Dana's been gone for a few months now, but she's still been on my mind.

After planning a family trip to an alpaca farm, I remembered a conversation I had with Dana in which I told her that my wife and I talked about moving out to the country, where I could see the stars and she could raise chickens and alpacas. Dana stopped me there and made me promise to let her come pet the hypothetical alpacas.

on the weekend of Dana's passing i went to a friend's 50th birthday party with my family. my 15 year old daughter, Maegann, agreed to come even though she didn't really want to. while eating dinner i looked up at my daughter and realized she had put a safety pin in one of her ears as an edgy statement of expression.

this fashion choice made me think of Dana. more than once i've thought of Dana when thinking about the future of my Maegann. Maegann is a beautiful girl who has struggled at times trying to fit in; before settling on fitting in not being that important. she loves animals and is empathetic, possibly to a fault, which causes her to put up the hard shell of social protection. sarcasm and even mockery are staples in that defensive arsenal.

as Maegann has struggled with depression and anxiety, i worry about her future, as any parent would.

one thing that has often brought me solace during the hard times with Maegann was being able to see Dana as a role model. with all the similarities i see between Dana and Maegann, it helps me to see an example in Dana of someone who thrived despite the challenges.

and yeah, i know Dana would be the first to see the irony in my use of the word thrive in that last sentence, but i use the word honestly and deliberately. while it may be tempting to look at the tragic end of Dana's life as her ultimately losing her struggle, i don't think that would be a completely honest reflection. Dana was a survivor enough to bring value and good and joy into the world and that's something that i certainly hope for my daughter.

as someone who dearly loves several people who deal with depression, i know how much of a struggle it had to be for Dana to be that consistent force for good and i'm grateful to her for letting me be a small part of it.

with love,
-bk

kirkby: because as soon as you add humans into the equation, it gets complicated
Dana: yeesh, amen to that

I was saddened to hear about Dana's passing. I worked with her at the State. Considering the vast difference in age (old enough to be her mother), she was a breathe of fresh air in a world that is regulated by protocols and procedures that oftentimes seemed stifling.

Some fond memories:

• A story about a girl who befriended crows that learned to recognize her and brought her gifts
• A kickstarter link for a new type of astronomy camera
• A video of a preying mantis devouring a hummingbird
• A video of a chicken playing at the beach
• A story about birds of prey that are trained to capture drones
• A story about people who used light-equipped drones and long-exposure photographs to draw geometric shapes in the night sky

I became friends with Dana when she asked if she could turn one of my drawings of Jack McCoy from "Law & Order" into a tattoo (the same tattoo from an earlier story, the one she had covered up because it looked too much like George W. Bush). Apparently I was her favorite artist, and for some reason she felt this qualified me to give important life advice... and pretty soon *I* was the one asking her for advice. We had a lot of those giant, rambling internet conversations that were sometimes deep and meaningful and sometimes just meaningful nonsense (one time she asked if I'd seen Stranger Things season 2 and I said, "God no, I hate that show" and then she proceeded to describe the plot in detail, line-by-line as she watched it). I'm not really sure how to articulate our friendship except to say she was a voice I could always count on, and I'm crushed I can't count on it anymore. Every time I draw Sam Waterston or Jerry Orbach (which will be many times) I will think of her.

I recently joined Instructure and Dana went out of her way to make me feel welcome.  She introduced herself to me and ensured that the team took me out to lunch.  Starting a new job is never easy, but Dana reached out multiple times to give me advice or fill me in on little details to help me along.  I realized very quickly that everyone at Instructure knew and absolutely adored Dana.

Reading many of these stories affirms what I realized in the short time I was able to interact with her.  I won't forget the kindness that Dana showed to me.  She will be greatly missed.

Like many people at Instructure, my first contact with Dana was within a few days of joining the company to get my first accessibility ticket and the deadline to complete it. In my first few weeks I nailed a lot of accessibility tickets including one that was open for two years. Shortly after that I became a team lead and she sent me a message of congratulations and saying "i feel like i can trust you with the a11y stuff." Because of the regard people had for her, and her reputation on holding people to the fire over accessibility, it felt like I leveled up at my job with just that sentence.

