Someone messaged me saying she was concerned I was using someone else’s name to get my own project out. I didn’t really understand because I was just blogging about digital stuff on campus, right? Well it turns out there was someone named Dave Szulborski who I’m not related to at all, but he did A LOT of really amazing digital stuff of his own--creative, groundbreaking, and honestly inspiring stuff. He made Alternate Reality Games that amazed people who got to play them. People still talk about them years after the games ended. He wrote books about them, too. Anyone who works with ARGs these days owe a debt to Dave Szulborski.
Dave Szulborski died of leukemia 4 years ago. He is as fondly and respectfully remembered for who he was as for what he did. I never knew him, but I share that admiration of his work and respect his memory. As someone learning about working in the digital medium, I’m honored to have the same name, and would never want to sully it. I think of this sort of online story telling of my own as a tribute to him, if only a very very modest one.
