Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird

by

by hilzoy

First, I'm going to Rwanda this weekend, on vacation. I'm looking forward to it immensely, especially since I discovered that the Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird, which topped my list of Best Bird Names Ever nearly five years ago, lives there. (And did you know that the name 'Watusi' comes from the Tutsi? I didn't.) If anyone has any great suggestions for things I might not think to do, etc., please let me know.

Second, I'm taking this opportunity to retire from blogging. I'll be here through Friday, but after that, I won't. (I'll still hang out in comments, though, after I get back.) I'm not sure it would be possible for me to stop if I weren't going off to central Africa without my computer, but since I am, I will.

The main reason I started blogging, besides the fact that I thought it would be fun, was that starting sometime in 2002, I thought that my country had gone insane. It wasn't just the insane policies, although that was part of it. It was the sheer level of invective: the way that people who held what seemed to me to be perfectly reasonable views, e.g. that invading Iraq might not be such a smart move, were routinely being described as al Qaeda sympathizers who hated America and all it stood for and wanted us all to die. 

I thought: we've gone mad. And I have to do something — not because I thought that I personally could have any appreciable effect on this, but because it felt like what Katherine called an all hands on deck moment. I had heard about times like this in the past — the McCarthy era, for instance — though I had never expected to live through one. Nonetheless, I was. And I had to try to do something, however insignificant.

But what? I had no idea. And I kept on having no idea for a while. I worked my heart out for Wes Clark, since I thought that he would be our strongest candidate in 2004. I talked to random people. It obviously wasn't enough, but it was all I could think of. 

Then, in 2004, I was asked to join Obsidian Wings. It was an honor: at the time, ObWi was, for my money, the best blog that really tried to create a dialogue between liberals and conservatives. And that was what I really wanted to do: to listen to people I disagreed with, to engage with them, and to try to show that it was possible to care deeply about politics without hating your opponents. Being civil doesn't mean you're lukewarm, and being committed to your principles doesn't mean you have to be hateful. Being asked to write for the Washington Monthly was a further honor, and one that I never expected.

That said, it seems to me that the madness is over. There are lots of people I disagree with, and lots of things I really care about, and even some people who seem to me to have misplaced their sanity, but the country as a whole does not seem to me to be crazy any more. Also, it has been nearly five years since I started. And so it seems to me that it's time for me to turn back into a pumpkin and twelve white mice.

It has been wonderful, though. I've had the best co-bloggers I can imagine, both at ObWi and at the Monthly, and I've learned an enormous amount from all the commenters. This is one of the things I love most about blogging: I put something up, and suddenly all these wonderful, smart, and articulate people whom I've never met pop up and start saying interesting things about it. It's a gift for which I will always be grateful. 

Thanks to everyone. (And, as I said, I will be here through Friday.)

326 thoughts on “Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird”

  2. Hilzoy, it’s been swell. Yours has been an honest and eloquent voice. We’ll miss you, but it’s your choice to stay or go. We will look for you in comments and perhaps as a guest blogger somewhere, somehow, over the rainbow… Enjoy the trip to Rwanda.

  5. Waaaaaaaaaaaah!
    Noooo, you can’t goooooo!
    Seriously: to say you will be missed has got to be the Understatement of the Year. There were many, many times over the past few years of madness that your measured, sane, and astonishingly compassionate take on it all helped me get my own mind around that particular topic.
    And I’m afraid I have to disagree with some of your penultimate post: the craziness hasn’t gone away. It’s only out of power – for now, and even so still has the power to frame issues. Things aren’t quite as bad as they were, but there’s no guarantee they’ll actually get *better* anytime soon.
    But it would be that way even if you were posting, and I can’t blame you for wanting to remove one source of ceaseless contention from your life. I look forward to your last few communiques, and wish you the very very best. You’re a wonderful person, a really wonderful teacher, and one hell of a political commentor.
    bye
    *sniffle*

  7. What Jeremy said.
    Cripes, this is like Gandalf and Shadowfax sailing off into the mist. May you see a curtain of grey rain turned all to silver glass and rolled back to reveal white shores and a fair green country under a swift sunrise!

  8. Say it ain’t so, ‘zo’!
    I have come to rely on you as a voice of intelligence, calmness, and clarity. I will miss you greatly.

  9. I’ve never commented before, but Hilzoy, I just want to add my voice to the chorus. Your posts were some of the most intelligent, thoughtful, and SANE things I’ve ever read online. I’ll really miss reading you. Thank you for blogging as long as you did.

  10. God, I’m going to miss you posting.
    But it seemed to me that all the work you did here must have taken, at least at certain times, a tremendous amount of energy and thought and guts. As someone who usually can’t find the time or energy even to think of a comment, I can imagine how freeing it might be to put that down.
    cheers, and have a great trip. Will you see the gorillas? I guess that’s one of the best places to see them.

  11. “Second, I’m taking this opportunity to retire from blogging.”
    There is no joy in Mudville.
    “That said, it seems to me that the madness is over. “
    Would that that were so.
    Or, from your mouth to God’s ear.
    Rwanda is, apparently, and mirabile dictu, among the most functional of African states these days. People who, a few short years ago, were conversing via machete live side by side in peace.
    Not that I have any place to do so, but I would ask one, and only one, favor of you.
    When you return, I’d be interested in your impressions of Rwanda.
    Vaya con dios, hilzoy. Enjoy the free time!
    And, seriously, there is no joy in Mudville.

  14. What everyone else said — you’ll be missed.
    I understand your feeling that the country is no longer insane. We don’t have a belligerent goof in the White House, backed by an eminence gris, nor do we such an administration being cheered on by 50% of the population.
    But I think the all-hands-on-deck is still active. 🙁

  15. this would be seriously some of the worst news i’ve heard in months, were it not for the fact that i don’t believe it.
    some have blogging thrust upon them, but you were born to blog. i think you need a sabbatical, a hiatus, some time away. god knows you deserve it.
    but after that, i feel a sliver of hope, maybe even a cheese-wedge of hope, that you’ll be back at it.
    not with the “all hands on deck” urgency that first brought you in. for the five years i have been reading you, you have been the most consistently thoughtful, articulate and brilliant voice on the web. and prolific. post after post, carefully researched, clearly worded, beautifully shaped, fully realized. no one can maintain that kind of pace forever.
    you and josh marshall talked me down from some ledges, and talked me out of some troughs. 2003, 2004, 2005, the horrible, lost years of our country’s disgrace and degradation. yeah, the country is a bit saner now, but i wouldn’t exaggerate its sanity.
    so maybe after a break, you’ll pop up now and then to offer your views. that’s what i’m telling myself, anyhow.
    cause nobody can replace you, hil.
    best of luck.

  16. This is truly sad. I will miss your insightful analysis. It has been a guilty pleasure to get such thoughfulness without having to pay for it. It seemed even unfair, to be honest. I expected to be entertained and provoked by Hilzoy. Now I’ll just have to read your books (good thing you were outed, from that perspective!)
    I have often been amazed how you are able to cut to the heart of an issue, often on angles I had not thought about, as well as how much sheer research you do on your own in a short amount of time. It is the mark of a real intellect. I generally have felt inadequate, by comparison.
    Perhaps you can do an regular op-ed somewhere. Because your perspective should be published and widely read. And that way I would not feel like I lost a friend.

  17. “Second, I’m taking this opportunity to retire from blogging.”
    This is one of the worst things I’ve ever read on a blog, and there is no blogger I’ve ever read who could write such a thing that could make me feel worse.
    Please, please, please, please just consider taking a long vacation, and then only blogging when the whim occurs.
    There is no obligation involved in unpaid blogging. There are no minimum number of posts called for. There is simply no reason to say “never,” or to ever say one has to quit entirely, short of circumstances such as physical or mental infirmity, family emergencies, etc.
    Please just consider cutting back completely and utterly, but if and when the urge ever strikes, writing a post again. Maybe you wait a year. Or two. Or three. Or do a post only every five months. Whatever.
    But there’s no need to say “quit,” rather than “I’m ceasing to act as if I have any obligation to blog with the slightest frequency of any kind.”
    Why not?
    There was never any such obligation in the first place, no matter that some people seem to enjoy claiming otherwise (or enjoy claiming that other people are obligated to post on topics important to them; without respect, such people should go f*ck themselves.)
    You are, bar none, with no competition, the best blogger I have ever read.
    Please never say never.
    And, selfishly, I don’t want to lose contact, however little we may have, and however insignificant it may be to you, with you. I know this is purely selfish, but I have to mention it as well.
    Never say never again.
    And if I’ve contributed to this by nagging about how ObWi should be moved off Typepad — or in any other way: I’m so so sorry.

  18. Adding to the chorus of well-wishes on your retirement (and selfish hopes that you’ll return — I’ve watched enough blogging and boxing to keep the faith on the lack of permanency in “retirements”). If this is the end, it’s been a great run.

  19. Amen to what everyone else is saying.
    Hilzoy, I think you’re the best voice in the blogosphere. I suppose you have to do what’s right for you…. but I must admit I really hope you change your mind. I think we still need you — and still need you badly.
    But either way, thanks for the sanity for the past few years. It’s been a lifesaver, for many of us.

  20. Oh it can’t be so!
    First of all, I agree with russell: The madness is far from over.
    I have linked to and quoted your posts innumerable times in the past few years since I’ve been blogging – in fact, just this morning I quoted most of your post about the Bush investigations with a comment about how yours is one of the sane voices in the blogosphere. Oh, I shall miss your posts very, very much. Maybe you’ll reconsider.
    Meanwhile, have a wonderful vacation and bring back pictures of the bare-faced go-away bird!

  21. Godspeed, and if you ever get over to Japan, please let me know. I’m afraid for the near future and for a variety of reasons, the idea of me getting over to the East Coast is impossible, so consider this your all hands on deck invitation to the land of Wa.

  22. Wow. I rarely delurk, but this just sucks. There is no one on the web that I look more forward to hearing from than you. And I have never agreed more often with anyone else I have ever read.
    I am really gonna miss my favorite all time blogger.

  23. Aw, damn.
    The clearest voice of moral reasoning on the internets is leeeeeaving us!
    I hope you’ll keep in mind that the Republicans are only an ill-placed scandal or economic collapse from taking power again, and come back if we need you.
    *sniff*
    Thanks for giving us so much of your time and mind for free. Godspeed.

  25. Hilzoy, thank you for everything you’ve taught us and shown us. You were the first blogger I started reading and are still the primary one, and I sing your praises (almost literally) whenever people ask for blog recommendations. I can’t tell you the number of conversations I’ve had that have started with “Did you see what hilzoy said yesterday…?” I use your writing as an example to myself of how important thorough, careful research is, and of how to do such research well. We’ll all miss you.

  27. Another first time commenter here: we will miss you 🙁 You brought a level of reason and sanity to our debates that is unmatched by any other blogger, even on our usually sane left. I think the only other blogger I would miss this much is Sully or Yglesias. Take care and God bless.

  28. I don’t think I can say anything that hasn’t already been said. On the one hand, it is sad to see such a smart and fundamentally decent person cease her contributions to the online political dialogue. On the other hand, I simply don’t know how you managed to write such thoughtful, well-researched posts and hold down a day job. Have a good trip, and thanks for bringing your passion and your compassion to this blog.

  29. I never delurk, but this obliges me to, I suppose. I was thinking, a few months ago, about the American blogs I read, and trying to decide who I thought was the best blogger of all of them. And it wasn’t a terribly hard decision to pick you, hilzoy. Wonderfully written, cogently argued, brilliant posts, one after the next, for monthson end without a break, will make an argument like that easy to resolve. So I will miss your writing, and like everyone here I hope selfishly that you’ll reconsider.
    But if you don’t, and this is the end of your blogging career, thank you. Thank you for some of the best political writing I’ve had the pleasure to enjoy over the past few years, and all the best. It’s been wonderful to read.

  31. I’m delurking to say that I have really appreciated and enjoyed your posts; they’ve provided me with a lot of food for thought and I have really liked that. So, thank you. You will be missed.
    Also, enjoy Rwanda!

  32. You’ll be greatly missed.
    I really admire your ability to be so thorough and reasoned despite the infuriating nature of events in the past five years.
    There are plenty of angry leftists, and god knows we have a right to be. But whenever I needed to hear someone who shares our sympathies yet manages to keep a civil and open minded dialog, I would come here. Not to mention your amazing research skills, be it at deciphering memos or investigating legislative records, one could always trust that the information here was accurate and complete.
    Thank you for all your hard work. Have fun in your well deserved vacation.

  34. Hilzoy,
    That we wait until someone is ready to move on to tell them how much we appreciate them is, alas, human nature. Nevertheless, better late than never.
    You have literally nursed me into blogging (mostly lurking). Without Obsidian Wings I’m not sure I would have ever gotten involved.
    Two aspects of your presence stand out with me. First, unlike almost any other political commentators, you always UNDERstate your position. Your humbleness is, I think, contagious and very much needed in our modern world. Second, the respect you show for others is also contagious.
    I will try to emulate both of these traits, if and when I choose to engage in political debate. Thank you for this.

  35. You know, if you want to stop blogging, that’s fine. Stop.
    But the idea that “the madness is over” is the silliest thing I’ve ever seen you say, and it casts practically everything else I’ve ever read from you in a new and unwelcome light. I wish I’d never read this post.

