Quinn Norton on Aaron Swartz

Quinn Norton, who was Aaron Swartz's lover, remembers him:

We used to have a fight about how much the internet would grieve if he died. I was right, but the last word you get in as the still living is a hollow thing, trailing off, as it does, into oblivion. I love Aaron. I loved Aaron. There are no words to can contain love, to cloth it in words is to kill it, to mummify it and hope that somewhere in the heart of a reader, they have the strength and the magic to resurrect it. I can only say I love him. That I will always love him, and that I known for years I would. Aaron was a boy, not big, who cast a shadow across the world. But for me, he will always be that person who made me love him. He was so frustrating, and we fought. But we fought like what we were: two difficult people who couldn’t escape loving each other.

My Aaron Swartz, whom I loved.

• [euansmith]

  I’d never heard of him before, but it sounds like he’s left a hole in the world. All the best to everyone who knew him. I hope your memories are good one.

• [Andrew Singleton]

  No words of mine either in affirmation of the man’s life or sadness at his death will change what has happened. I just hope those he’s left behind will be able to find peace. My grandad didn’t after my grandmother passed. Mourned her til he ended up going. I hope that doesn’t happen. It’s a sad thing.

• [Dewgeist]

  “There are no words to can contain love, to cloth it in words is to kill it, to mummify it and hope that somewhere in the heart of a reader, they have the strength and the magic to resurrect it.”

  If I can’t resurrect a sense of what that love meant to Quinn Norton; then the fault lies entirely with me.  Her words were perfect.

• [corydodt]

  Thanks. This made me cry.

  “His love for Ada filled the room like a mist.”