Goodbye 90 Day Jane

For about a week I've been following the internet hullabaloo about 90 Day Jane, the woman who announced that she would count down the number of days to her suicide with daily blog posts.

I am going to kill myself in 90 days. What else should i say? This blog is not a cry for help or even to get attention. It's simply a public record of my last 90 days in existence. I'm not depressed and nothing extremely horrible has lead me to this decision. But, does it really have to? I mean, as an atheist I feel life has no greater purpose. My generation has had no great depression, no great war and our biggest obstacle is beating Halo 3. So, if I feel like saying “game over”, why can’t I? Anyway, I hope you enjoy my thoughts as the clock runs out. Also, if blogspot takes this down before i’m gone just go to www.90dayjane.com. Please don’t attempt to “help” me. If you want to truly help, please send me ideas on how to do the deed. thx-Jane

The blog garnered massive attention and "Jane" reflected so in her posts, talking about media companies that wanted her story. Like most, I was pretty sure it's all some viral marketing scheme, a goth version of LonelyGirl15. But the comments were hilarious. An example: "Can you make it nine day Jane? Seriously. Attention whore. But either way, before you die, can you post pix of your clam?"

Anyway, just when things were getting very interesting, Jane pulled the plug yesterday in a post called "Day 0: The Resolve":

My closeness to this project must have made art seem like reality to many people. That is not a reaction that I expected nor can I morally justify. This is why my project, 90DayJane, will be taken down in the next few hours. 90DayJane was meant to mirror the tragic figure, Christine Chubbuck. Newscaster Christine Chubbuck committed suicide in 1974 by shooting herself in the head live on air. She was very vocal about her depression to those around her and gave every indication of her exact intentions leading up to the event. Sadly, no one reacted or helped Christine and those left behind could only ask “why”. Her story both inspired and terrified me because I can truly empathize with her rage and even her isolation. I wondered how Christine’s life and subsequent suicide would would play out in our time. Would the internet be yet another place of isolation to her or an escape?

Ah, interesting. For those too young to remember TV anchor Christine Chubbuck, her live on-the-air suicide in Sarasota, Florida was one of the most shocking stories of 1974. Just a few years later her story was part of my journalism course work at UCF.

90 Day Jane is already taken down. So what did Jane's experiment teach us? That even a woman threatening imminent suicide will be asked for pics of her clam? Anything else? Anything? I don't think so. Oh well, at least now we've got her copycat, 90 Day Joe.