  37. What?! But, but, you can’t quit Obsidian Wings. You ARE Obsidian Wings. What is this insanity?! WE MISS YOU ALREADY PLEASE COME BACK.
    Love,
    The occasional commenter formerly known as George Tenet Fangirl

  38. Delurking to say that I read everything you post (and have for several years) — you are the only political blogger of whom that is true. Heck, I read your writing more reliably than I read my friends’ blogs. You’re the best blogger out there, period. I will miss you tremendously if you leave permanently. I hope you reconsider after a break.

  39. Oh no! : (
    Stage 1: Denial
    No, no, this can’t be right. She means temporarily. Or maybe it’s another poster, and they just got the names mixed up . . .”
    Stage 2: Anger
    How can she do this to us!? It’s not fair! And just when we need this kind of deep-rooted and deeply human generosity of spirit and intellect more than ever . . .
    Stage 3: Bargaining:
    Just ’til 2010, ok? Please? I’ll . . . I’ll comment more/less/better/with lolcats!
    Stage 4: Depression:
    Oh, what’s the point? Blogging’s just replicating the same old hierarchies and inanities anyway, and as for politics – might as well just spend my time taking facebook quizes about what 80s boy band I am . . .
    Stage 5: Acceptance.
    {Pause, stretching out uncomfortably long. Clears throat, taps microphone}
    Stage 5: Acceptance.
    {Faint sounds of people shifting around in seats, sotto voice questioning, feedback whine}
    ( I’m working on it.)
    (And yes, thank you, thank you, and all the very best. We’ve been lucky to have you here, and for as long as we did. L’chaim, salud, etc.!)

  41. Hilzoy, not that I think you will, but don’t regret a thing. Your example by itself leveled the heads of many of the great bloggers in the generation that followed you*.
    Not that I did a terribly good job following said example. Nonetheless I’m pretty sure there was an uptick in temperate people who made an effort to think first then type after you started being widely read.
    Enjoy your next life. And if you get a chance, look out for these.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiIh3JJsvKc
    (*) What is a generation in blog years anyway? Six weeks?

  43. well, patrick, i think the phrase “the madness” has to be read as having a fairly specific and determinate antecedent.
    the madness of the patriot act. the madness of mission accomplished. the madness of swift-boating.
    it’s not that there is no madness left, god only knows. but there was a particular kind and degree of madness rampant in the country back in those days.
    some of the things that crawled out from under america’s rocks have crawled back under again. many are still howling and ravening, but fewer of them are doing it from inside the white house now.
    in this life, that counts as progress.

  44. Your careful and compassionate posts are one of my go-to points for exploring new topics in policy, politics, and ethics. I respect your judgment and love your writing.
    I’m finishing up my PhD in philosophy. (With characteristically poor timing, I’ll be on the market this fall.) I’m not 100% sure I’d be finishing my dissertation if it weren’t for your blogging. The example you set– a professional philosopher who can write for a general audience, drawing on the tools of philosophy without being a jackass– has several times brought me back from the brink after bad experiences of the discipline at conferences.
    I hope you’ll reconsider and at least continue blogging at a scaled-back pace.

  45. Oh, Hilzoy, what a shame! You were this blog. Time after time, you commented day after day, held it up, and gave it its personality. It will lose over half its posts and more of its feel without you.
    And, by the way, I loved your posts for their thoughtfulness, their clear, well-analyzed style, and their unrelenting reasonableness. You are the only lefty blogger have heard righty commentators acknowledge made sense.

  46. 1. *something inarticulate and loud*
    2. You see all the immoderate things that people are saying about how you’ve managed to be here? They beat me to those things. Everyone is sincere.
    3. You belong to yourself. Your path and what you work on are yours to choose.
    4. But I still think we need you. And need you hereabouts.
    You have been awesome, and have soberly tested how careful to get things right a blogger can manage to be.

  47. That does it. I’m retiring from blog reading. The political blogosphere is getting more and more predictable and shallow every day even without this.
    Hilzoy, thank you for your gift of all these years of thoughtful posts. You have moved my synapses.
    I raise of glass of fine scotch to you!

  48. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. PLEASE RECONSIDER. I too felt the country a little saner since 2008 but it was because of discovering people like *YOU* online. If you disappear completely it’s like losing my voice. You’ve mentioned previously how you *miss Tanta* well that’s how I’ll feel if you retire. You don’t have to blog everyday. Once a week would be fine. Heck i’ll even take a monthly post. PLEASE PLEASE RECONSIDER.

  50. Word for word, you were probably my favorite blogger, Hilzoy. I wish you the best!

  52. Thank you Hilzoy for the long period of intense engagement you gave us all. I’ll look forward to seeing you pop in and out, just as you please.

  53. Well that stinks on ice.
    I have to agree with everyone who said you’re the best blogger on the intertubes. Unmistakable voice, playful humor, elegant rationality, earnest empathy, and an amazing way at getting at the the core of an issue.
    You’ll be missed – that’s for certain. And plus now there’s no-one left for the straight, smart guys to have a blog-crush on ;).
    What are you thinking about working on next?

  54. Hilzoy, how am I going to understand the world now? Truly, thank you for helping me through the past several years. You’ll be terribly missed.

  55. Please excuse the pronoun, but some Mahler is needed here:
    Er stieg vom Pferd und reichte ihm den Trunk
    Des Abschieds dar. Er fragte ihn, wohin
    Er führe und auch warum es müßte sein.
    Er sprach, seine Stimme war umflort: Du, mein Freund,
    Mir war auf dieser Welt das Glück nicht hold!
    Wohin ich geh? Ich geh, ich wandre in die Berge.
    Ich suche Ruhe für mein einsam Herz.
    Ich wandle nach der Heimat, meiner Stätte.
    Ich werde niemals in die Ferne schweifen.
    Still ist mein Herz und harret seiner Stunde!
    Die liebe Erde allüberall
    Blüht auf im Lenz und grünt
    Aufs neu! Allüberall und ewig
    Blauen licht die Fernen!
    Ewig… ewig…
    We’ll miss you! Auf wiedersehen!

  56. What everyone else has said, hilzoy. You’ll be extraordinarily missed.
    (I’ll just optimistically reassure myself that Bérubé and billmon reappeared, so perhaps you will, too!)

  57. Reading you has consistently been both enlightening and a pleasure. You’ve been one of the best parts of the web and I’ll really miss you.

  58. Hilzoy,
    I wish you all the joy and happiniess in the world. You have been the blogger that I most anxiously await the next post from.
    I also just wanted to thank you for your vocal and heartfelt support of the transgender community. Your posts on the subject have consistently moved me and given me hope that maybe life can be better someday – they have meant the world to me and I thank you for them.
    If you ever decide to come back to blogging know that many people will be ready to join you in discourse again, and if that never happens know that you will be missed and we are grateful for the time you shared with us.
    All The Best,

  59. I know the future holds awesome things for you, so I’m sure this isn’t really the end, just an amazing beginning of a new chapter. I hear optimism in your voice. Best of luck, Hilzoy!

  60. Hilzoy, yours is (was?) among my favorite voices amid the chatter. Please don’t stop writing — maybe there’s a book to be written, or new avenues to pursue as a columnist, politico, pundit or (ick) talking head. But to lose you completely would feel like a death in the family.
    But above all that, thank you for the many years of wry smiles and head bobbing. You made our little corner of the internet bearable.

  61. i’ve enjoyed your writing immensely since i first discovered it (far too late, in my opinion), and you’ve since become one of my favorite bloggers. thank you so much for all you’ve written, enjoy your trip—and know you’ll be missed.

  62. But—you’ll post impressions of Rwanda, right? Would very much like to hear what you have to say.
    Not that I’m just trying to talk my favorite political blogger into carrying on for just a little longer. Oh, perish the thought!

  63. I am so sorry to hear this. ObWi has been my first read since I discovered you, Hilzoy, back when I thought your country had gone mad too. From my perspective in a far-off client state (Australia) it still seems like the US can use all the sane intelligent voices that can possibly be found. I know you have other things to do, and I have wondered where you found the time and patience to write your wonderful rational posts, but oh, I am so sorry you are stopping.

  65. phooey.
    I don’t suppose that any amount of grovelling would get you to reconsider?
    In all seriousness, prof. h., thanks for all your hard work, thoughtfulness and brilliant writing. It has been a pleasure and an honor reading your work these last several years.
    Cheers.

  67. Though I don’t remember commenting here before, I’m another who has consistently sought out and enjoyed Hilzoy’s posts. To me, her clarity on many issues has been unparalleled and so her voice will be sorely missed in the public discourse. Hilzoy, best wishes (though like many others, I’m hoping to read more at some point in the future).

  69. No one else online has your ability to be joyful, outraged, or anything in between while keeping your essential intelligence, sanity, and good nature. I’m going to miss you immensely.

  70. Hilzoy, you deserve a break from blogging, if the definition of blogging is writing one or two lovely, thoughtful essays every single day of the week, month in and month out, year after year, as if you had a contract to fulfill, or as if the title “blogger” meant publish or perish. But it’s not so. Even if you resolutely refuse to publish another post on Obsidian Wings, ever again, you will still and always be The Blogger to me. Enjoy your holiday,
    –TP

  71. Devastating news.
    Beyond that, simply What Gary Said.
    And have a great time at whatever is next, though with that intellect and temperament, the wish is more a formality than a necessity.

  72. I agree with all the others. Take a break, enjoy life, stay away from the blogsphere as long as you wish, but when there’s something you want to blog on, simply return and do it. Okay? 🙂
    It’s sad news for us readers. This blog HAS been a haven for reason and rationality when things turned very very ugly. It’s a home we treasure – and you too, right?

  75. I’m sorry.
    For once, I agree with every single commenter on this thread.
    When you say Rwanda, this brings to mind the post you wrote about Mbaye Diagne two years ago: I’d never heard of him before you blogged about him, but I’ve never been able to forget him since. Thank you for that, and for many other excellent blog posts in the past five years. Hope you see and do all you want to see and do in Rwanda, and also see and do things you didn’t know you wanted till you got there.

  76. … a great disturbance in The Force.
    I miss you already and you haven’t even left yet.
    Thanks for all you are and have said and done and been. Brava i brilliantissima, or something.
    Best

  78. You’ve got a Rwandan reader here- im not in Rwanda at the moment, but I do live there and I hope you enjoy it. So how long are you staying there? And are you not going to write about your trip?

  79. Hil, what if I got Alan Rickman to personally ask you to stay? Would that work?
    Maybe we can find some African readers to plead with you during vacation. (Help me, Rwanda!)
    I’m going to pretend that you won’t be able to stay away: there are too many things that need to be said that no one else can say as persuasively and even-temperedly (?). (I love Glenn Greenwald’s constant state of outrage, but, as a steady diet, it can grind me down.) I hope that, after a nice long rest, you won’t be able to resist and will let your comments postings develop into something sustained, whether here or…wherever. (Would I love to see you jump on the sinking ship of the NY Times as an op ed columnist? Please don’t take it as a curse that I would.)
    But don’t keep your brain to yourself.

  80. Good grief. Even as I was refining the wording of my characteristically cheap pun, an actual Rwandan reader chimes in. Do I have mysterious powers or what?

  81. Thank you so much for crafting such generous, empirical, carefully reasoned posts. You and Timothy Burke have been my models for how academic training can expand and enrich, rather than narrow, the scope of one’s engagement with the world. In all of your writings here, you demonstrated that intellectual rigor is fully compatible with humility, curiosity, compassion and grace.
    Best wishes for your travels and any other future endeavors!

  82. I used to wonder how you did it. I wake up at one or two in the morning my time insomnia again and there’s a new post form hilzy. Granted you live on the other side of the continent from me but still…how could anyone have that much brain function so ealry in the day? Evry day? Sometimes several times a day? And still go off ot anintellectually demanding job?
    Well
    Funny. I have finally gottne around to taking Buddhism seriously and have been working my way through an initial text on the impermenance of assmebled things.
    Thanks for helping us to get through the worst of times. I hope you get to see your Gone Away bird.

  84. Delurking and trying to find the silver lining.
    I suppose by not reading Hilzoy’s posts, I will not be consumed with a sense of how little I use my brain, act on my convictions and are just generally am not the amazing human being Hilzoy is.
    I don’t know if it will help me get over the ‘I wonder if I actually knew Hilzoy, if she would be my friend or just find me too obtuse.’ I think I will still contemplate that.
    But thanks for the illumination (and deep-seated envy if I am completely honest. I don’t write like you. Or think like you. Or contemplate like you. goshdarnit!)

  85. Goodbye. You won’t be missed too much.
    Mostly because missing your level of insight, eloquence, and information too much would involve a creepy level of stalkeryness. I hope that in practice this will be simply taking a break and that you’ll be back when you have something you want to say.

  86. Oh. Damn.
    I console myself with the thought that Publius did the same thing before he realized he could cut back and still make a huge difference in some people’s lives out here in the ‘sphere. I checked his blog every few days until he came back. I’m going to hope every time I open the ObWi thread that I’ll see your byline with another one of your incredibly thought provoking, funny, heart rending, compassionate posts.

  87. That’s it, FWIW I’m retiring as well. Five years is simply enough. It takes up too much time that could really be used more productively.
    Have a great time in Rwanda and in your non-blogging life. Though I don’t think that the US has come to its senses, your presence here has been proof that not the whole country has gone to the dogs. And please forgive me for having been a pest on occasion.

  88. Add me to the chorus of wishing you well. You helped make this place one of the more respectable/research oriented places for commentary beyond off-the-cuff reactions.