Ok, well, here goes I guess. Every time I get in the car K$sha starts playing, including whatever that weird K$sha remix situation was this morning, so you are obviously getting annoyed I’ve just been ignoring all this (cuz you and I are ALWAYS fine, right?). All my life I wanted to have a real sister. A sister that loved me back as much as I loved her, a sister who WANTED me as a sister, a sister who I could count on and talk to and tell things to, a sister that  I could trust. It took me 32 years but I finally found one when I met Dana. She informed me via a facebook relationship status update I was to be her sister after we met for the first time (and she barely talked to me. She just liked that I was mean to her boyfriend), and effectively began her process of stealing me from her REAL sister, which I was totally okay with. I liked that you were essentially the dark version of Laura, I loved that you wanted to drink lots and talk about allllllll the dark things. I loved how hysterical you always thought I was. I loved the incredible value you put on me. I really loved you. Thank you sister- thanks for the concerts (that Laura got to chauffeur us to), the (very) late night cocktails and convos, the art, the (unrequested) makeup tips,  the laughs, the tears, the hugs you begrudgingly let me give you. Thank you even more for loving Moonlight, loving my daughter (who is really just you but even smaller), and really, really loving Me.  I’ll miss you sister. So much. I may not have had you for long, but it was real fucking cool while I did. I’ve got Laura from here. PS- I’m still putting pineapple on my pizza. Haunt me if you must. #sistersistertime

Love,

MacKenzie Gilson

My first interaction with Dana was related to a media interview about our launch of the Canvas Accessibility Checker. There was a spokesperson, but he wanted to prepare with Dana because she was the source for accessibility. She was a bit nervous when we talked about the interview, but that melted away when we started talking about the importance of accessibility. Her passion overcame any nervousness. She was an accessibility champion and made us all want be better. 

Later, we interacted on the #dogs channel at work (we both had French bulldogs). Being a more reserved person, I was a bit hesitant to join a channel that was less about work. Dana was the first to welcome me and comment on my dog. She's French, so she is called Mademoiselle Josephine. Dana would refer to her like that and it made me feel welcome and just happy to be around someone who loved animals so unreservedly. 

That channel became a respite at the end of long days, or simply a place to go if I needed a place to recharge, and Dana was always quick to reply. Always. I still expect to see her response when I post, so I post a bit less now. Whenever I do, she is in my thoughts. I am so happy our little group was able to donate to Road Dogs & Rescue (a bulldog rescue she'd mentioned and donated to in the past). She made me feel so welcome. I am so happy we met and will never forget her kindness.   

Dana is one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and despite only working with her for 2 years,  she made a huge impact on me. Dana's outside demeanor and her true personality were so different. Once you discovered that, seeing that dichotomy and the front she tried to put up to hide who she truly was,  was amazing.

As a 6'5" and 300lb ex-offensive tackle,  she was one of the few people in the world that truly intimidated me a bit at first when I started working with her.   Our first interactions were as we were trying to ship a product, under severe duress, and we were mostly concerned with it  not blowing up or even getting it working at all, not at all about accessibility.   

Her constant gentle pressure, relentless slack stalking and sometimes  direct threats,  got me to grudgingly add most of the stuff she was asking for as we got closer to release.   It was after weeks and month of these gentle corrections by Dana and Pierce,  that I started to truly understand the passion she brought to speaking for people who couldn't speak for themselves. Something near and dear to my heart.   Her passion for others and protecting them and making their world better, is what makes her such a great person.

Over time, and meeting by meeting,  she would let slip that she had this huge heart and a nearly limitless capability to care for and love people.  Her interest in people's snacks, what their pets were doing, what they did or didn't put on their pizza, what shows they watched,   showed how much she cared about everyone around her. 

She also had a hilarious sense of humor,  something that was often best exhibited online in numerous slack chats we had about stuff. 

My favorite memory was one day she came to harass me about A11Y courses she'd signed me up for that I had somehow procrastinated for months. Her pitch was  "you need to get these done cause they all reset again in December", this was late October.  I thought about it and said "so you're telling me if I can just procrastinate 1 more month, these all go away and I can just start fresh right? " 

She got this pained look in her face,  just said "dammit!" and turned around and walked away laughing. 

