[bksvol-discuss] Re: Extremely sad news to the Bookshare.org community
- From: "Estelnalissi" <airadil@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:21:49 -0500
To All of you who mourn for Gustavo,
I grieve with you.
Gustavo has died and I don't approve. I want him to be kicked back to step one
where he can be grabbed and validated, his heart repaired as neatly and easily
as a scanno can be made in to a proper word. This is one of those painful times
we must accept the things we cannot change.
How is it that I can be so stricken by the death of someone I've never met?
Because Gustavo was the keeper of the golden stars.With every book approved,
"excellent, almost no errors," he glued a shiny gold star to my forehead. I was
thankful and inspired to earn another.
On the way to those stars I had countless one sided conversations with him.
"Gustavo, notice I've spell checked the short synopsis." "Have my comments
convinced you the copyright information is precisely correct and exactly what
Bookshare needs?" "Uh, oh, I'm being long winded again. If I leave anything
out, it might be the thing I needed to say to get the book approved. If I write
too much, you may skip my book because you don't have all afternoon to read my
comments. Delete, delete, delete!" ."Come on. Come on. Approve. Approve! Sorry.
It's not just about my book. You have other books, other responsibilities and a
life. I can be patient. You'll be back with more stars." "I'm repeating your
name to myself again. Gustavo Galindo is so rhythmic and musical. It would be a
crime to call you Gus."
Once I was terribly embarrassed because I uploaded a book and left, "Save for
Lissi," as part of the title. Thoughtfully, one of the list monitors alerted me
to my mistake and suggested that I send a post to Gustavo about it. At the time
I squirmed to have to admit my carelessness, but now I'm glad I uploaded that
defective title because the incident resulted in Gustavo emailing me twice. In
a post with the subject line, "low importance," briefly but convincingly he
assured me it was all right to make mistakes. At that time I was still
uninitiated in computer jargon. "That Gustavo is such a nice guy!" I gushed to
a friend. "He wrote low importance in the subject so I'd know my mistake was no
big deal. Wasn't that a cute way to do it?" Now I know the broader usage of low
and high importance and today's high importance post from Jim heralded
terrible, tragic news.
In his second post, Gustavo notified me he'd corrected the title and approved
the book." That efficient but kind interaction was special to me when it
occurred, but is a treasure now.
As I validate, I'll imagine Gustavo is noting the format, page breaks, and
accuracy and completeness of the text. As I upload, I'll imagine he's checking
that all of the boxes on the form have the right stuff. In fact, I'll think of
things in shambles as, "kicked back by Gustavo and things well done as, Gustavo
approved.
Always with love,
Lissi
----- Original Message -----
From: Jim@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2007 1:53 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Extremely sad news to the Bookshare.org community
It is with great regret and sorrow that I inform you that Gustavo Galindo
passed away suddenly yesterday. Gustavo was the Site Manager for
Bookshare.org, and was the foundation of our Bookshare.org team. He was
involved in the rapid growth of our collection over the last four years through
personally approving each book being added. Gustavo was fierce in his
dedication to serving people with print impairments while getting it right, by
taking our commitments to publishers and authors seriously. He had a
formidable intellect, and his insights, understanding and sense of humor will
be sorely missed by our team.
We can honor Gustavo's commitment to access and books by doing our best to
bring more books to more people with print disabilities around the world.
Jim
Jim Fruchterman
President and CEO
Benetech
480 California Avenue, Suite 201
Palo Alto, California 94306 USA
New direct line: +1 650 644-3406
Fax: +1 650 475-1066
jim@xxxxxxxxxxxx
www.benetech.org
The Benetech Initiative - Technology Serving Humanity
Benetech is a nonprofit organization
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