For
the Memorial Service for Michael Hauben
on June 29, 2001
by Ronda Hauben
I have found it
very difficult to write something to say today but I will try.
On the one
hand I think of Michael's many accomplishments. Among them
was his sensitive and gifted ability to do research and to write. From his
grade school days, he wrote about progressive subjects like the ideas of Tom
Paine or the heroic deeds of the Flint Sit Down strikers who brought industrial
unionism to the US. Michael's writings even won respect from UAW pioneers
and were printed in the annual issue of their trade union newspaper commemorating
the victory of the Flint Sit Down Strike. One of the sitdowners, Floyd Hoke-Miller,
a gifted poet and writer, asked Michael to take up the torch Floyd had carried
of trying to
better the conditions of the common people.
When Michael came
to Columbia University, he took his gift for writing and
research and began to research the history and impact of the Internet. His
writing spread an understanding of the importance of the Internet as a new
communications medium. He also discovered and developed the concept of the
Netizen, of the people online whose contributions to the Internet made it possible
to spread the Internet and to make it a unique and wondrous new human
communications system. Michael's work was done in the early 1990's and set a
foundation for the rest of the world to discover the importance of the Internet
and of the Netizen. When Michael was unable to get into a PhD program, he went
to work doing computer support. He loved to help people use computers and the
Internet.
He also became involved with mailing lists of young people trying
to create a cooperative culture via music events.
Recently Michael
was hit by a taxi cab and had difficulty getting
adequate medical attention because of the no fault insurance law
weaknesses. Also he lost a job that he loved and was having a
frustrating time trying to utilize a grievance procedure that
seemed broken. He also had a large credit card debt, but only
got a little money from unemployment. Even this little money was
soon to run out.
He was losing his
apartment. And recruiters were telling him
that the economic conditions meant that they weren't sending out
resumes of people with gaps due to unemployment. Such problems
would have made a strong person cringe. Michael was a sensitive
and courageous person, but he felt he had been weakened by the
recent events he had suffered through.
I don't know why
we lost Michael. I do know that someone who
had contributed so much and had such potential for continuing
contributions needed a way of finding help with these burdens.
I know there are several people who tried as best as they could.
It was painful for Michael to tell us his problems and I only
found out about some a few days ago. I knew I needed help to be
helpful to Michael but I didn't know where to get the help. We
didn't have the resources ourselves to help with some of the
problems and I couldn't figure out how to find a way to get
help from others.
After Michael died
we found a notebook he had written some
notes in. Among the notes he wrote, "Someone/thing is trying to help
but it is not enough."
Whether there was
any way to help I don't know. But I also
know that I felt there was a breakdown in communication between
Michael and me and the larger family we are part of and the
larger community we are part of.
We have lost Michael.
It is a very grave loss. Is it possible
from this loss to learn how to build the communication links that
will help us both to say a proper goodbye to Michael and to
continue the work he pioneered?
I will never know
what happened and why we lost Michael. But I
do know that I needed a way in this situation to be better able
to communicate to see if I could find any help. I have to learn
from what has happened how to go on and how to carry on the work
that Michael pioneered in his research in human communication.
With great respect for the contributions of my beloved son and
co-author.