I am really really sad Dana is not here. I hope that she knows, and can feel the love that we all have for her.  I sat in my first meeting without Dana wiping tears off my cheeks.   I'm sick to my stomach she wasn't there to yell at me about some accessibility bug we'd missed. 

She is an amazing person,  sorely missed by her family and friends here,  and I look forward to seeing her again in Valhalla.  Until then Dana,  Godspeed,  we will miss you and you will not be forgotten.









 

I was scared to talk to Dana at first.  And then one day I was talking to someone next to her and we got started talking about Twilight and how we both loved it.  I changed my name to something I chose when I got divorced because she made me realize that I could.

When I was trying to decide what name to choose she ended up at my desk and was asking me why I had a page of baby names up.  I think at first she might've thought I was pregnant, but when she found out, she helped me choose a name because I was having trouble making decisions.

We started a D&D group a long time ago that Dana joined because she hadn’t been allowed to as a kid.  I’m not sure why she stopped playing, but as we finished the storyline, we kept using her character (who’d been killed and turned into a vampire) and even though we often forgot where we were in the storyline, it was easy to remember Acrid because it was Dana.

I’ll miss seeing her say “I love him/her!” in the #dogs Slack channel every time someone posted a picture of their dog and badgering people to post pictures of theirs if they hadn’t yet.

I remember she said something about Munda being her life coach.  Getting to know her better in the last few years, it makes more sense to me.  Munda was fiery and proud of it.  I think she helped Dana be okay with being fiery.

I didn't get to know Dana as well as I would've liked, but I kind of thought we might with all the changes I've made recently.

Dana - I'm sad that I'll never get the chance to know you better.  You made life more fun at Instructure, and I'll miss all of your commentary in our Slack channels.  Reminding us to be adults, to be grateful, to take better care of each other, and especially all the things you would say that would make people laugh.

I promised I would. 

Dana was the Queen calendar stalker. One time, I added an event to my calendar to "Interview Dana's Replacement". It only took her about 30 min to notice it. She laughed and then threatened my life :)

She was the first person to text me to see how I was doing after knee surgery. She collected money from co-workers to buy me a wedding gift. She defended me when I wasn't there to defend myself.

Dana, thank you for being so much fun and so kind.

Dana was one of a kind. She often joked about having RBF, but it was just a front to keep strangers at bay. She couldn't help but attract people with her flattering good looks, unwavering style, artistic tattoos, and vocal personality.

Having known her for many years at Instructure, we became good friends. We hung around the same co-workers; and back then it was a tight-knit group. She'd always be the person to bring along on our Beto's runs, because she was so fun to be around. She brought her unique and contagious laughter, her witty comments, sly remarks, and gorgeous smile that would always light up the room.

Some of my fondest memories would certainly include nerf dart wars with her. You couldn't help but want to get her to laugh and smile. Some mornings I would fly by her desk on a scooter armed with multiple nerf darts and surprise attack her from afar. She'd always let out a shriek and immediately retaliate with a smile.

I'll always remember how much crap she would give me for wearing "bro" shoes. Apparently if you have white shoes, especially if they're Vans, you're automatically in the "bro" bucket. I'd always be like "I'm not a bro Dana! Gosh!". She'd always get a kick out of it. 

I'll be getting the "Dana Style" Beto's burrito in your honor. We love and miss you.

In a crowded hall at a tech conference last year, Dana walked up to me, stopped, and didn’t say a word. Thinking she wanted to get by, I started to step aside.

“Where are you going?” she said. “I’m standing here on purpose. I need your protection from the stranger danger!”

I joined Instructure shortly after Dana did. She was a part of my life for almost seven years, and she enriched it in many ways. Her fierce advocacy for people marginalized online by disabilities such as blindness was an inspiration to me, and it’s hard to overestimate how many people benefited from her tireless efforts.

More personally, she shared my passion for astronomy (as evidenced by her dog named Nebula!). Before a lunar eclipse or a comet apparition or a meteor shower, she would remind me to take pictures, and she’d be the first to “like” them once I posted them online. I recall a time when she asked about a particular eclipse, and I said it wasn’t visible from our side of the globe. She replied in true Dana style, “Well that’s stupid.”

I will miss Dana’s quirky style, her infectious laugh, her terse and witty Facebook posts, her inquiries into the welfare of my family’s pets and not-so-subtle hints that she would like to see pictures of them, her walls of emoji wishing people a happy birthday, and so much more. She was one of a kind.

