Jay to be honest I am not interested in "seeing" you die, I would much rather see how you live. I've seen death up close and was faced with the very real possibility of my wife, Glenna, dying a few years ago. Through that I learned, it's not how we die, but how we live.... but maybe that is just me...
Heath http://batmangeek.com http://aroundcincinnati.net --- In [email protected], "Jay dedman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Some of you may know Ferd Eggan, a videoblogger who joined this list last year. > He died on Saturday of liver cancer. > > He did a videoblog called Cranky PWA (person with AIDS): > http://crankypwa.blogspot.com/ > Here was his first post: > http://crankypwa.blogspot.com/2006/07/watch-video-person-with-aids- talks.html > > Ryanne and I got to know Ferd really well over the last 12 months. > He had a long history of activism and using different media for his > art. I wish he had more time to learn to use videoblogging to explore > parts of life media usually ignores. > It was exciting to work with someone who was not afraid of trying something new. > > anyway....as our community gets older, I guess these are the breaks. > maybe one day youll get to see me die! I'm determined to get it on camera. > > Jay > ________________________________ > > My friend and comrade Ferd Eggan died this morning at 7 minutes before > 7 on the 7th day of the 7th month of the 7th year of this millennium. > I guess he wanted to have an auspicious send off into wherever his > spirit and energy goes next! > > He was a warrior, strategist, writer, artist, activist, friend ... in > the political, social and intellectual movements for liberation of our > time. He was engaged wholeheartedly and variously in the southern US > civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, women's and gay > liberation, Weather Underground, Puerto Rican Independence, political > art (as a writer, actor, film maker, website and blog creator), queer > and critical theory, ACT UP, harm reduction, "post-Marxist" > anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, trans and gender variant rights and > freedom, etc etc etc. > > I am grateful and proud to have been his comrade in fact for the past > 17 years and comrade in spirit far longer than that. We shared the > experience of growing up as bright, rebellious, anti-racist, > not-yet-aware queer boys-to-youngmen, yet privileged in some ways as > males and whites and "lower middle class," escaping the "idiocy of > rural life" in small town America to elite universities, on full > scholarship, only to find a new kind of alienation, as we were > repulsed by the blithely self-confident scions of the ruling class we > found there as well as the role proffered us as loyal servants in > exchange for a well-off "upper middle class" lifestyle. We each > dropped to work full time in the Southern civil rights movement and > then on to the contradictions and joys of sexual and gender liberation > and radical politics, sex and drugs and 'personal liberation' and > careers as teachers and organizers, meeting up for the first time in > 1990 in ACT UP and Being Alive -- the PWA Coalition of Los Angeles, > where he was the E.D. and I was the Board Chair. He recruited Mary > Lucey to AIDS activism when she was still fresh out of prison with an > ankle bracelet and hired her partner Nancy McNeil at being Alive; we > both encouraged and supported them in founding what became Women > Alive. Ferd went on to be an innovative AIDS Coordinator for the City > of L.A. for 8 years, persuading the Republican mayor to permit and > allow Ferd to use city tax money to fund needle exchanges, get > federal money to build a housing project (Safe House) for PWAs who > might still slip and use drugs sometimes, and to spearhead and fund a > landmark study (by Dr. Cathy Reback) of crystal methamphetamine and > its effect on the gay community and HIV-transmission-risky sexual > behavior. He retired on disability in 2001 and went on to write a > novel and then create a variety of multimedia political art and > journalism, some of which can be seen on his web site ferdeggan.net, > including some compelling interviews with figures from the past > several struggles of social struggle, and his blog, "Communiques from > a Cranky PWA." >
