"A Sad Farewell to My Friend, Deborah Yesner" (my pass-along)

"Exhausted, frustrated, underpaid, she’d come home and -- how she found the energy I don’t know other than to say that it was a testament to how much she believed in what she was doing -- she’d monitor Bill O’Reilly; The Factor. (Can you imagine doing that after a hard day’s work?) . . . (ChrisBG, another member of our group, figured it out at one point: we were bringing in roughly 6¢ an hour for the hours we worked.)"

-- from "A Sad Farewell to My Friend, Deborah Yesner"

This post -- written by someone I don't know, about someone whose name I didn't even know while she was alive -- reached me through the common online pass-along route we're all familiar with. I'm not sure why it hit me so hard, but I think I know why I want to pass it along to you. It's a reminder of how many people are doing their share, or maybe more than their share, to do something about all the crappiness we see in the world around us. Goodness knows, they don't do it for recognition or praise. Somehow the loss of someone like Melanie's friend Deb demands some kind of acknowledgment, even celebration, even if it has to come posthumously. I wish I had something consoling to say to her family, except that their wife and mother isn't forgotten, least of all by them. -- Ken

A Sad Farewell to My Friend, Deborah Yesner

December 24, 2009

In January of 2004 I sent an email to Robert Greenwald, then an independent film producer, now the head of Brave New Films. That email changed my life; it resulted in me becoming one of eight researchers on Robert’s film, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism.

From there, we eight -- outraged at what we learned during the making of Outfoxed -- established the blog News Hounds in June of that year.

Among us we watched thousands of hours of Fox “News.” During the summer and fall of 2004 we watched in horror as Fox led the charge in the SwiftBoating of John Kerry and Kerry’s refusal (or inability, or whatever it was) to fight back. After the election, we were exhausted.

It was hard to get back on the horse but we all essentially committed to keep going; to keep exposing Fox for what it was — anything but “fair and balanced.” We hoped Democrats -- particularly Democrats who had a say in things -- were noticing what an amazing and well-oiled propaganda machine Fox was. Still don’t know if they were or are.

Deborah Yesner was one of us; one of the original eight. She taught special needs kids in her real life. She worked all day -- five days a week -- at that thankless job. Exhausted, frustrated, underpaid, she’d come home and -- how she found the energy I don’t know other than to say that it was a testament to how much she believed in what she was doing -- she’d monitor Bill O’Reilly; The Factor. (Can you imagine doing that after a hard day’s work?) She’d spend an hour watching the show and then an hour or three posting about it -- for four years -- for no pay mind you, other than the pittance in donations we’d split among us every quarter. (ChrisBG, another member of our group, figured it out at one point: we were bringing in roughly 6¢ an hour for the hours we worked.)

Then, in October of 2008, after suffering from very bad headaches for several days, Deborah -- Deb as we called her -- suffered a ruptured aneurysm in her brain. For the past year+ her husband and daughter have cared for her as she suffered infection after infection; was moved in and out of the hospital, back home and then to a nursing home and back to the hospital. On and on. The hospital took care of her physical needs, but the nursing home that her husband’s insurance would pay for was unequipped to care for her medical needs as well as provide the physical therapy required to give her a fighting chance to recover to the fullest extent. A facility like that was a step or ten above what his insurance would pay for and he couldn’t afford the out-of-pocket expense. (One can only imagine -- $10,000 per week?)

On Tuesday I learned that Deb had contracted a very serious infection. The doctors said there was nothing more they could do. Her husband and daughter decided to put her on a morphine drip and make her as comfortable as possible. Today her devastated and heartbroken family had the strength to inform us that Deb died later that day.

Deborah Yesner was a fierce believer in freedom of the press and in the freedom of speech. But she did not think it was right that a “news” network that claimed it was “fair and balanced,” but in reality was the primary propaganda outlet for the Republican party, should be allowed to use that slogan.

Deb was a jewel. She loved her husband and daughter with all her heart and soul. She was a wonderful person and a cherished friend. Her death is an indescribable loss to me and to the world.

Good-bye Deb. Love you (but I can’t believe I’m writing these words).

Melanie

Thanks to Melanie -- and to the other friends who passed this piece along till it reached me -- for sharing this remembrance on her Say It Ain't So Already blog. (Check the original of this post for links.)

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