Wish I could be there tomorrow. Despite my online research in the past year, I never caught up to Cathy's work. My loss. She seems like one of the best and brightest.

I'm glad you wrote about Cathy. I have been a real fan of her sharp, clear writing for the last few years. I was shocked at the news of her illness, and I am saddened by her death.

Jeremiah:

You can find her work on-line. It is well-worth reading. Cathy was an original and incisive thinker. Her death is a great loss for us all—but especially for her young daughter Maia.

Kishke:

I'm glad to know that her work was read outside of LA and by another frum Jew. I always felt that my friendship with Cathy was a special privilege. She looked at the world at a unique angle and in all our conversations I was always saying to myself: why didn't I think of that?

As you know, this is rare, and only happens in a fine chavrusah.

That was Cathy.

I am very sorry I never had the chance to meet her. The value of a good and intelligent conversation isn't appreciated by most people. It sounds like she had those in great supply.

I occasionally commented there too. But mostly I avoided the endless and very contentious comments section and just enjoyed her bright, astringent, witty writing.

I'm sorry about the loss of your dear friend. May she rest in peace.

And may your memories of Cathy, the person, and Cathy, the journalist, keep you smiling.

Jake:

You would have loved conversation with Cathy. She was so smart, so fearless, so quick. We would be talking and talking, and I'd look up and it would be getting dark and I'd realize that we had been talking for hours and hours. She was just hypnotic.

I am sad.

Pearl:

Thanks so much for your kind words. Karen and I are going to the levaya tomorrow.

Kishke:

Yes, the comments section in Cathy's World got, er, quite heated. Democrats really hated her. They considered her a complete traitor. No wonder. She was one of them and knew all their tricks. Thus, Cathy was pitiless in exposing all their hypocrisies and endless social failures. She was so good at it that they often just ended up exploding in public, like the famous Laurence O'Donnel clip from the Dennis Miller Show. And Cathy would just cooly smile and and let these peaceful liberals expose themeselves for the leftist fanatics they really are.

Boy, how they loathed and feared her.

Yes, Laurence O'Donnell. He of the prominent neck veins.

Kishke:

He almost exploded. Soooo funny. He was defending the wretched public schools here in CA.

P.S. He transferred his children to private schools not long after this disgraceful appearance.

I drifted away from her comments too, although it was too bad because it was really only one or two people causing problems. And yet she still considered them friends. She was a better person than I'll ever be.

If you've never read her and want a nice nutshell, check out her 2003 media year in review. Mean, funny, and correct.

P.S. I didn't know that about O'Donnell taking his kids out of that school! Oh, that is just priceless.

Robert:
I didn't see the clip myself, but only read about it in Cathy's post-game deconstruction, which was devastatingly funny.

Treacher:
That article was great! She could really turn a phrase.

Jim:

Cathy was giving me a blow-by-blow of the O'Donnel Affair--she felt it ranked right up there with the Dreyfuss Affaire--a few months later. She was furious that I had not seen it on TV. Anyway, after she got over her anger, she told me about O'Donnel putting his kids in private school.

"Well, he is an idiot, but he is not stupid enough to doom his kids to a prehistoric education," she said.

Baruch Dayan Haemes. I enjoyed her writing.

Dear Robert,

I am sorry to learn of Cathy's passing. She was quite a lady, I am sure. My condolences to her daughter Maia and to you as her friend.

I remain,

Very Sincerely Yours,

Alan D. Busch

Psychotoddler, Alan:

Thanks so much.

Hi...I don't know if you remember who I am, but I wrote you and Karen an email Yom Kippur time...my sister was in high school with your 2nd daughter. Maybe you remember? I wanted to tell you that my Sabba in Israel passed away yesterday & I wanted to write this to you anyways, so I figured this is a good entry to do it on. What I wanted to say was that yesterday afternoon after I heard that my sabba was niftar, when I was trying to calm down in my room, I put on the song of Ariel and was reading old entries on the blog about Ariel, z"l. His funeral was in Israel so I could not be there, which is really hard for me, especially since I am in my dorm here in college, away from my parents. It really helped me, and continues to help me all the time now, as I read the words about Ariel & listen to the song. So thank you again! N.L.

What is the song of Ariel?

Kishke - you can read about (and download) the Song of Ariel here.

