To my friend, Jon.


Yesterday I lost a dear colleague, but above all a dear friend.

I am afraid I will never be able to write these words, if I do not do it now, now that the pain is still so sharp and vivid.

Jon was not perfect. In fact, among other things, Jon has taught me that there is no such thing as perfection, and that the illusion of perfection can be a tricky one, something than can fuck up your mind, and pretty badly.
Jon was not perfect. What was Jon, you might wonder? I am not sure words will help me, but Jon was a lot of stuff. Clever was only one of these things. Inspirational, another. The right amount of rebel, too. A bit crazy, also. Jon was also kind, compassionate. Understanding and loving.

I have met Jon some years ago, the passion for open knowledge has created the occasion for our first, random encounter. Almost everything I know today about open scholarship, I know because of Jon.
He used to tell me that I got the key thing for being a successful open science advocate: what he loved to call the "Italian fury". He would make countless jokes about the enormous dose of caffeine I need in the morning just to be able to open my eyes. Jon would check on me, the days where he knew I wasn't doing too great. Jon would send me random stuff from the internet, to make me smile.

If I look back, I don't have a lot of memories of what we nowadays call in-real-life interactions: we have never lived in the same country, let alone the same city. What I have to remind me of Jon are countless messages spread across all platforms, infinite email threads about ideas, projects, proposals for papers to write or presentations to give. I still remember the first time we talked about an open science MOOC (together with our loved friend Ivo) - and the letters we started sending out asking for funds and support. Jon knew this was a great idea, I was afraid it'd never work out. Jon did not stop believing in it for a moment.

Jon was persistent. Coherent. Fighter of a good fight.
Jon believed in equal rights, equal opportunities, equal access to knowledge.
Above all, Jon believed in humanity.

Truth is that today I am sad as fuck to live in a world without you, Jon.
And yet I am grateful for having called you my friend.

I wish you were here to tell me how to deal with this.
I can almost hear your voice - "you do you, Paola, don't rush it, take time to grieve for this loss, healing will come, I promise you".

I damn hope you're right.

I will miss you deeply, Jon.

Paola



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