  90. Hilzoy, I am so going to miss you! This wasn’t about the redshirting, was it?
    I’m seriously bummed. My only comfort is that a couple years ago Scott Horton said he was stepping aside, too, but he’s kept at it. So I will not-so-secretly hope you’ll be back, too.
    You are one of the most reasoned, articulate, thoughtful writers I know of. Thanks for everything I’ve learned from you, and the very best to you in all your endeavors.
    — Barry

  93. “That’s it, FWIW I’m retiring as well. Five years is simply enough. It takes up too much time that could really be used more productively.”
    I would really miss you, too, novakant. Your observations often challenge me, and make me think, and I regard you as a highly valuable voice here. Please also reconsider any thoughts of “quitting” versus simply cutting back.
    People should do what I selfishly want them to do, damn it! Because what I want is best for everyone!
    And for me.
    All this talk of you, you, you is just wrong: it’s all about me!

  94. A sincere thanks for your efforts. The liberal bloggers of 2002-2006 were for me a safe harbor in rough waters. As many I began reading all those years ago go corporate, you are just going. Too bad.
    My best.

  96. The handful of bloggers I read every day feel like family to me, even though I’ve never corresponded with any of you. I have some very smart friends, but few of my conversations rise to the level of dialogue I find here. It is difficult to imagine how they could. This type of public discourse fills a very important purpose: educating, stretching, and connecting people. Thank you for your service to the larger community.
    Best of luck and many thanks to one of the sanest, smartest, and most compassionate voices out there.

  98. On one hand, enjoy your new free time, but on the other, good grief will I miss reading what you’re thinking on a regular basis. Take care.

  99. 1st reaction: What the…?
    2nd: What date is it today?
    3rd: Did I read the author correctly?
    4th: Are you kidding?
    5th: Noooooooooo!
    6th:(slightly embarasssed) Another one bitten by the Palin bug?
    …
    nth: Where can I make donations to your senate campaign? There can be no other excuse.
    With all due respect to Eric and Publius (who brought me here from legalfiction), this won’t be really ObWi without hilzoy.

  100. I feel as if a window on my world has been slammed shut. There were times when I dared not reach a conclusion about some topic of importance until I’d seen what Hilzoy had to say. I echo the praise of so many others for the quality of your research and the brilliance of your reasoning, all expressed in some of the clearest, most concise prose ever committed to electrons. And a special tribute to your passion — we were never in doubt about whether something mattered to you. Please let this be a sabbatical, of whatever length necessary, and not a farewell.

  101. I had hoped this was April fool’s on the Hilzorian calender. My research came up negative.
    Good luck with everything.

  102. Better to have blogged and lost than never to have blogged at all.
    Thanks for everything hilzoy, you will truly be missed.

  103. I have to add my voice here–I HATE that you’re leaving, and I really hope that you come back. You are one of the sanest voices out there, and I am always enlightened by your take on an issue. I hope you have a good vacation, but I also selfishly hope that you can’t stay away!

  104. Chiming in one more time….
    TLT — I firmly believe there’s a passage in LOTR for every occasion, but it’s a little over the top that you’ve helped stretch my intellect so much over the past year and a half and now you’re going for the heart, too.
    If you’re ever in the Boston area and would like to sit down for some conversation with the locals, drop me a line at janiemat at myfairpoint dot net and we’ll see what we can cook up. (This of course goes for anyone else who’s around, as I’ve said when we’ve gotten together before.)
    I say this here and now because novakant isn’t the only one for whom Hilzoy’s announcement is likely to trigger a change in the daily agenda. I am in a constant battle with myself to spend less time at the computer, and the online community here makes it especially hard, because it gives me a rationale — the one Wilbur cited above. On the other hand, Hilzoy’s decision is a sharp turning point in the “and now for something completely different” department.
    FWIW, there’s another passage from LOTR that has been running through my mind since last night —

    Thirdly and finally, he said, I wish to make an ANNOUNCEMENT. He spoke this last word so loudly and suddenly that everyone sat up who still could. I regret to announce that–though, as I said, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to spend among you–this is the END. I am going. I am leaving NOW. GOOD-BYE!

    Hilzoy — have a great trip. Enjoy whatever you do instead of creating these wonderful posts and facilitating this amazing community…….hope to see you around.

  106. “Being civil doesn’t mean you’re lukewarm, and being committed to your principles doesn’t mean you have to be hateful.”
    Well said. IMO, that line should replace the current tag line in the mast head. No, it should be taught in all high school civics courses.
    I’ll miss your sane voice. Live long and prosper.

  107. Please do yourself a favor and go see the mountain gorillas in Virungian National Park – it’s absolutely amazing!!!

  108. “And did you know that the name ‘Watusi’ comes from the Tutsi? I didn’t.”
    That’s “Watutsi” and it generalizes; “Wa” in Swahili refers to a group. My personal favorite is the group noun for the wealthy: “Wabenzi.”
    That said, I’ll miss you. It won’t be easy to find your combination of sanity and eloquence. But I know it must have been a strain; that’s why I’ve never considered blogging myself.
    Have a nice trip.

  109. But you’re the only one I trust on the entire internet!
    Without hilzoy, it’ll seem like the only adult in the room has left.
    The internet needs ethicists!

  110. NOOOO!
    Hilzoy, you have always been one of my quiet heroes on the internet, not least because you are slow to anger and meticulous in reasoning.

  111. I’m hardly a regular here, but I have to weigh in with a thank you. Your blogging has always been smart and readable; I’ve learned a lot from you. Selfishly, I’ve been proud to have you as an outspoken female voice, too.

  112. Oh, the irony. Yesterday after reading Surprise the World, I was tempted to drop a fan comment, something I never do. What I was going to write, but didn’t, was that I have realized over the past several months that while there are many blogs I enjoy reading, I always enjoy ObWi and I find Hilzoy in particular to be invariably lucid, intelligent, fair-minded and (above all) correct! Honestly, I was on the brink of writing that just yesterday . . . that I finally found a blogger who thinks just like I do, but expresses herself about five-hundred times better than I ever could.
    And so you up and pack up shop? Say it ain’t so . . . say it ain’t so . . . .
    I know it’s just a perception bias, but it always feels as though everything I really love either goes out of business, gets dropped by the manufacturer, doesn’t get renewed for another season, isn’t available on video or DVD . . . stops blogging . . .
    Ah, well. Hopefully you’ll be back and, if not, I’ve really enjoyed reading you. You are the best blogger out here, is what I’m saying.

  114. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
    By fish, I mean great posts….and….well, anyway, thanks, and best of luck in all of your endeavours.

  115. You will be missed in part because your voice is an important part of the mix of this blog. There are different voices and without yours, it will be skewered.
    I also second the sentiment that the madness is not over. Preventive detention is madness. Saying someone should apologize for saying “bj” while explaining why a special prosecutor is necessary is madness. One can go on. Reduction of a problem is not its end.

  118. I’ll add my voice to the ones that hope that you’ll continue writing, in some form, whether by book or guest article. I came to Obsidian Wings from Andrew Sullivan’s website originally. While I only visit this website a few times a week, I found that your articles were particularly enjoyable and insightful. You’ve helped increase the signal to the noise online.
    I hope that you have an exciting and relaxing time on your trip, and that you return refreshed and ready for anything you want when you return to your home. Thank you.

  119. I feel like begging hilzoy to stay, that she has an obligation to her readers to keep on blogging, and that she owes it to us (and “the blogosphere”) to maintain her invaluable presence.
    But I won’t, because it would be unfair, and disrespectful of hilzoy’s own agency, motivations, and intentions: she has the utmost right to blog or not blog, as she chooses, and should do whatever it is that is most in line with her own heart and mind.
    And I realize this, and wish her well in whatever she does, and respect her decision – because that’s what hilzoy would have done. (sob)
    Have a great trip, hilzoy, and enjoy your non-blogging peace. I just hope that you’ll come out of retirement if the Bloggers Ethics Panel ever gets off the ground.

  120. oh noes!
    don’t leave, hilzoy, your perspective is needed. you have a clarity and ethical precision that just doesn’t exist elsewhere in the commentariat: you can cut through layers of obfuscation to simplify what needs to be simplified, and even more rarely found, you can see through consensus to complicate what should be complicated.
    the madness is over, but the game goes on; we can have confidence in those at the top, and we can trust that now our disagreements will be approached with reason, with good faith and with reference to reality. but we will still disagree. and there needs to be voices to articulate both our agreement and our disagreement. and hilzoy, there aren’t enough of them, and the ones there are often don’t think clearly enough.
    you’re in a unique position to do what you do, and you do it better than anyone else – and when you can do something better than everyone else, you should keep doing it.
    by the way, in rwanda – avoid the jack fruit, eat plenty of avocadoes and look out for the obama shops…

  121. Hilzoy, I am deeply grateful for the wisdom and insight you have so freely and graciously dispensed here over the last few years, and deeply saddened, not to say distraught, that you are stopping. I hope your vacation is wonderful, and that afterword you will consider blessing us with your thoughts from time to time here, even if irregularly, and that you will continue to write for a non-academic audience in whatever medium suits. Odd that my first real disagreement with you is with the notion that the craziness is over–I don’t think that’s remotely true. I hope that you will continue in one way or another publicly to combat it with your sane, humane, articulate and civil commentary.

  122. Yow. What others have said regarding thanks for your contributions to the blogosphere, hopes that you’ll feel moved to post something occasionally even after your retirement, and puzzlement at your belief that the craziness is over (I fear we’ve seen only the beginning).

  123. When the Bare-Faced Go-Away Bird alights on your shoulder it is an omen that it is time to leave.
    As you go about your future endeavors (incarnations, more like) with your characteristic
    total commitment and sense of adventure
    (waitress in a biker bar, kibbutznick, women’s shelter angel,tree surgeon,rodeo announcer, fill in the rest), you’ll sit in conversation with your new compatriots and begin a sentence like this to illustrate some piercing observation about life: “When I was a blogger ……”
    Thank you. You’re an amazing person.
    Not just ethical, but kind.
    As to the craziness you refer to —- the craziness will return, newly adapted with double snapping jaws and acid for blood, and Ripley will reappear, muscled up, grim but refreshed, striding down the gangway, ready to save the universe.

  124. We’ll miss you! I hope you’ll come back when the country goes through it’s periodic insane spells, as i’m sure there’re more to come! Good luck in all you do.
    You’ll be greatly missed,
    Sarah

  125. Sigh. Inevitable, but terribly sad.
    hilzoy (no, I won’t capitalize it, that would be insulting), you are simply one of the top few bloggervoices out there. Here. Around.
    We have plenty of voices who can articulate rage, and several who can articulate pragmatism — but we’re short on people who can articulate empathy. That’s where you’ve always fit on the continuum. And why you will be so sorely missed, both here and at WashMo.
    But I can’t fault someone for reaching a point in an avocation where it no longer fills the same need. You need to walk away sometimes to regain perspective.
    Maybe you’ll join MediaWhoresOnline Horse in his pasture for a while. Maybe you’ll come back in a year, or in 2008 when the country goes mad again. I’ll hope, but if this is truly goodbye, I certainly understand.
    Job Well Done. And thanks. So very much.
    But as Martin Mull once sang, let’s not say au revoir, let’s just say hors d’oeuvres.

  126. Wow, it’s a shame to see you go. Your post on spousal abuse (“Why They Stay”) really opened my eyes, and made me hug my girlfriend, sister, and mother just a little bit tighter.
    Hopefully if the world loses its mind again, you’ll ride back in on your white horse to save us.
    God bless, and good luck in everything you do.

  128. No, the nation is no longer inflamed by furious madness, just blunted by savage numbness.
    I will miss your words. “Violence is not a way of getting where you want to go, only more quickly” remains in my quotefile. Good luck with your future.

  130. OY! We’re losing one of the very best. For aforementioned selfish reasons, I hope it’s just temporary, Hilzoy. Even more, I hope you enjoy life from here on out, whatever you do. BTW, the above commenters are right that the US has not returned to sanity. I guess we’ll have to muddle through with less of your voice…damn.

  131. Ouch.
    When I send your deeply sensible and articulate takes on matters to those with whom I disagree, I usually use, “the never shrill Hilzoy,” or sometimes “Hilzoy, the voice of reason.”
    Frankly, I’m actually frightened about losing your voice.
    But you must do what it is you must do. Best wishes, and sincere thanks for all the great thinking and your marvelous ability to get it down coherently.
    I will miss you unreasonably so.
    J

  132. No eloquent good-byes from me. As with all the others, you have become an important part of my windows on the world.
    Amidst all the words you wrote in this post, I will hang on to those where you say you will be back, though maybe only in the comments.
    Somehow I think that you have impacted far more people than you may recognize, and for that we should all be very grateful. And I doubt if you are anywhere near done doing that, although the manner may undergo change.
    And I also believe that you are one of the few, that upon reading all these comments about yourself, will not have an overly inflated ego.
    Once, when I was first starting to comment on ObWi, I called Gary a national treasure. Your are THE national treasure.
    Have a great life, you deserve it.

  133. Hilzoy!! NOOOOOOO!!! You are HANDS DOWN, my favorite political blogger. Smart. Articulate. Compassionate. Sensible. I will miss you so much and agree with Sullivan that I hope the itch is too much to bear. Have a lovely time in Rwanda though. You will be deeply missed.
    Scott in Alabama

  134. I’ll add my voice to the chorus of those who will miss reading you on a regular basis. Godspeed.

  135. With all due respect to Eric and Publius (who brought me here from legalfiction), this won’t be really ObWi without hilzoy.
    Hartmut, trust me, Publius and I made that exact point with more than a touch of panic in our voices.

