Columns Sep 14, 2011 at 4:00 am

Up in the Air

Comments

1
TALK ABOUT SUSPENSE!!! I,Anon or movie of the week?!? I can't wait to tune in next week when we find out what happens. Maybe a plot twist? The she is really a he? The writers tools he was going to get was actually a big bag of dildos? I'm giddy with anticipation.
2
Sadly, @1, I Anon is about real life, which tends to be a little short on car chases and explosions. Anon describes a common and very unsettling experience - standing around helplessly watching while someone else's tragedy unfolds. Anyone who's had a similar experience can relate, I think.
3
Beautiful.
4
My god, an I,A that's beautiful, poignant and haunting. I totally nominate this for Best I,A of All Time.
5
It did not end happily, I am sad to say:

http://westseattleblog.com/2011/08/west-…
6
It did not end happily, I am sorry to say:

http://westseattleblog.com/2011/08/west-…
8
Such a touching letter. I actually thought at first that the writer actually knew the woman before the bridge encounter (now that I reread I see they did not). I'm sorry to hear how it ended.
9
How very sad! My condolences to all.
10
Folks, I see the problem here: This is simply one of the LAMEST I.A. blathers in a long tims. The problem? Lack of COCAINE. And a 40 of St. Ides would have been nice as well.
11
Maybe anon has a selective memory, I think this person is really recalling the Aerosmith video 'Cryin'. Don't worry anon, she has a cord tied to her belly ring, everything will be okay.
12
No matter how fucked up you are, no matter how much you hurt, no matter how much you think this will solve your problem,-it won't...somebody, somewhere, gives a shit. I've watched too many of you jump off bridges,I've seen too many of you in the back of my ambulance, I've watched over you in padded Harborview suicide watch rooms as your eyes bleed. Fight it. If you stop fighting they've won.
Fight it. I will glady clean your vomit and shit as you go through this, but you MUST keep fighting.
13
Why is the I, Anonymous page consistently the most assholey part of The Stranger? I'm just wondering. If this was posted on Slog it would take something like 70 more comments before you'd get reactions as fucked up as some of these.

Aaaand cue me being indignantly trolled. There's a reason I don't comment here.
14
The problem with you commenters who take this so seriously is that the I,Anon writer is writing in to get something off his/her chest anonymously. That's it. THEY ARE NOT LOOKING FOR YOUR WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT OR DISCOURAGEMENT. Its simply an anonomous letter read by the public. The end. The comments are for online readers entertainment and mean absolutely nothing to the writer. This column wasn't always online you know. So just because you'd like to think your words are giving someone some sort of love, you're only doing it for yourself.

Fuck, god forbid anyone have a humorous thought about anything.
15
I hope she has found her peace...sad, and sorry she couldn't find it here amongst life.

Blessed be, fallen soul.
16
LOL, darwinism ftw. Hope she didn't procreate.
17
@14: Whatever.

Anon, what do you think?
18
@1 - Less movie of the week, more student film. Picture it in black and white, no music. Obviously trying to style-steal Fellini or Godard. Maybe an early Sofia Coppola short film.

Fellini would totally make the letter writer or the jumper a prostitute with a bag of dildoes.
19
Written the way it is sort of romanticizes it, I think. It really is a selfish and cowardly act. The pain of it is for others. For the person it is a flash at the end of mental collapse. For the survivors it is often a lifetime of torture.
20
@13: It's the assholiest because very often the IA writer 1) thinks his tiny problem is the world's biggest tragedy, or 2) is obviously worse than the people he is complaining about, or 3) is so dramatic and whiny that even legitimate problems just make you want to get away from them, or 4) is complaining about his own stupid, obvious, and repeated mistakes, 5) obviously wants his target to read the IA and think "oh shit, that's me they're talking about," which runs counter to the "anonymous" nature of this thing, and 6) everyone is an asshole online.

Or some combination of the above. #6 most of all.

Occasionally there's an IA that seems heartfelt and briefly seems like a window into someone else's interior space. But they're pretty rare.
21
Frankly, the people throwing hissy fits over "rude" comments to IA are more amusing than this week's IA.
22
This week's IA is so fucking lame and weak, it should have been a Dear Blabby letter. And please aim for Dale Chihuly's luxury convertible when you jump. It’s the one with the back seat filled with cheap glass ash trays.
23
Fake.
24
I live in West Seattle. The whole time I was thinking, "You saw all of this while you were driving East on the bridge?" It takes like 15 seconds to drive across.
Reading the report on the West Seattle Blog is interesting (a previous commenter posted it) - reading the comments on the article, it makes me miss West Seattle. That is such a tight-knit community.
25
^Oops.. I meant to say I used to live in West Seattle.
26
SaraJean - I drove by that night too, and it took much longer than 15 seconds to drive by because there was obviously something going on on the other side of the bridge, so people were driving slowly, and there was some traffic blockage. I didn't see the person on the ledge, but I saw all the police and the motorcycle, and anyone driving by that night would have had plenty of time to observe what was happening.
27
This is the most and only touching IA I have read
28
IA is saying that s/he empathized with the woman, and wonders if it was too late. IA is sending out this message of empathy to the universe, perhaps hoping it somehow reaches the woman.

An appropriate use of this column, IMO.
29
as long as at least one of my motorcycles are operational.. i sure as hell won't be killing myself on purpose
30
I saw this while heading westbound and home. I'm sorry to hear that she jumped or fell. Depression is a sometimes fatal disease.
31
How much pain does someone have to be in? How much despair does someone have to endure before it's no longer "selfish and cowardly" to put an end to it? Being held hostage to the heartache of loved ones only adds to the desperation. Sometimes suicide is the only appropriate response to an unbearable situation.
32
That said, it is unnecessary to put complete strangers through this ordeal. Choose a more private method...
33
Great, now the tax payers will get ass raped for another fucking $4million dollar fucking fence....first Aurora, now WSB. Just fence all the goddamn bridges and over passes and be done with it. Jobs for everybody...
34
I'm the first one to make an inappropriate joke (Knock knock? Who's there? 9/11.), but having witnessed Jordan Anderson jump to his death from the top floor of the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in June, I can relate to this I, Anon more than I'd like to.

Something about witnessing a suicide (or even a near suicide) changes you. Beautifully written, IA.

And to the rest of you #10-like commenters, the only thing more boring than most of the I, Anons, are your comments. Except you, #11 - that was just fucking funny.

Please wait...

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