My husband was an Owl. In the last few years of his life – being already in his eighties – I got him this stone sculpture to keep looking over him when I was traveling with my film’s screenings and outreach. The Owl sits now with two other stones I painted with words of poetry to mark his presence in the area under the live oaks where I scattered his ashes. We were together for 25 years, and he was 25 years my senior.
Bob loved poetry, his father was a poet. I chose the poem in yesterday’s entry for a memorial pamphlet I made in 2016. To get a feel for Bob’s originality, intelligence, rebel nature, humor, and fierce integrity, have a look at Memorial Page from UC Berkeley Sociology Department, where his students – themselves accomplished and renown professors and writers across America – and colleagues share insightful and funny stories. Very fun to read. Bob was a character :) and a Mensch.
You will hear more about him in the coming months. His 1989 book Black Lives, White Lives will finally be re-issued in paperback by the University of California Press on February 1, 2022 (ready for pre-order soon). For the past months, I have been shepherding the 32-year-old classic of a book through its timely rebirthing process.
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