So many deaths this week. Steve Jobs, 56, is the most obvious one, but before that there was:
Peter Benson, 65, founder of the Search Institute, a Minnesota-based research and social change organization. Benson was responsible for exploring the concept of "community assets" -- the positive features of a community that make it likely its young people will grow up to be happy, well-adjusted adults.
Judith Martin, 63. A geographer, Martin headed the Urban Studies Program at the University of Minnesota and had, over the years, a strong influence on planning in the Twin Cities. You could always count on her to bring clarity and a big-picture view to any issue of the day.
Janet Spector, 66, was a feminist archaeologist at the University and one of the founding professors in the field of women's studies there. Her book What This Awl Means was ground-breaking in focusing on the meaning of everyday objects among Native American women.
Derrick Bell, 80. As the New York Times put it, Bell was a "pioneer of critical race theory — a body of legal scholarship that
explored how racism is embedded in laws and legal institutions, even
many of those intended to redress past injustices."
I didn't know any of these wonderful people, but I'll miss all of them and what they brought to the world. And every one of them died of cancer.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
A Week of Losses
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2 comments:
Thank you for this. I hadn't seen the notice of Judith Martin's death. I didn't know her well, but one evening 25 years ago she and I enjoyed a long, relaxed conversation with then-San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros after he spoke at Macalester. It was one of the best evenings of my life; they were both very knowledgeable and very fun to talk with.
Janet Spector was an amazing teacher. She opened my eyes - several times - back in 1974.
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