then I thought it might help other people.
Scott Simon's tweeting about his mother's death is only another kind of writing - an immediate one. He writes and is published at the same time. The other thing I'd like to say is I think it's important for people today to understand death and bereavement and grief, and not in the sentimental way of leaving flowers for someone you don't know, while avoiding talking to someone you DO know who has recently bereaved, because you don't know what to say and are embarrassed. But I hope he doesn't regret it later.

Anonymous said...

It's the immediacy of it that baffles me ... I understand writing after the event, I did it myself, but something so profound really deserves your full attention doesn't it?

CA

Sue Hepworth said...

Yes, it does demand your full attention. But then, there are quiet times when nothing is happening and your parent is asleep and yet your mind is alert and whirling.
I wrote at the same time it was happening, but yes - I agree - tweeting is a step further.
I wouldn't judge him - not at all. Writers are detached. Do you know that saying that a writer has a chip of ice in their heart?
I just hope he doesn't regret it later. For his sake.

Anonymous said...

Maybe the distraction of tweeting helps...I've seen brides tweeting as they walk down the aisle (!!!) and labouring mothers facebooking!!! Modern life, eh?

Re the chip of ice, I wrote about my son's death and one reviewer said it was short of emotion. A year after the event I was still too raw to face it but needed to say something and accept the comment but judged that too much misery from me might have been a step too far. You can't please everyone I guess...

CA

Sue Hepworth said...

In cases like that, I think the most important thing is to be truthful and not to consider the readers' reactions. Just say it as you feel it. That reviewer sounds unsophisticated to me.

Sue Hepworth said...

Hi Chris, I've been thinking about Scott Simon's recent tweeting and there is something about it that makes me feel queasy. I think I agree with you that this is something that demands one's full attention, and sharing it with the world AT THE SAME TIME somehow doesn't seem appropriate. But that is me. He obviously feels differently. I hope he still feels it was OK a year down the line.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, hope it didn't keep you awake? I think you made the point when you said he is a journalist - that's immediate rather than reflective writing isn't it?

Sue Hepworth said...

I've realised what it is that troubles me! Tweets are seen by everyone - the interested and the uninterested. He has been casting his precious moments before everyone indiscriminately, and it pains me to think that some readers will trash them, or take them lightly. If someone writes a book or an article about such precious awesome moments then someone reading it has CHOSEN to read it, so they are more likely to take it seriously and reverentially than someone for whom Scott Simon is just another name in their twitter feed. I can stop worrying about it now.
(No, Chris, it didn't keep me awake. I had a headache.)

Anonymous said...

The Independent quotes: “Mr Simon can’t leave his mother’s side and he doesn’t have access to his friends. This is an outlet for him. A way of releasing the misery he is going through,” said Dr Judy Kane, a trustee of Healthtalkonline.org"

Why not a notebook? Or something less public? Or am I old-fashioned at best, cynical at worst?

(sorry, last word comment, promise!)