Real Kato Blog: Heather Armstrong

Well-known pioneering blogger Heather Armstrong has died of suicide at the age of 47.

This is already national news and I'm really not adding any new information here. But it seems fitting to write an old-school blog entry about this instead of writing on Facebook or Instagram... you know? I know that I'm a nothing writer with a nothing blog. It's questionable whether anyone will even see this post. But I can remember, for a while, that bloggers were a community, and we shared something real. Blogging was therapy for me, and Heather was part of that.

Heather was sometimes labeled a "mommy blogger", though I find that term to be reductive. In her heyday in the mid-2000s, she was brilliant and groundbreaking, writing with biting wit and brutal honesty. She was the inspiration for hundreds if not thousands of other bloggers. It's not a stretch to say that she laid a lot of the foundation for the "everything-in-my-life-is-public" social media world that we inhabit today.

I was lucky enough to meet her a couple of times, at the BlogHer conventions of 2005 and 2006. She was effortlessly charming and genial.

And she made my site a little bit famous because I was, for a while, the top search hit for "Heather Armstrong boobs".

Yes, it's true that she had her share of controversy, particularly in recent days. I won't go into all that. But what I think is important to emphasize is that Heather struggled with addiction and mental illness, and right now I can't feel anything but sadness for her and her family about that. I can only hope that there's a lesson for everyone here: if you see someone close to you struggling, get them help. Do whatever it takes. It will be hard, but the alternative is far worse.

Rest in peace, Heather.

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Posted by Ken in: bloggers

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