A great big hello to you, and here's wishes for a very happy (and revolutionary) new year.
This year has been very tough for me, personally, and I suspect that the deaths of people we know and care about will only accelerate as we age. I really don't know how some of the older folks do it.
I'm thinking of this year's "departures" starting with WBAI's Steffie Brooks and her battle against the cancer (and the doctors) which ravaged her body but not her mind. The Greens' Maria Kuriloff, who spent the last decade selflessly helping to strengthen AIDS patients with acupuncture. Classical music's Alice Levinson (a fellow Brooklynite and longtime friend). Wonderful poet and revolutionary (and peaceful) inspiration Dennis Brutus.
Those I knew personally. No, I'd never met Michael Jackson or Walter Cronkite. I know that Alex knew Natasha Richardson, talk about tragedy! At least I still crack up thinking of Soupy Sales, and why he got thrown off the air.
How is it possible for the world to keep turning with all of them no longer a part of it? Or my cousin Lillian?
And you too, Grasshopper (David Carradine) .... And Peter Paul & Mary's Mary Travers! Ohhhhh.
I will at the very least raise a glass at midnight in remembering all of them, how they intersected and touched my own life, and possibly many others here. Please join me ....
Love to you! Mitchel Cohen