  136. Hilzoy,
    This is terrible news — the departure of a wonderfully sane, clear-eyed, sympathetic and incisive voice, easily the most worthwhile blog-persona I know. I hope that you enjoy your travels, and that when you return, you find that you just cannot resist opining (and sharing your opinions).
    The birds you’re hoping to see are spectacular, but you’ll need some good luck to find them. My son, an avid birder and photographer, spent a week last year looking for it and came up empty. (He did see a lone White-bellied Go-Away bird, C. leucogaster, but although more striking, they are also more common.)
    Anyway, thanks for your insights over the past years. I’ll miss them.

  137. Hilzoy, you’ve been an inspiration and a joy to read. You have a particular talent that will be appreciated in whatever future venture you go. Let me suggest that you will be back, in some form. Writers – and good bloggers, I think – do not have a choice but to write, it’s like breathing. We don’t get to stop, it’s too hard to function without it.
    See you sometime in the future.

  138. You’re one of my favorites. Are you sure you aren’t underestimating the impact you’ve had on the people who’ve been touched by your writing? I think you are. Not only have you touched me, but everyone I’ve touched when influenced by your writing or after being forwarded a ‘hilzoy’ link. You will be missed.

  139. I have learned a huge amount from you. Your posts are wise, thoughtful, penetrating, honest, and deeply decent. They convey not only substance but also a model of how to think about issues and other people and how to conduct honest and spirited but respectful debate. A heartfelt thank you for all you have done. Have a great time doing whatever you do next. I hope you will come back to post from time to time.

  141. Delurking to say how much I have appreciated and valued your posts. You will be greatly missed.
    My observations about Rwanda are a bit out of date (based on a summer spent there 8 years ago) but it is a beautiful, fascinating and troubled country. Please don’t hang up your blogging hat until you have a chance to share your impressions.
    Of course you are probably already planning to visit the gorillas and the genocide memorials, but if not I cannot recommend them highly enough.

  142. Hilzoy:
    I will miss reading your work very much. I think you bring something really special and unique to blogging.

  143. I’ve never been one of your regular commenters, Hilzoy, but I’ve always immensely admired your work. Enjoy your vacation in Rwanda, and thanks for the sanity!

  144. Eep. *hides under desk*
    No sooner had I written this than I lost internet access. Luckily, it’s back.
    Thanks, everyone. It means a lot. I always thought I got more than I gave, from the community here. Why any blogger doesn’t enable comments is a deep and abiding mystery to me: they miss out on so much.

  146. Now that I’ve suppressed the urge to jump out my office window, a million thanks, Hilzoy. I wish I could bear-hug you through the internet, but technology has its limits. I don’t have a strong belief in sending out vibes, but you will always have whatever good vibes I can emit. Now I’m going to suppress the urge to plead with you not to go. I know you’ll still be in comments, but still… Again, thank you, Hilzoy, and all the best to you always.
    Wayne (aka HSH)

  147. Such a shock…! I should come out of lurking to say:
    I first found ObWi about a year and a half ago, and your insightful posts on the presidential race got me hooked.
    Best wishes. Here’s to hoping that after a poignant silence, you will return!

  148. I know I’m pretty late in saying this, but —
    Well, it’s been said, over and over again. And I agree with them.
    I wish you weren’t leaving; I always looked forward to reading your insightful posts; and I will miss you.

  149. I always thought I got more than I gave, from the community here.
    I’m really not sure how that could possibly be true, except perhaps in the kind of topography that blue-boxes the TARDIS. What you gave was without measure and beyond praise. The community here won’t be the same without you.
    Please stop hiding under the desk: I think I see some more ObWingers coming in with more praise, thanks, and goodbyes, and they need the floor space to stack it now your desk is piled high to overflowing. It’s yours, all of it, well-deserved, and … I find I still agree with every single commenter on this thread, which has got to be a record for me.
    Take care. Have a fine time in Rwanda.

  150. You’re a pretty unique person, Hilzoy, and trying to civilize the blogosphere probably isn’t the most productive use of your gifts. But make no mistake: you leave a gaping hole, as there simply isn’t anyone blogging who does what you do.

  152. I’ll miss you too–the long earnest explanations about what you think, which seems to be the result of a philosopher’s training without the nasty argumentativeness that sometimes accompanies it.
    As for the country’s sanity, my reaction to that part was similar to Patrick Nielsen Hayden’s–what, are you nuts? But I completely sympathize with the desire to quit blogging (not that I’ve ever started).
    And I’ll also miss novakant’s comments.

  154. I am only a bit younger than you, and I very much identify with your observation: “I had heard about times like this in the past — the McCarthy era, for instance — though I had never expected to live through one.”
    You kept your head when all about us seemed to be losing theirs and, in blogging through it, provided an antidote to cynicism and despair.
    Thank you.

  155. I was going to do some kind of snarky contrarian “good riddance” thing, but I find I can’t. Instead, this:
    ‘I shall miss you, Jeeves.’
    ‘Thank you, sir.’
    ‘Who was that chap who was always beefing about gazelles?’
    ‘The poet Moore, sir. He complained that he had never nursed a dear gazelle, to glad him with its soft black eye, but when it came to know him well and love him, it was sure to die.’
    ‘It’s the same with me. I am a gazelle short. You don’t mind me alluding to you as a gazelle, Jeeves?’
    ‘Not at all, sir.’
    We are all a gazelle short.

  156. Dammit, Hilzoy, say it ain’t so!
    You are one of the best bloggers and you need to keep writing in some forum or the other. Maybe the WaPost or the NYT may be interested, or the Atlantic. Hell, if they can hire Megan McArdle, they can DEFINITELY afford you.
    Anyway, hope to read you again and have a great life. Say hi to the bare-faced go away bird for me.

  158. Selfish reaction: Well damn. That sucks! Waaa!!
    Okay, okay. Have a wonderful vacation. (Rwanda? How cool is that?) And of course your time and effort are not public commodities, and you should do what’s best for you. Best of luck in all your future endeavors.
    But…Waaaaa!

  160. Amen to all that is said above.
    I too will deeply miss the enormous intelligence, care, and insight of your posts. And I too have an emotional reaction similar to what one feels when a very close friend moves away.
    I’m grateful for what I’ve learned from you. Even if you don’t blog, I hope you will find another outlet for writing for the general public. Your contribution is too valuable to lose.
    Enjoy your trip, best wishes, and please let the BAOWDG (Boston Area Obsidian Wings Dinner Group) know if you are around and, assuming I can safely speak for others, we will organize a gathering.

  161. I hope that, like Billmon, you’ll come back and write the occasional piece. Thanks for a lot of well written and reasoned pieces over the years.

  162. Thanks for all the great posts, Hilzoy. I followed a link from Andrew Sullivan’s Daily Dish a while back, and have never left. Good luck; we’ll miss you.

  163. Say it ain’t so!
    Thanks for all your amazing work, Hilzoy, and I hope (once you’re back from a relaxing vacation) you reconsider.
    Yes, it’s probably true in some ways that the country isn’t as insane as it was during the first Bush term. But I’d argue that it some ways it’s worse now. Back during the first Bush term, it felt like the country was in the midst of a terrible, but passing bout of insanity, temporary insanity if you will. Some of that has passed. But some of it is in danger of gelling into a more or less permanent feature of America: think especially of executive power and secrecy issues. That we need to fight. And that’s why we need your passionate, reasoned voice to come back.

  164. Oh heck. As a first time delurker here, I have to say I’m sorry to see you go. I have always enjoyed your writing. If I ever write half as well as you, I would die happy. But enjoy your vacation.

  166. Hilzoy … for President?
    Before you retire for good, you should have a class on How To Be A Good Thinking Blogger. If we can’t have you — can we have a cadre of Hilzoy-trained ProBloggers??

  167. NOOOooo…
    Hilzoy, it was my privilege to read you excellent posts for all these years. First, billmon, now hilzoy… 🙁
    publius, don’t you get any ideas!

  168. Wow. Hilzoy, you’ve been one of my anchors for the past few years. I feel as though the tectonic plates are shifting beneath my feet.
    Thank you very much for your bloggin. Have a great vacation and good luck with your future efforts, whatever they may be. We’ve been really lucky to have your wisdom to turn to.

  169. Just out of curiosity, I’d thought I’d google to see how far the news of Hilzoy’s departure from blogging had gone. When I typed “hilzoy,” one of the search-term auto-completions that came up was “hilzoy going Galt.” It was there because of her previous post on going Galt, but I thought that was an amusing/ironic way of describing her ceasing her blogging.

  170. Congratulations on a job very well done, hilzoy. As this thread shows, you will be remembered for a long time as one of those rare bloggers who knew how to do it right, and made it look easy. All the best in your future endeavors (and travels).

  172. I cant say I understand your rationale for leaving, but if you feel it’s time for you to go, then so be it. Please remember that you are welcome to return at any time, perhaps even for occassional articles rather than daily blogging.

  173. I’ve only read the first twenty or so comments, so I’m not going to say “what everyone above me said,” just in case some malcontent has crashed the party. However, I have already read more eloquent expressions of gratitude and well-wishing than I could compose myself. I won’t try to improve on them.
    I will add that although I could count the times I have posted comments to this site on one hand, I have been a frequent reader of yours for the past two to three years. I was actually surprised to read in the post above that you were not one of the founders of this site as I have come to associate it primarily with you and all of the other bloggers secondarily. They’re all fine individuals, but yours was the “voice” I first came to know and read.
    In closing, I’ll repeat what many others have said: You’ll be missed.

  174. My wife and I are so sad that you’re not going to be blogging any more. You’re one of our favorites to read each day. You’ve made a real contribution to our lives by helping us think through issues and by alerting us to issues we didn’t know about before.
    Thanks for everything (and we do hope that we’ll be able to read you somewhere sometime again)

  175. Wow, this is unwelcome news. I don’t comment often, but I’ve read almost every word, posts and comments, written on this blog for the past 4-5 years. As many others have said, you’re a unique voice in the blogosphere, and will leave a gaping hole when/if you leave. I can’t think of another blogger who combines your mix of analytical rigor, compassion, and plain reasonableness. I beg you to consider just taking a vacation or posting less frequently. For one thing, I’m not sure ObWi can survive very long without you. No disrespect to Eric and Publius, but it’s your decency, as mckinneytexas said above, which has kept this from becoming just another liberal blog.
    Will you at least still be reading and commenting? I worry that the commentariat will slowly disperse to other blogs without you around, and that would be a tragedy. This is a great blog, both in the quality of it’s front-pagers (even the slackers like Seb and Von) and the commenters. I don’t want anything to change that.
    If that doesn’t work, consider this. If you leave, those of us who live in the Baltimore area will be forced to come and pester you during office hours to satisfy our hilzoy-jones. Addiction is a terrible thing, even if it’s an addiction to calm, level-headed political analysis. Do you really want people dropping by and asking your opinion about the news of the day? Wouldn’t it be easier to just keep blogging? Do I sound desperate at all?

  176. Sigh.
    I started reading ObiWi just prior to when you started blogging here, Hilzoy, and since you started blogging, have read daily. I have seldom ever commented (with the exception of poetry threads and a bit of weirdness about rice cookers), but I will echo those who have said you are the best blogger, and the sanest political commenter, on the internet. I will sorely miss your point of view, and do indeed, feel as though a good friend is moving away.
    As long as I’m borrowing sentiments expressed by others, I’m also going to echo John Thullen in saying you are an amazing person.
    Belated, but sincere thanks for sharing your gifts with us all; I wish you all the best.
    wren

  177. This is a great tragedy for online discourse. I would not hesitate to call you one of the finest voices in progressive politics. But I cannot fault your reasons.
    Thank you for everything–and do stick around.

  179. So very sorry to hear this. 🙁 Have a wonderful trip though, and just check in from time to time? And when the world goes nuts again in 2016, please consider coming back and bailing us out!!

  180. Hilzoy, although I haven’t commented here too much, you’ve been my absolutely favorite blogger anywhere. Understand the reasons, but sorry to see you go. (Remember that Michael Jordan came out of retirement to win three NBA championships.)

  181. For the last five years, when there was someone wrong on the internet, I could rest assured that Hilzoy would be a clear voice of reason to calm/trouble the waters as need be. Your absense will be more than a lacuna. I remain with kid bitzer full of hope that the end is not the end.
    Here’s hoping that Rwanda is a rewarding interlude and that the lawyers and economists and pundits do not drown out all reason on the intertubes

  182. Not until I read hartmut’s most recent post did I realize: This was hilzoy attempting to write a parody of Sarah Palin’s quitting-equals-not-quitting speech.
    Unfortunately, one of the few verbal things hilzoy *can’t* do is string words together in a completely incoherent and rambling manner.
    Nice try, toots, but leave that stuff to the professionals (e.g., Samantha Bee).

  184. O_O
    I don’t post here much, but I’ve been a near-daily visitor to ObWi since you started blogging here. I can’t quite wrap my head around ObWi without you.
    I’m going to hope that you come back, but if you don’t: thank you for all the posts and comments, and for prodding everyone around you to think a little more critically.

  185. Among the many reasons I’m a lummox is that I managed to reply to your “farewell” post without saying thanks.
    I’m with Thullen, in addition to your intelligence, generosity, and unwavering fairness, you are the kindest of bloggers.
    Thanks, and thanks again. Be well, safe travels, and have fun!