Cathy's passing saddened me greatly. Thinking of Maia's loss devastates me. I was waiting for you to comment, Robert, so that I could find some consolation. I found it. Thank you.

Ni:

Of course we remeber you. Thanks so much for writing. Karen and I are very sorry to hear that your Saba is niftar. Baruch Dayan Emet. We're glad that the song and the blog give you some measure of nechama. That's why we started Seraphic Secret.

Please stay in touch and let us know how you're doing. Have a lovely and meaningful Shabbos.

Raffy:

I am glad you found some consolation. Thanks so much.

Hi Robert. Found your blog via Libertas. It dawned on me that you're the guy who wrote "Help! I'm a Hollywood Republican" for Frontpage couple of years ago, an article to which I've linked on numerous occassions. After reading that wonderful piece I thought, "this is the bravest man in Tinseltown!" I'm happy that being a staunch Republican has not hurt your career.

I'm saddened for the loss of your friend. My prayers and condolences to Maia. May Cathy rest in peace.

Acacia:

Thanks so much for your kind words—about me and especially about Cathy and Maia. Very nice of you to write. The folks at Libertas are good friends. Cathy and I spent time together at their wonderful film festival last year.

Baruch Dayan Emes.

She sounded like an incredible woman, and to find such a person in this day and age, of incisive ability and wit and knowledge, is not so easy. Or even more importantly, someone who would respect someone else she disagreed or didn't understand, as when you write about her take on Orthodox Judaism..

I'm only sorry I heard about her rather late in her illness, would like to go back and read her writings. Thank you for sharing this about her, it's a moving tribute.

OK, in less the past 12 hours I've taken a virtual tour of "Cathy's World". Here's my impression:

Any publication she wrote for changed from bottled water into a crisp martini. She was the olive -- savory, faintly intoxicating, even nourishing.

I'm sure she wouldn't want the mourning to last too long. (And I bet she and I would have hit it off smashingly.)

Maurice:

She was an incredibe woman. And I'm sorry i did not make it clear in my hesped, but she was ferociously proud of being Jewish.

Jeremiah:

You have painted an accurate portrait of Cathy. She was a class act all the way in her professional demeanor.

But it's in her role as a mother that I most remember and admire her humanity and accomplishments. Seeing her with Maia was just... magical.

Sorry for the loss of your friend. Cancer is a savage foe...

I've always been curious about her "brand" of Judaism. You say "orthodox" isn't for her, but what was? (not so much movement, but orientation) She was such a talented and eclectic individual, she couldn't have fit well in any movement, is my guess. Nonetheless a friend at her hospital bedside said she had chosen well in her rabbi. I don't think I ever read her thoughts on this.
Maia and the world have lost an amazing and spunky soul! We should all try to be more like her.

Jac:

Cathy and I never really discussed her brand of Judaism. It was clear to me that she was not interested in joining any established movement. She was just... Cathy. Intensely proud of being Jewish.

The Rabbi who officiated at the funeral was Reform. She did a fine job.

How cool! I love that she was independent! I should have known. Thanks for reporting and filling in the lacuna for the rest of us. Baruch Dayan Emet, and Shabbat Shalom

Dear Robert:
Two years ago I ran into your old CAA agent (Adam Krentzman?) and he told me about the loss of your son. I tried to find your phone number and couldn't.
I wish I could send this as a personal e-mail, but this is the closes to that I can think of.
I'm so sorry about your son. The little you told me about his situation I know he struggled heroically. I know you and Karen and your other loved ones did to. Courage counts.
I learned about this blog by following a chain, concerning the passing of Cathy Siepp that started with my friend Ann Thompson (who I've known since going to film grad school at NYU in 1976. ) I'm sorry about your latest loss.
Are you familiar with a novelist named Thane Rosenbaum? Two years ago we made friends and I did an adaptation with him of one of his books, Second Hand Smoke, a sort of black comedy about a perpetually-angry child of a Holocaust survivor who can't stop being angry at his Mom. Thane reminds me of you a lot. (His day job is teaching law at Fordham!)

Larry:

Thanks so much for your kind note. Yes, Adam was my very first agent at CAA. He's now an Indie Producer.

It's true, courage does count, and Ariel was, perhaps the most courageous person we have ever known. Thanks so much for recognizing this virtue.

I do know Thane Rosenbaum's work and cannot imagine any screenwriter better suited to adapting his work than you.

Wishing you and yours all the best.