My first interactions with Dana were when she jumped into conversations where people didn’t understand or appreciate the impact of digital accessibility. She brought a passion to the topic that I had never seen. As I would learn later this was nothing new for her. Dana was a champion for people who others dismiss or don’t bother to understand.

Dana was one of my favorite people for so many reasons; her kindness and inclusivity, her mischievousness, her sense of humor and infectious laugh, her honesty, everything.

More and more little memories keep coming back...

Hating her own birthday but insisting on buying me lunch on mine. Trivia night. Starting the avocookie tradition. Discovering BMad's middle name despite his best efforts at stopping us. Dutch cheese club. Her asking me for a custom shirt I made even though we both knew it wasn't that good. Listening to me vent nonstop about some assclowns that afflicted us. Keeping in touch with me after I left Inst.

:black-heart: and :pizza: forever

This story involves Dana and another one of my favorite people who is no longer with us, Benj. We went out to lunch at (I believe it was called) Joanna's, a weird little breakfast place that had a train that ran around the ceiling. 

At the time, Dana had this tattoo on her foot of Jack McCoy, one of the characters from Law & Order. It bore an unfortunate resemblance to George W. Bush. While we were waiting for our table Benji pointed down to the tattoo and said, “George W. great president or greatest president of all time?” and started giggling in a way that only Benji could. 

Dana stomped her foot and responded with “Staahhhhp! It’s not George W!” in that sing-song, pseudo-whiny voice that we’ve all heard a hundred times. Then she started laughing with Benji, because it was impossible not to laugh when Benji was having one of his giggle fits. 

It was always fun to get Dana a little worked up, so Benji continued to tease her about it from time to time, working “George Dubya” into conversations with her. I don’t think it was more than 2 months before she had that tattoo covered up.

I think, for me, one of the things that highlights who Dana was as person wasn’t a single event. It was something she would do quite often. Dana had a way of figuring out what snacks people liked. She knew I had a weakness for gummy bears—don’t ask me why, it’s a problem and I’m working on it. 

When Dana would see the little gummy bears stocked in the kitchen, she would often grab a few for me and just put them on my desk or hand them to me in a meeting. This wasn’t limited to gummy bears. There are these little “flip” yogurts that would show up in our refrigerator from time to time. Often when she saw them, she would write my name on one and transfer it to the other refrigerator. Then she’d ping me with some cryptic message like “check the fridge.” I don’t think I ever told her what stuff I liked, she just picked up on small clues and decided to do something kind for me because that’s the type of person she was.

I’ll never forget the first time I ever interacted with Dana, it went something like this,

(on irc chat channel)
me: hi - i hear you like pizza and comic books and nerdy stuff and that we should meet *waves* we should be friends
dana: yes we should
me: <3
dana: <3

Being the only two women in this channel for a very long time a camaraderie was built and shared through random chat conversations.

Years later we ended up working together and I got to see how much passion Dana put into her job, her friendships. I’ll never forget when we worked on a t-shirt design together and through the creative collaboration (and some good-natured criticism) she coined the term “finpits”. We’d reference it years afterward in random conversations or meetings and laugh, the two of us usually being the only ones that understood its meaning.

... the times she’d msg me just to have me send a picture of my dog, Puck, because he made her happy… the brewing talks...the whiskey talks… the video game chats…the comic book talks... her instagram likes and comments on my art... the times she would just direct msg me about the good work my team was doing, how much she appreciated it… the list of good times honestly goes on and on. I'll always remember you, Dana.

#finpits forever <3

Dana, I'll never forget the time that we found a recipe for chocolate sriracha ice cream and decided to make it in the break room. We made an incredible mess and it wasn't even that good, but whatever. At least we didn't knock over any microwaves.

Or how about the time that you came over to our place to swim, and you brought a little doggie floaty so that Ava could paddle around in the pool too. It was hilarious, I wish I had a video. Puck went nuts because he couldn't jump in and swim with her, because of his bum leg.

I still say that Dune would've been a great book club read.

I'm working on a chocolate beer recipe, and I'm naming it "Danger Grey". I promise I won't pour this one down the sink. We'll remember you always.