  186. As others have said, you’ve been one of the very best bloggers out there. After five years I can understand why you’d want a break — but even if you’re done with blogging, I hope that you’ll continue to occasionally write and publish on the sorts of issues you’ve covered here.

  187. So often after reading one of hilzoy’s posts I have thought, “what can I add? Nothing.”
    hilzoy, take care, be well, safe travels, and I hope the spirit will move you to come back and write for us again.

  188. I’m generally a lurker rather than a commenter, but I had to write to thank you for the marvelous work you’ve done over the past years. You’ve been my favorite writer in the blogosphere for some time. The way you take an issue apart and go back to first principles is a technique I find very compelling.
    I find your description of why you started to write particularly interesting, since I would call the sanity of your writing one of its strongest qualities.
    Naturally, I hope that once you’ve had a break you find yourself drawn back into blogging, but whether you do or not you’ve clearly had an affect for the good on the state of discourse in this country today. Thank you again for your efforts.

  189. You know, last night, I got out a bottle of Crud Cutter and cleaned the grout between the tiles on the bathroom floor. I never, ever do things like that, so I should have known that there was a deep disturbance in the force.
    hilzoy, I take it completely for granted that you’ve thought out all aspects of retiring, and weighed the advantages against the disadvantages and reached your decision as a result of some well-organized thought process and not, for example, simply gotten good and drunk and decided to have a little joke with us.
    That last part was not intended to be taken seriously in any way.
    So, with that in mind, I’d like to join my song of regretful parting with that of the many others. OW will be lessened (no disrespect intended toward any of the regulars). You’ve changed my thinking, such as it is, in a great many areas, and I’m grateful for the light touch that you’ve taken with me (and others!) when I was absolutely and angrily certain you must be wrong. You have a gift for this. I’d bet that this gift also makes you a very good teacher.
    Whatever path you’ve chosen for your life from this point, I wish you health and happiness. Please stop in from time to time and let us know what you’re up to. And, as others have suggested, most of us would applaud if you cobbled together a post every now and then just for the hell of it.

  190. I’m very sorry to hear that you’ve decided to stop blogging, and I hope that after you’ve had some time off and more time for yourself (and for travel to fascinating places like Rwanda) you’ll still hang around and write the occasional post on subjects that particularly interest you and that aren’t being covered well elsewhere.

  191. OMG – what awful news to have to read on a fine sunny Tuesday in July!
    An Internet without Hilzoy? It cannot help but be a darker, bleaker and joyless place henceforth!

  192. Well this stinks.
    Thank you for all the work you have put into this blog and I hope you enjoy your time away from it as much as I enjoyed the blog itself.

  193. I’m not a frequent commenter but, I’m so sad. I see it not only as a loss of a great liberal voice, but the loss of a feminist voice, something I feel we can ill afford.
    But, if it isn’t fun or personally rewarding any more, you can’t go on, of course.
    The blogosphere will be poorer without you.

  194. Hilzoy,
    I came to ObWi as a result of reading your substitute posts for Andrew Sullivan a long while back. I’ve come to respect the quality and intelligence of both the posters and the loyal following of commenters. I’ll still be reading here first with the hope that you will still grace the comments with your powerful observation and opinion.
    You will be missed. I’ll still be watching and wondering when you’ll get the bug to return to the blog.
    Good luck in what/where ever your new path leads you.

  196. Leaving with a thread of record growth. Stylish! 😉
    Aren’t blogslaves only allowed to leave their blog on any 30th February without permission of their comment masters?

  197. I would really miss you, too, novakant. Your observations often challenge me, and make me think, and I regard you as a highly valuable voice here. Please also reconsider any thoughts of “quitting” versus simply cutting back.
    That’s very kind of you, Gary, but I’m afraid that, due to my addictive personality, I’ll have to go cold turkey, sad but true.
    I’ll certainly miss you too and am glad that our mutual ability to drive each other up the wall hasn’t left a sour aftertaste – as Omar says in The Wire: “It’s all in the game, yo, all in the game …”.
    I’ve made some changes in my life over the past year and will focus more on film, my passion and profession (I’m an editor and grader), and my friends in the flesh world.
    The best of luck to you, hilzoy, Donald and everybody else.

  198. A little late, but equally shocked and dismayed. You are my favorite blogger for all the reasons previously elaborated above. To me, you are the model against which all other bloggers are judged. Good luck! (and I also cling to the hope to occasionally read a Hilzoy post somewhere, sometime in the future…)

  199. Digressing: so, oddly enough, I found myself commenting here on Roger Ebert’s blog, and linking to Andy Olmsted’s final letter, and Roger ended up responding “Ebert: I agree with everything you write.”
    (Of course he does!) 😉
    I also, incidentally, wrote about some other recent exchanges with Roger here. He actually responds to a fair percentage of comments, if they’re wise and insightful enough. 🙂
    Anyway, I just thought I’d mention that maybe a few people from Roger’s blog might wind up coming over to read Andy’s letter. I hope.

  200. “FWIW, there’s another passage from LOTR that has been running through my mind since last night”
    I’m sorry, but Hilzoy simply isn’t allowed to make such an announcement without:
    a) being eleventy-one years old; and:
    b) having a magic ring.
    And she’s not even getting to pass on to the blessed land of Valinor.
    And we don’t even have anyone around to play Aragorn!
    No, no, this simply won’t do at all. It just won’t do.
    I think it’s much more like Gandalf falling in Moria, and crying “fly, you fools,” but then showing up better than ever later, all in white.
    That’s how the story’s going to go if I have any say in editing it!

  201. in addition to your intelligence, generosity, and unwavering fairness, you are the kindest of bloggers.
    Yes indeed. Kindness is absurdly underrated as a value, and Hilzoy cultivates kindness – as a product of high intelligence, as a skill one can get better and better at. It’s a superior form of intelligence, IMO. Thanks for sharing, Hilzoy, and for taking it – and us – seriously.

  202. I’ve never commented here but wanted to let Hilzoy know that after Edwards dropped out in early 2008 with the Texas caucus/primary coming up, my wife and I were having trouble deciding between Clinton and Obama. Many things didn’t seem as clear-cut then as they do now. Our hearts and our heads were torn. We wanted to get behind someone and work for them in the primaries and the general, but were stuck on the fence. Ultimately, after much reading and talking, it was a couple of posts by Hilzoy examining Obama’s record in Illinois and afterward that tipped us firmly in his direction. I’ll always remember the point where I made my decision, right after reading Hilzoy’s take. In the end we volunteered and became precinct captains and district delegates, narrowly bringing in our little precinct for Obama in the Texas caucuses. It was a great experience and we met some good people who are still friends. All of it because Hilzoy helped us decide who we were for.
    We wish you great success and happiness. We’d love to see you blogging again but if that never happens, we’ll still be grateful for the analysis and insights you’ve provided.

  203. You’ll be missed.
    also, i used to live in Goma & had several fine times in Gisenyi, so recommend you visit – it’s half-way between our Gulf Coast & the French Riveria.
    One standard tourist item i recommend skipping is tromping after gorillas. the gorillas by the time i visited (1980) were inured to tourists, and made me feel like I was invading their privacy. if you’re climbing a mountain & see wildlife fine, but skip the gorilla treks; they’re demeaning for all.

  204. “If we can’t have you — can we have a cadre of Hilzoy-trained ProBloggers??”
    I’m also still in firm denial.
    One thing I’d like to beg of Hilzoy, whether before she goes — and I realize she probably won’t have time for it, what with preparing for her trip and everything else, but after she returns? — would be at least one last final post (for some indefinite period of time!) along the lines of “Hilzoy’s Guidelines For Blogging” or “How I’ve Always Tried To Blog,” or something else to help educate us as to how Hilzoy has managed to blog in such a sane, thoughtful, educational, calm, rational, and downright beautiful manner, that has changed so many people’s thinking, and so many people’s feelings, and so many people’s lives.
    I can’t can’t say enough how much the idea of a blogosphere without Hilzoy horrifies me. I know she owe us nothing, she has given so much.
    But I also know, therefore, how much of a loss a loss of her writing will be, and one way I think Hilzoy might fail is that I don’t believe she has even a fractional understanding of how very much of a loss to so many thousands of us — and I do mean thousands — the loss of her insights, and wisdom, will be.
    I just can’t over-state this. I firmly believe that Hilzoy’s blogging has made more of a difference in more people’s lives, overall, than anyone else in the blogosphere, ever. I don’t believe for a moment she realizes that.
    I can’t say how much, no matter how little I may show it, she’s been a personal influence on me, in so many ways, including, often, tempering how cutting my natural inclination runs to.
    I can’t say how much, no matter how little I may show it, Hilzoy has influenced my thinking on an issue.
    I can’t say how much, no matter how little I may show it, Hilzoy has expanded my empathy, and my view of the need for people to be kind.
    And I can’t yet imagine a Hilzoy where Hilzoy will never return. A long vacation: sure. Never to return? Only, at the least, if she does indeed wind up somewhere with the far larger circulation that she deserves, including the New York Times, or WaPo (where god knows they have a particular shortage of sane and smart columnists these days), or anywhere else that would bring her the readership she so very much deserves.
    And I can’t say how very selfishly, how very upset I am, at the thought of how much I’ll miss her.
    It literally brings me to tears.
    And for once, I’m going to make a mind-reading claim, and assert that I speak for many more people than myself, in all of this.

  205. “I don’t comment often, but I’ve read almost every word, posts and comments, written on this blog for the past 4-5 years.”
    Hilzoy is the only blogger whose every word on her blog I’ve ever made sure to always read every word of.
    There’s simply no one else I feel remotely that strongly about as regards what I get from their blogging. No offense intended to any of the many other fine and superb bloggers out there, but that’s the plain truth.

  206. One more de-lurker who is a regular and devoted reader.
    Good luck, Hilzoy, and farewell. You’ll be missed.

  207. Good luck Hilzoy.
    But Damn, you and your analysis of just about everything are going to be missed!
    /Limagolf

  208. You will, of course, be missed, and I expect that a greatful blogosphere thanks you for your service in our hour of need.
    Selfishly, I wonder why you don’t simply reduce your blogging output to “whenever you feel appropriate.”
    Farewell, and goodluck, Hilzoy.

  209. Gah. Hilzoy, you’re one of the best out there for thoughtful analysis, and it will be a tremendous loss. Please do whatever feels best, but I hope you will consider being an infrequent blogger, without the pressures of feeling you need to cover every story. Or maybe you feel you can do that just fine in comments. In any case, I’ve appreciated reading and citing your fine work, so thanks again, and best wishes.

  210. And for once, I’m going to make a mind-reading claim, and assert that I speak for many more people than myself, in all of this.
    You’ve read my (so-called) mind, Gary. I honestly think, as corny as it may sound, that reading Hilzoy has made me a better human being – not just in the sense of being better informed, but in having more care and respect for other people, particularly people I, consciously or unconsciously, may have been inclined to disregard in the past.

  211. Well, what can I say but “Thanks!”
    You stood up when it mattered, and while I think you’re probably a bit too optimistic about how sane things have gotten, the Bush administration feel of “we’re going to tell you black is white, and you’re going to love it!” seems gone.
    If only Obama wasn’t defending indefinite detention without trial, I think I’d be a happy guy.

  212. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
    Well, OK.
    But at the first hint of insanity, YOU GET BACK ON DUTY, DAMMIT.
    Love ya, and be happy!

  213. In Swahili, the prefix “Wa” makes a word plural. Thus you have one Tutsi, or if you have a group, they are WaTutsi. Brings up an amusing variant: the African politicians and businessmen who parade about in their Mercedes Benz automobiles, are know informally (and mordantly) as WaBenzi.
    Best of luck in your travels on a very cool continent.

  214. Don’t remember ever posting a comment in the past, but I want to thank you for the posts you have made defending the rights and humanity of trans people, before you disappear. Your thoughts were greatly appreciated.

  215. Gary: “You are, bar none, with no competition, the best blogger I have ever read.
    Please never say never.    ”
    Yes, that.
    If you need a break, take one. Lord knows you give so much to so many with no monetary compensation, all on top of your ‘day job’. But “the madness is over?” Hil, it’s only just begun. We need your voice now more than ever.
    (And here I was planning on not getting drunk tonight.)

  216. Oh, damn. While I rarely initially agreed with you, I always found your posts thoughtful and worthy of reading, and sometimes convincing. You will be missed, and I hope that you do not stay among the missing. Thanks for all of the thinking you’ve inspired.

