Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Amelia Geocos


I'm back in town for a few days. A friend of mine, Amelia Geocos, was hit by a van on her bike last Friday and killed.

Amelia and I were part of a close circle of friends from the time we were twelve through high school. Since then I've seen her a few times a year, at parties, on the street. We both lived in Stuyvesant Town, a weird little community of old people and preppy kids where we didn't quite fit in. We rebelled in small ways like getting high on our rooftops, throwing eggs out the windows, screaming late at night at the flagpole to see if anyone would peak out the window. They never did.

The last time I saw Amelia I was on my way into Rubulad, a giant loft party in Williamsburg, and she was on her way out. She stopped and said something like, "I wouldn't expect to see you at a place like this!". This pissed me off. What, am I not cool enough? But it was true-I am not and will never be as cool as Amelia. Maybe I could go to Rubulad but she'd already be leaving to go someplace even better.

There's a lot of things I could say, a lot of memories that have come back to me thinking about her the last few days. Many of the things I did for the first time, the adventures I had as a teenager were because Amelia was there egging me on in both good and bad ways. She had a way of jumping into whatever the next thing was without thought for the consequences and you couldn't know her and not want to follow along. She lived vividly. I could never quite keep up but thoughts of her and how she did things have influenced me into my adult life and will continue to do so.

Last night was the first of several memorial events this week, a party at our friend Keiji's house. We basically got crunked and listened to jams like she would have wanted. I am totally hung over.

It was very special and hard to see all the people there who loved her and will feel the loss of her. I wouldn't write about it here if it hadn't profoundly touched me to see them come together. I can't really just go about my farming adventures or life adventures without acknowledging it and saying how sad I am that Amelia is not out in the world doing all the crazy beautiful stuff she always did. She'll always inspire me to live a little brighter, a little bolder. As we all should.

4 comments:

spryglet said...

I was touched by your writing during such a sad time. My deepest sympathies.

wendyfromencore said...

Tuesday night was a really good time. I think Taier put it really well when she said she could feel Amelia there. It was the kind of party I think she would have enjoyed thoroughly.

Sarah said...

I accidentally posted that as my mother.

Mike Lindgren said...

I am so sorry for your loss. A very moving post. Good luck out there. Don't get eaten! ML