  217. In addition to repeating all the praise and desolation of other posters, let me offer a personal eulogy to a great blogging career.
    I first read Obsidian Wings in 2003, from a link at publius’s solo blog Legal Fiction. ObWi pulled me into blog reading and commenting as no other blog ever could, because of Hilzoy.
    Hilzoy’s posts should be used as a textbook for political blogs. She is sensible, moderate, focused, courteous, and devastating to irrationality. She cites her facts, reasons from her facts, and in six years I think I have caught her in an error of logic once. She is astonishingly good at finding analogies — and I say that as a lawyer, a professional analogy-finder. Her compassion is as remarkable and consistent as her intellect, yet she is as far from the bleeding-heart, no-personal-responsibility stereotype as can be imagined. She has an uncanny knack for distilling from the welter of current events the key issues that matter. Her volume is also astonishing — I cannot imagine how she finds the time to research and write on so many subjects at such length.
    In fact, while Hilzoy’s brilliant prose has drawn me in, it has also discouraged me from blogging. How, I ask myself, can I possibly match her insight and precision? And why bother, when she already does it so well? Time after time, a subject I might have wanted to write about was already thoroughly developed by Hilzoy, leaving me with nothing to do but cheer from the bleachers.
    Equally amazing is that Hilzoy — along of course with ObWi’s other bloggers — has created a unique corner for courteous, thoughtful political/policy conversation on the internet. I have seen many attempts to do this, but no other successes.
    Naturally, when I learned that Hilzoy lived not far from my Maryland home, I schemed to meet her. At an anti-war march a couple of years ago, shortly before I moved to the Left Coast, I succeeded. Several ObWi regulars met up and went to the march. It was a fine rally, but personally I remember it as the time that I met Professor Bok in person. Suffice to say that she fully lives up to her online persona.
    After I moved, Hilzoy’s example inspired me to participate in the Obama campaign. I had to curtail my local political participation even before the end of the campaign due to health and family problems, but maybe someday I will return. If I do, I will strive to exhibit the courtesy and rationality of a Hilzoy.
    Although we have only met once, I consider Hilzoy a friend. Hilzoy, if you are ever in Seattle and need a favor — crash space, a native guide, a place to hide a corpse — please feel free to call. Meanwhile, ave atque vale! Thank you. You will be missed.

  219. Hilzoy,
    Brava.
    Another person delurking to let you know I really appreciated your thoughts. This place is a real island; thank you for making it so.

  220. I want to second (or third as it were, as on preview I see hairshirthedonist got in before me) Gary’s request at 2:48pm for a “Hilzoy’s Guidelines For Blogging” and support what he said about how influential hilzoy’s writing is, from my point of view.
    This is one of the very, very few political blogs which I will forward links to when chatting with people I know who are apolitical, because I can trust that what they read here is written with humility and a lack of vitriol such that somebody who is lacking in the thick skin and insider’s guide to the lingo (acquired from long practive reading the blogs) can safely wander about here without being horrified by what they encounter, and can come away with something more productive than the vague impression that people on the blogs are either really, really mean or speak in incomprehensible gibberish.
    There are to my limited knowledge very few hard hitting political blogs that are like that, and the example that hilzoy has set with her writing (and her occasional firm admonitions in comments to keep it civil) are IMHO a very big reason for ObWings being the special kind of place which it is.
    As russell has reminded me, I forgot to say “Thanks” the first time. Thank you hilzoy for everything that you’ve put into this. It wasn’t wasted effort and I and it seems a great many others have learned, laughed and been enriched thanks to you.
    Oh and JanieM, thanks so much for your kind comments. In due time I’ll be in touch via email, but it might take a while as this week is kinda crazy.

  221. I’ve always enjoyed your writing. I’m still fearful that the loonies will win, but at least there is hope now that they won’t. Take care!

  222. Wait, since when do you get to make this decision unilaterally? Last I heard, America was still a democracy.
    Seriously though, this is gonna leave a smoking crater right smack in the middle of downtown Internet.
    You wouldn’t remember this, and I wouldn’t even know how to find it (don’t remember the post or what pseud I was using then), but a few years back Andy called me out for cussing, I tried to slink off, and then the two of you tag-teamed me with follow-ups to try to keep me around. Which would make sense if I had been anything even remotely akin to a valued contributor, but I was just some random dude (still am). Kindness like that is darned rare. Wasted on the likes of me, but neither of you could’ve known that.
    Oh, and thanks for all the great writing and astute analysis and whatnot. That was pretty cool too.

  224. “One thing I’d like to beg of Hilzoy…at least one last final post… along the lines of “Hilzoy’s Guidelines For Blogging””
    you guys are lame, sitting around asking someone else for help like this.
    hell, *i* can write the damn guidelines for you–it’s easy.
    step 1: be hilzoy
    step 2: a few other trivial things.
    okay, there’s your guide.
    now, how hard was that? just follow those simple rules, and you’ll be a great blogger.

  225. Well, this is surprising. Good luck, your thoughtful commentary will be sorely missed. In the meantime, this is a great time to remember my favorite Hilzoy quote:*
    “If Jonah Goldberg can explain why she takes what I say to have anything to do with expertise … I’d be fascinated to read it.”
    *for anyone that missed or have forgotten the original context that makes this so damn funny, catch up here:
    http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2008/11/i-am-baffled.html

  226. I’m saddened to lose hilzoy’s voice of reason in the howling wilderness of the political blogosphere. There’s a sad lack of reason, logic, and generosity of spirit out there, even on the blogs I agree with.
    Here, though, I’ve found both posts I agreed with without feeling manipulated, and relatively civil discussions in the comments, which are a blessed relief after the fetid swamp one finds in other places.
    Thank you, hilzoy, for your thoughts and your generosity in sharing them with us, and for hosting this community. Good luck in Rwanda, and wherever else you go. I hope you find the time, energy, and opportunity in the future to continue speaking publicly on issues of importance, but god knows you’ve done more than your share already. It’s time for someone else to shoulder the burden.

  228. I don’t know if anyone’s said it yet, but it deserves pointing out:
    Many years from now, this might mark the end of the political blogosphere’s “good old days” in our memories. It will be the only way in which the Bush years will evoke nostalgia.
    “Sure, things were truly ghastly back then . . . but at least we had hilzoy!”
    So again, thank you, hilzoy, for helping me through that dark time of insanity. For helping all of us.

  230. Hilzoy
    Good luck with whatever you do. I hope to see you back some day because you think and write so well. On many occasions I have seen the following post:
    What Hilzoy said. and a link.
    No one can improve on the original, and we know better than to try.
    I’d like to thank you for making me think and to try to get better. As others have said you will be missed. The vast majority of your readers probably know nothing more about you than what they read but that has been enough. As DanS wrote we will all have to go through the stages.

  231. Thank you.
    Thinking about the world was easier with the daily click (or several) of the Hilzoy bookmark.
    I’m relieved you will still be impacting the world all the time through your students. Sigh.
    Cheers!

  232. Hilzoy,
    More than any other blogger, my reaction to your writings over the past few years is best summed up by the movie title: “Beautiful mind”.

  233. First reaction:
    Free ice cream of the highest quality, once served daily — a taste to which I and so many others have become addicted — no longer available at any price? Noooooooooo!!
    After a deep breath and a few moments of tears:
    Have a wonderful trip, Hilzoy. And enjoy your new freedom. You’ve set a standard that I hope will inspire others and last.
    And I guess we’ll get over the shakes eventually.
    Thanks.

  234. I don’t blog and I don’t regularly read very many blogs and I comment on even fewer. This blog is the exception and your posts are important in why that is so. Ethical behavior and principled thinking are personal attributes that I admire and, although I do not know you personally, those characteristics appear to be driving forces behind your posts. Thanks for your effort and devotion and I wish the best for you.

  235. So long, Hilzoy. I read fewer blogs these days, but always yours. Maybe I’ll get more work done now, but I know I’ll be a little less well-informed than I would have been if I were still able to crib off your homework. Be well. Keep in touch.

  236. Inconceivable! No more “dread blogger hilzoy”?
    Thanks for being one of the most thoughtful human voices in any kind of media.
    I wish you good fortune in everything you do.

  237. Thank you for your time and thoughts, Hilzoy. I wish you peace and richness in all the things you do next. I hope you savor your break from blogland and I hope to encounter your thoughts again.

  238. Bye, hilzoy. You’ll be missed; like others, I’ve come to rely on your judgment and good sense. I hope you’ll eventually reconsider and just post less frequently. But if not: thanks so much for all you’ve done.

  242. I’m really bummed about this. I went camping for a few days, came home missing the internet, only to discover that the best writer on the internet is quitting! What a day…
    Hilzoy, it’s very likely that you have no conception of how many people’s lives have been improved in subtle ways by your blogging. This is a great loss.

  243. I only caught you recently, but it’s been interesting. You’re wrong about the madness, though, especially with democrats voting republican and a president who wants to continue to expand executive power and secrecy. But good luck in your future endeavors and have fun in Africa.

  244. I am very new here and still unsure whether we, all of us, can have an honest yet civil discussion. But you could , so I had hope. Thanks for that hope. Best of luck.
    Marty

  245. Thank you for your contributions, hilzoy. Add me to the many voices who hope that your departure from blogging is temporary and not forever. I have very much appreciated your calm, respectful analysis of a number of controversial issues over the years. I will miss your contributions.

  248. I’ve always enjoyed your very insightful posts, and I will be sorry not to be reading more of them. I hope your time in Africa is amazing, and I wish you all the best.

  249. Hilzoy got it right. Five years ago the country was nuts. It was indeed an all hands on deck moment.
    The moment has passed. The appalling popularity of torture shows there is plenty of work still to be done, but the country is no longer in the hands of maniacs, and the center of gravity of opinion has shifted from bombastic warmongering to the zombie-like must-have-more overspending we’ve grown so used to.
    Thanks for all, Hilzoy. You made a difference.

  250. No, hilzoy!!! I hope you change your mind after vacation! ObiWi is the first thing I go to every morning to see what exciting new, thoughtful, thought-provoking, ethical words you have for us. It’s a true loss! I thought one day I could get my O’Reilly/Limbaugh watching brother to read your column and realize that all the hate isn’t necessary.
    Missing you already,
    rosie

  251. Not a regular reader, but bumped into something you wrote – about why people get trapped in abusive relationships – that not only made me finally understand, but came at a time when I could actually help two separate people who are in that position. Thanks for what you did, and remember that even just this little part of what you did helped a bunch of other people.
    Enjoy!

  253. Thanks for all the great writing, Hilzoy. And best wishes for great things in your future. You’re one of a kind and will certainly be missed.
    Howard

  254. hilzoy,
    You are by far one of my favorite, but more importantly, most trusted reads. Thank you for everything. Please enjoy the trip, and I very much wish you the best of everything.

  255. Another first-time hilzoy delurker here. I’ve only been lurking here for about a year — ever since I stumbled into ObWi and found this place to be an oasis in the “desernet”. I will miss your voice. And ditto to everything Gary has said. Selfishly, I continue to hope that you will grace us with your words in the future.

  256. Calling Publius!
    Isn’t this, somehow, actionable under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and can’t we then get an injunction, requiring Hilzoy to continue blogging unabated?

  257. “Isn’t this, somehow, actionable under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and can’t we then get an injunction, requiring Hilzoy to continue blogging unabated?”
    I think we might look into an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigation, on the grounds that a blog that isn’t equipped with a Hilzoy is not worker-safe. This place could easily become hazardous in the absense of a Hilzoy.
    Does anyone know a Blogger Compliance Assistance Specialist to ask for advice regarding this?

  258. You will be sorely missed both here & at Steve’s place. Have a great vacation & keep in touch, please. And thank you for all of your hard work, your posts are always well researched and well thought out, making them not only entertaining, but very informative.

  259. I don’t know but to say but that your departure saddens me. But on the bright side, our loss might be your gain. Enjoy your non-blogging time!

  261. hilzoy,
    I’ve been a regular reader and extremely sporatic commenter for most of your tenure with the kitty. I would like to thank you. Your posts here, with their simple and beautiful humanity even more than their brillance meant more to me than you can know. When everywhere I turned darkness seemed on the march, you spread light. Thank you.

  262. Sorry you will no longer be posting. Thanks for your wonderful words, I have learnt much.
    Enjoy your hols.

  263. This is terrible, if understandable, news. I have often wondered how you could do all that you do, and to do it so thoroughly and so well. ObWi has become the only blog that I read regularly because of your rational and reasoned postings. I can’t imagine life without Hilzoy! On the other hand, I can see how it could become a chore for you. So, thank you immensely for all of your time and effort given to freely to us all. You helped me to remain sane during an insane period. I also hope that you will find that you would like to return after a good break. You are addictive! [Grin]
    I wish you well and hope that you enjoy your time in Rwanda.

  264. Um, I know this is a bit indecent to ask, but is there somewhere we can send a resume for the job opening?
    I can’t help it. It’s this economy. I need the work, people!

  266. Chiming in way late here to add my voice to the chorus. The best tribute I can offer to hilzoy is that her always thoughtful and well-reasoned posts changed my opinion on more than one issue. When I first started reading ObWi, back in 2005 or so, I thought hilzoy was the best liberal blogger on the intertubes. I was wrong, of course. She is the best blogger, period.
    God speed and God bless, hilzoy.

  267. Hilzoy:
    Thank you for helping to shepherd so many of us through the dark years. Your empathy, perspective, world view, and deft touch made many of us feel that there was hope for us.
    If you won’t be writing here, where will you be channeling your energies? Something tells me that you will have some type of outlet for your wisdom…

  268. hilzoy may be retiring, but at least we’ll still have SuperUser’s insightful posts. Right? Right?
    How can I describe the wondrous thing that is a hilzoy blog post? Someone who has thought through the issues clearly and perceptively has put those thoughts, transparently, into words. So often political discussion is filled with confusion and distortion, with bold yet ambiguous claims followed by more modest restatements (whose relation to the original claim is ambiguous as well), and with people who address a topic by putting on blinders and narrowing in on the one point that puts their side in the best light (or the other side in the worst light). hilzoy has a way of laying out exactly what she is saying and what she’s not saying, without defensiveness, keeping everything in perspective while making her insightful and well-supported point. There is no one else like her writing on politics, and it is sad to see her hang up her keyboard.

  269. Hah. Now you’ll have the free time to interact with actual human beings. Trust me: after many many long years blogging, it turns out that it’s incredibly rewarding to return to the forum of the, admittedly slower, but infinitely more colored practice of hanging out with newly discovered physical beings and shooting the shit with them over beers. The internet is really only ever useful in facilitating this particular endeavor.

  271. Jay Rosen reported your news thusly:

    Hilzoy, a top liberal blogger, says its time to call it quits. The emergency has passed.

    0) I doubt he’s right, but you’re only fractionally responsible for it, and quite entitled to time off.
    1) I never read your blog before today, so your retirement fills me with relief that I won’t have to 😉
    2) It’s definitely a good idea to retire from blogging. You’ll find it turns into a sabbatical. Then you’ll be back with something new and even better.

  272. Reps loose S.P. And we loose hilzoy. What a los, i am going to drive my car off of the clif. It is a junk anyway.

  273. I have nothing to add to this chorus except to say that I have been a reader for years and I will dearly, dearly miss reading your perspective on world affairs, Hilzoy. I have found more value in your your writing over the years than I have found in much I can think of that I’ve read in mainstream journalism, let alone mainstream punditry. I wish you the best in all your future endeavors.

  274. Thanks, Hilzoy, and so long.
    I like to think that on the Internet, as well as anywhere else, we have the ability, the choice, to stay sane and civil. I like to think that those of us who make that choice have an effect on the people we interact with. And I’d like to think that in the time you describe as insane, everyone who made the choice to hold on to their sanity contributed to the larger enterprise of creating a sane and civil society on the Internet; a choice that may well have affected the larger society.
    I also like to think that we can all do this work, which means not depending on particular individuals, however talented, brave, and decent, to do it for us. That means that whatever decision Hilzoy makes, I salute her, and trust that if she does indeed stay retired, other people will respond to the same imperatives that brought her to Obsidian Wings.
    Cheers!
    (and fare well wherever you fare)

  275. I’ve long thought that Hilzoy is the best incarnation I’ve seen in blogland of the public intellectual.
    I almost want to argue that people with her gifts have such a unique and important contribution to make that they actually have a responsibility to do so, but (a) I recognize the folly of my trying to address an argument about moral responsibility to Hilzoy, of all people, and (b) it’s her choice and I respect it.
    Biggest loss to the world of intelligent online commentary since Billmon left. Good luck.

  276. Gary Farber is spot on in saying that Hilzoy has changed many people for the better without even knowing it. I’m an Australian political junky that found Obsidian Wings around the time that Hilzoy joined. I was immediately struck by the subtlety and moral attentiveness of her thinking, and that it was expressed so lucidly and devoid of academic pretension. Then, over time, her character revealed itself not just in her superb, careful arguments, but in the way she conducted herself with her commenters, co-bloggers and opponents – her amazing decency, tolerance and grace. She set a fine example and it was obviously natural for her to be like this.
    I remember when Andrew Olmsted came aboard Obsidian Wings. I was furious about the war in Iraq and here was this soldier who wouldn’t come out and explicitly condemn the occupation. But, Hilzoy introduced him to the readership and it was plain that they were friends. By then, that was enough to make me read his posts with an open mind. Andrew showed his own remarkable integrity, intelligence and graciousness, and he was an invaluable correction for me in my thinking about the war and the role of soldiers in it. I hope it’s OK for a stranger like me to talk about such a thing here, but it seemed to me so fitting that there was an obviously a special and strong affinity between Hilzoy and Andrew. It seemed to this reader that they recognised in each other a rare commitment to treating those around them with careful respect and compassion.
    I remember reading that Andrew Olmsted had died. I was in the US staying with my then girlfriend, and I hadn’t looked at the internet for a few days. It was hard to explain why I was suddenly weeping, why my anger at the stupid war mongers took on a new and unexpected dimension, why it was personal. He was this blogger…no, I didn’t comment or interact with him…I just read him…there was something really importantly exemplary about him. Decency. Patience. Courage. Honour. If everyone was like him, nobody would need to be killed. We wouldn’t need soldiers.
    Another moral philosopher I admire, Raimond Gaita, cites a study that shows that prison guards treat their prisoners better if they see those prisoners being visited by their loved ones. Seeing the prisoners being valued and shown respect impresses upon the guards their shared humanity, a humanity thay is otherwise so easily obscured in adversarial conditions. Hilzoy is a writer with an extraordinary talent for constructing arguments in wonderfully crafted language with a sparkling wit, but it is her capacity to treat others with compassion and respect regardless of disagreement that has left the biggest impression on this long time lurker.
    Once again I’m taken by surprise by how moved I am by a post from Hilzoy. This bloke is blinking back the tears. Thanks for the years of beautiful thoughts, you crazy Kantian. Please write more stuff for the non-academic reader. It’s not just America that needs you!

  277. Wow. I feel like I’ve been here forever. Way back when Moe was posting and Jackmoron was always around… When Slarti went away for a while (that was weird) and then came back (that was weird). When Von and Katherine were both posting regularly. When Andrew was posting as GKar. Losing Andy hurt the most, obviously. But losing Hilzoy cuts deeply.
    Good luck with everything, Hilzoy, and Thank you.
    Hopefully Sebastian and Von will pick up the pace.

  278. Hilzoy:
    I hope this comes out as eloquent as I intend…. you served a unique function in the liberal blogosphere, because you were the most willing to return to first principles on a regular basis. I suspect that more than most, your posts supplied the liberal blogosphere with a certain kind of needed oxygen.
    Now here’s the rhetorically weird part: IF the liberal blogosphere recognizes the considerable gap your absence will create, and adjusts for it, and is able to return to first principles in a similar way more regularly, then I suspect we’ll get along okay without you, and I wish you the best.
    The trouble is, I’m not sure it will. Your posts were a little too good for that.
    But enjoy your “retirement” anyway. I hope it allows you time to immerse yourself in your academic work.

  279. I came here via a romance novel blog, and it was a bit of an unfortunate introduction, but I kept coming back for the amazing analysis and wisdom that I couldn’t find anywhere else. As a result, I was much better informed about the US election than my own, and can only wish there was a Canadian equivalent of ObWi, and of hilzoy, who is probably the most intelligent and eloquent political blogger I’ve read.
    Enjoy your trip, and best wishes in whatever you choose to do afterwards. I was amazed at how you managed to keep up such a consistent output at the highest level without showing fatigue, so I hope you are able to rest and rejuvenate whether you choose to eventually drop back into public service (because surely that’s what you’ve been doing educating all of us) or not.

  281. Sorry to hear this. I’m proud of a lot of what I used to post here, but my biggest contribution was suggesting you as a replacement. I hope you do, at some point, come back or find another place to write stuff where I can read it.

  282. *delurking* I’ve read about everything you’ve written four the last four years. An excellent body of work, very sorry to see you go. Enjoy your next project.

  284. Thank you hilzoy, for all you have written over the years. I will miss you, and will continue to hope that you return to blogging in some fashion. You are my favorite blogger bar none, and my understanding of what’s going on in the world will be diminished in your absence.
    Good luck in all your endeavors.

  285. Go if you must, but know that your equitable, measured insight is an indispensable part of the discourse, whether the country is sane or insane. No one on the internet does that quite like you, and that makes you a treasure. I hope you pull a Brett Favre and come back soon!

  286. You will most certainly be missed. Thank you so much for all you have contributed to the online blogging community.
    Your writing has inspired me, and clearly many, many others. Well done. And much joy to you in this next phase of life coming.

  288. hilzoy,
    Speaking as a relative newcomer here, I know your comments will be valued in whatever venue you choose to make them.
    Oh, and thanks for the best creature-name ever. “Bare-faced go-away bird” knocks the Sarcastic Fringehead right off its perch — which is hard to do since the Fringehead is a fish.
    Enjoy Rwanda. And, thanks.
    Calm amid the storm,
    Her words made our world saner:
    Water to a thirst.

  290. Give it time, Hilzoy.
    I bet you realize that it really is still insane, that what has changed is that there’s no longer an alcoholic fake-cowboy president rubbing our faces in it.
    Whatever you decide, I’ve appreciated your thoughtful writing.

  291. I haven’t been around for a really long time and I regret that.
    But hilzoy, you constituted and convened a place that was my island of sanity in a pretty crazy time. I have yet to encounter a voice as sane, trustworthy and compelling as yours, and the wonderfully swell people who formed the ObWi community during my time here I still regard as treasured friends though I have never met any of them. They were here because you were here.
    I have been in awe of you and your accomplishments and will continue to be. Your unique presence here has quite truly been a balm for many fine souls.
    So boundless, enduring thanks.
    Ave atque Vale.
    Felix Culpa and his alter ego, Ed Fielding

  292. Hilzoy, I have so appreciated your lucid, compassionate, insightful posts over the past few years.
    I’m a Canadian living in New Zealand who has spent far too much of the past 9 years shouting in the direction of Washington. It’s been such a comfort to me to have known that there exist people like you who are thoughtful and articulate and who can help keep us focussing on our values. In particular, it has been wonderful to have posts on issues which are fact-based and arguments which are supported by data–a rarity in the blogosphere. I will miss your posts terribly; I look for them specifically every day, and they’re the only thing among my RSS feeds that I never skip.
    I am really grateful to you for all that you have written and I hope you enjoy all the newly free time you’ll have.

  293. Hilzoy:
    Thanks for well stated contrarian (at least from where I look) viewpoints without the rest of what being contrary typically implies. And you actually listen. I respect your respect.
    And I’m with Gary. There is no requirement to daily blog to be a blogger. Going cold turkey sets you up for those “unretirement” things. Just blog when it suits your fancy.

  294. So this question reflects my ignorance. I must’ve first read Obsidian Wings after you joined, Hilzoy, and I’d tacitly assumed that you’d founded it.
    So who actually did found the blog?

  295. Well, if anything would get me back this would. Jeeze.
    First, Hilzoy – THANK YOU! You have given so much of yourself to all of us. Whether we agreed with you or argued with you – you treated us all the same. I’ll echo many others in saying “best blogger ever”. And please let me know where you next make your thoughts public. If it happens to be a book that costs $29.95 I’ll buy it (hint hint). Shoot – $49.99…
    If you do truly retire now – I’m sure you’ve had doubts. “Did I make a difference?” Let me just say, as someone from the opposite side of the isle – did you ever!
    I went from Bush supporting, war supporting, torture indifferent, etc. – to voting for Obama. That is you. I went from relatively indifferent on gay rights to strongly supporting them. That is you.
    You’ve changed my thinking in so many ways I can not list them all. So many times I wanted to tear my eyes away from a post of yours. Because you made so much sense that I knew if I read it all you would change my opinion. And damn it, after enough years, opinions is all some of us have. But I had to “read the whole thing” as they say…
    Some of that was very painful, but necessary. I can honestly say that in hindsight I could not have swallowed that bitter pill if offered by anyone but you.
    You did that! You.
    You had help of course. Many of the regulars here influenced me greatly as well – but they were all commenting on a post of yours – you were the catalyst.
    Did I, as a married man, who loves my wife very much, have a blog crush on you? Hell Ya! As my political opposite, I said more than once that I would marry you if I was not already taken.
    Take care; enjoy your vacation, and your free time after that. You will be missed, but you have answered the call and done your part – hell, you’ve done the part of 20 people at least.
    You are the best there ever was, and as a conservative, I will miss your posts forever.
    OTOH, I can now retreat from the interwebs again with no guilt at all that I may be missing a great Hilzoy post…
    Take care Hilzoy, and never doubt for a minute that you had a very significant impact on people’s lives.

  296. Wow, sorry to see you go Hilzoy. Your posts and comments were challenging, humane, and interesting. We need wise [whatever you “are” ;-)] women giving perspective, hope you dip in again some time/s.

  298. “So who actually did found the blog?”
    This question comes up every few months. 🙂
    It was founded by refugees from tacitus.org, ironically enough. Specifically, Moe Lane, back when he was sane, Katherine R. and von.
    Supposedly Moe was the representative of the right, Katherine of the left, and von of the center, more or less. Not that anyone seriously expected them to represent more than their own personal beliefs, of course.
    First posts here from November, 2003.
    I showed up as a commenter in the next month, myself. Or maybe not until January; Moe made a post linking to me in December, anyway.
    I tend to get the sequence confused in my memory after that. Katherine retired and was replaced by Edward, I think. Or maybe she was replaced by Hilzoy, and Edward came and went later; I forget now. Sebastian arrived somewhere around December, 2004, after Hilzoy. Charles/Paul Bird, aka “Bird Dog” was added at some early point. For a brief time Slartibartfast was a front-page poster. Von kind of came and went a few times. Charles Bird eventually took a temporary sabbatical he’s not yet back from. Edward burned out and quit. Katherine eventually burned out and quit. Hilzoy came in somewhere around then, although Katherine later would guest on and off, sometimes quite frequently, but then eventually completely burned out again.
    Very lately Publius was added. Sometime around last week Eric Martin showed up.
    Someone should really do a timeline chart. I continue to emphatically declare, as I have from the first time the sidebar got revised, that the honorable thing to do is list all past contibutors on the sidebar as “emeritus,” rather than disappear than into non-persons, which has always struck me as a completely bizare way to “honor” the contributors here: forget about them completely and officially pretend they never were here. It’s not my blog, and not my place to say, but I’ve always found that lack of listing/crediting outrageous, I’m afraid.

  300. To a really bitchen girl, have a really bitchen summer. It was great having you in blog class these last 4 years! WOW can you believe it’s finally over? I can’t. Remember that time Cheney shot that guy in the face? That was a riot! Of course you realize all the other girls were always REALLY jealous of you…. and of course you were always the coolest girl in blog class. Well, I’m sure you’ll go out there and kick the world’s ass with whatever you decide to do, but whatever it is, stay as cool as you are in the future.
    Luv Ya!
    Xanax
    Hilzoy=
    2 good
    2 be
    _______
    4 got

  301. I suppse it is too early to be thinking of ObWis future but I am anyway.
    This is a community that I will miss if it disintegrates. It is a community which I percieve as being oriented around hilzoy’s personlity, her generosity of spirit and kindness that brought out the best in the commenters. If hilzoy really leaves, the commnity will chahnge.
    Well change is inevitable. It will not be possible to have an Obwi in the future that is the same as the ObWi so many of us have valued. But ObWi has gone thrugh incarnations before and survived. Publius and Eric are great frontpagers.
    it maybe possible to have a differentn ObWi that is satisfying in a different way to many of the same people .
    My suggestioon is to recruit some new main posters (probagbly this is an idea already occupying the minds of the current main posters!)
    Specificallly I’d like to see Gary become a main poster. Aldo I think it would be interesting to have someone who has epertise inn economics who could write posts in that braod area and perhaps someone who has an orientation toward environmental issues.
    Also I think that one way to keep people connected, friendly, civil, and empathetic is to have more open threads. People who disagree passionaltely about politics can still see each other as people if they find common ground on the love of music or animals, for example.
    In any case not only will I miss hilzoy, but, if they leave, I will miss a whole long lsit of commenters, too. Who else am i going to talk to at two in the moring when I can’t sleep?
    And I second Gary’s plea: I hope you will keep dropping by every now and then, Steve.

  302. I said it yesterday and it disappeared into the ether, so I will say it again- thank you, hilzoy, thank you very much. You are one of my favorite, and my most trusted, reads. I don’t usually have a lot to add to ObWi (besides loving Eric’s song choices) than nodding along in agreement to the clarity and thoughtfulness of your pieces.
    Thank you, and with warmest regards,
    PP

  303. I’m another who has never commented, but I need to now. I found this site somehow, Crooked Timber or Edge of the West probably.
    It immediately became my favorite blog to read. The quality of the posts, the quality of the comments, it was clear they were a step above anything else I had read. I was amazed by the whole Andy connection and went back and read everything he wrote.
    In the end though, I came to read your posts, Hilzoy, and I just want to say thank you. I know I’ve got many others to stop by here, and they, like myself, don’t comment much. But I know they all will miss your take on things, and wish you the absolute best.

  304. Thanks, Gary. I’m even more impressed that you provided such a good timeline, linked to the initial posts, and then didn’t at all call attention to the fact that I was dumb enough not to notice that this site has archives which would’ve answered my question. That’s uncommon restraint.

  305. “have yet to encounter a voice as sane, trustworthy and compelling as yours, and the wonderfully swell people who formed the ObWi community during my time here I still regard as treasured friends though I have never met any of them” Felix culpa
    Gary and many others have expressed their thanks -and the reason for their thanks so eloquently. I join the throng.
    I only discovered this treasure when I became fascinated by Obama’s nomination run. Echoing the sentiment of Felixculpa, I particularly have enjoyed the community.
    Like Marymeg, I am a Canadian who has yelled at Washington- in my case since about 1968.
    It has always been a puzzle that a great country could elect such poor quality Presidents. At the same time it has always been a comfort that there have been so many Americans who were better than their government, and wonderful to talk to so many of them here.

  306. Well, hilzoy, your announcement has finally compelled me to delurk after reading ObWi for quite some time. I thought it appropriate to mention that I always greatly enjoyed, and will miss, what you wrote, not least for its thoughtfulness and sincerity. Many thanks and best wishes.

  307. I first came here some years ago, possibly from Jeanne d’Arc if the timing fits, and haven’t been away for many days since. A great part of the appeal was Hilzoy’s (and Katherine’s) clear and thoughtful discussion of events in a world where a great deal was going wrong and many of those in power seemed at best unconcerned.
    I am hugely grateful to Hilzoy and to the other commenters, past and present, even those with whom I reflexively disagree. There is still a deep need for facts, arguments and humanity rather than distractions, misdirections, slurs, smears, lies, dog whistles and outright hate speech. Hilzoy has already done far more to serve this need than I ever will, and I echo the preceding comments in wishing her well and hoping that she will see fit to come back, at least sometimes.
    I don’t know what plans the kitty has for the future, though in my opinion the suggestion to invite Gary was a good one. Whatever comes of that, Mr Farber’s words can be read here at his own blog.

  308. Hilzoy, you do not exist solely for the purpose of informing me of things I would never have known otherwise, but that has certainly been one of your functions in the past year.
    Your posts are usually long, thoughtful, and informative, especially some of your detailed research into legislation and other topical matters. You have covered subjects I have not seen addressed ANYWHERE else in the depth that you bring.
    I have really come to rely on your knowledge and insight, but I appreciate how much of your time it has taken to digest the information and put it in understandable terms. I hope you will reconsider your decision at least to the extent that when you do your detailed research, you let us know where to find it!
    Best wishes for whatever you undertake in the future, even if it’s just returning to “having a life”.

  309. gary, your timeline is very helpful, but i think you inadvertently left out reference to the contributions of andrew/gkar.
    those, i think, made a real difference to the tone and profile of the blog. they are also not irrelevant to an appreciation of hilzoy’s own contributions.
    (and if i missed your reference to andrew, then i apologize for not reading well).

  310. [I tried to post this earlier and it looked like it went through, but apparently not. I’m going to try shorter bits since that worked a couple of weeks ago on a glitchy day.]
    wonkie among others mentions hilzoy’s “generosity of spirit and kindness” and muses about who might become a “main poster” in the future. I’d like to mention Russell, even though (if I remember correctly) he has been mentioned before and has said that he wouldn’t be interested.
    Russell’s kindness and generosity of spirit shine brightly too, even if expressed in a different style from hilzoy’s.
    He is forthright about apologizing if he has crossed a boundary, and he readily acknowledges it when someone (especially someone he disagrees with) has made a point he hasn’t pondered before. He is passionate about what he believes, but I have never seen him be mean-spirited or condescending in debate. He addresses complex issues with a conciseness and clarity that I can only envy.

  311. And since this thread is still going, I’ll join the club of those who didn’t say an explicit “thank you” to hilzoy in the first instance:
    Thank you. I’ll miss you, and you’ll always be a guiding light when I’m having trouble remembering that generosity of spirit and kindness get us further than … some other approaches to our collective discourse.

  312. “gary, your timeline is very helpful, but i think you inadvertently left out reference to the contributions of andrew/gkar.”
    You’re right. In this case, I think it was clearly a case of just not wanting to think about that. My mind plays tricks on me sometimes, regarding emotional things. Things like not liking to think about friends who have died.
    Sorry. Thanks for pointing out the entirely relevant omission.
    I’m a big fan of Russell’s commentary, btw. As I am of that of quite a few people here. Otherwise I wouldn’t be here, of course; it’s not all about Hilzoy.
    I immensely value the community that has evolved at ObWi; I believe very strongly that online/written communities, as much or more as other communities, don’t “just happen.” They can’t be just created out of good intentions, either. They take a careful mix of setting examples, nurturing the good, evolving ways of discouraging the bad, encouraging everyone to take a hand and display some responsibility in enforcing the norms of the community, while allowing none of us to get carried away with ourselves in that role, and so on.
    I want this community to continue after Hilzoy leaves, with as high a quality as possible, and it’s my intention to do whatever I can, in whatever capacity I can, to futher that goal, so long as it remains a goal that’s reasonably possible.
    I hope as many other of the regular posters here as possible will join me in feeling this way, and also doing what they can to continue the traditions, customs, and practices, that have led to Obsidian Wings overall being such a friendly, intelligent, enjoyable place for educational, fun, and often wise, conversation.
    For all that I love and adore Hilzoy, and as devastated as I am at the notion that she’ll be gone for however long, perhaps permanently, I joined in this community with enthusiasm before she got here, and found it a worthwhile place to hang out, and I hope that we can continue to make it such a place, despite the unfillable hole that Hilzoy’s absence leaves, a hole that couldn’t be filled by five of the most brilliant possible other bloggers I can imagine.
    Though something on that order is what’ll be necessary to try, I think. That, and other regular commenters not taking this as an excuse to say “well, I’m leaving now, too,” as has unfortunately, if not surprisingly, been the case in some instances.
    I strongly hope they’ll be back, too. Particularly including you, OCSteve! (Hell, make OCSteve a front-page blogger, if he can stand the tsuris, and keep his temper more than not.)

  313. delurking just to say thank you hilzoy and all the best. i think you’re one of the best in the business and will miss the intelligence and humanity you bring to your writing. once again, thanks.

  315. Thank you so much for all your insightful and clear arguments. You are a voice of reason in the blogosphere.
    I am afraid you may be a little too optimistic when you write that “Peak Crazyness” is over, but I wish you a very good time in Rwanda. I admire your dedication.

  316. My read is that we are in an interstitial period now, where narratives have not set yet. I think once things settle down and people’s ability to process out-of-context prods from reality is once again exhausted, we’ll once more be standing outside the bubble trying to get people to look outward.

  317. I want this community to continue after Hilzoy leaves, with as high a quality as possible, and it’s my intention to do whatever I can, in whatever capacity I can, to futher that goal, so long as it remains a goal that’s reasonably possible.
    I hope as many other of the regular posters here as possible will join me in feeling this way, and also doing what they can to continue the traditions, customs, and practices, that have led to Obsidian Wings overall being such a friendly, intelligent, enjoyable place for educational, fun, and often wise, conversation.
    I’m totally down with this.
    …other regular commenters not taking this as an excuse to say “well, I’m leaving now, too,” as has unfortunately, if not surprisingly, been the case in some instances.
    This is what scares me. I consider my contributions to the discussion here to be minimal. I don’t comment all that often, and I generally don’t have much in the way of new information to offer when I do. When I see the lurkers who have come out to comment on this thread, my first thought is that I should probably just be one of them and stay away from the keyboard. My second thought is that these lurkers, if they have been reading this blog regularly, probably have something to contribute and I’d like them to do so. Perhaps they could make up for, at least in part, those commenters who may decide to leave.

  319. I happily go off to spend four days with a thousand other medievalists and not read blogs, and this happens while I’m away…which Is why I haven’t said anything before.
    I was introduced to this blog by my father: though it’ll be a few years yet before my daughter will be old enough to be interested in reading it.
    I think Hilzoy’s great contribution has been her combination of clear thought and compassion. Most people who are bright enough to be able to analyze politics and to write well end up looking down on people who disagree with them as inferior, less far-seeing than them. Hilzoy went out of her way to try and see other people’s viewpoints, understand why they might think what they did think, even if she wouldn’t think that way. Her reasonableness in the face of sustained provocation has been astounding. I don’t know what else to say except ‘So long, and thanks for all the inspirational fish’.

  320. Hilzoy, you made this the blog I read most often. And your example has made a lot of difference to the way this site has grown. And I’d like to believe your comments about the craziness receding, but I don’t think it’s gone very far, or for very long. I hope you’re right and I’m wrong, though.
    You’ll be missed. Will you still be commenting at all, or has that already been asked?

  321. hilzoy,
    I have been out exploring Alaska’s summer for the last month, so I didn’t see this until today. In a way, I am glad, as I likely would have spent all my time fretting. You are, quite simply, the person who single-handedly showed me that blogging could be such a powerful tool for communication and debate, something I had been very doubtful of. I grew and developed more because of your words than anyone else writing today and I suspect that will be true for the next decade even if you don’t come back. Your influence has just been that powerful. I, like so many others, will miss you like hell.

    Good luck in all your future endeavors.

  322. Heh. I remember that bird from a documentary I saw on Showtime. A bushman was trying to hunt game and the damn bird kept alerting the animals and spooking them away.
    The vignette ended with the frustrated hunter giving the Go-Away bird a significant look, then cutting to him roasting it over a campfire.
    You’ve done some wonderful stuff, Hilz. If political discourse has stopped being crazy, it is in know small part because of your example. And like freedom, it requires eternal vigilance. I hope you return after a reasonable hiatus to man the ramparts again.

  324. Hilzoy, you should be given a big fat grant to keep blogging; the internet is a wiser and tamer place with your voice in it. I’ve come to think of you as the intellectual equivalent of a martial arts hero, able to effortlessly dispatch an adversary, yet always striving to remain above the fray. In our political discourse, it’s the incredibly rare bird (har!) who is interested in the truth and merits of an argument rather than in just “winning” the argument. Thanks for all you’ve done, and for the tireless research you’ve put into your posts- I’m not sure that has been stressed enough. Enjoy your break (and come back, please)!

  325. I just caught up on my RSS reader and this news makes me 🙁
    I can only reiterate the hope that you will stay in the debate and not retire for good!

  326. If reading this blog can be addictive, time-consuming and draining, I can only imagine how posting regular essays of comment and reaction — trying to make sense of an insane world — can affect one’s disposition.
    My attention has been focused elsewhere this summer. I immediately grew concerned today when I did not see hilzoy’s byline until I discovered this farewell, the news of which saddens me since I had added hilzoy to that all-too-short list of things you can count on.
    Almost 47, I can’t remember the last person who made me feel smarter, and more human, like hilzoy did, and I am eternally grateful for that.

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