Community

I went to a memorial this past weekend for an amazing person. I only knew him by sight, but many of my friends were close to him. I might not have gone but I was asked to play on a song, and I'm so glad to have been there. It was incredible to see how many people came from near and far on such short notice.

I've been in Davis fifteen years now. I remember getting here and buying a bed frame on Craigslist from a couple whose children had all left for college. Seeing that we only had a car, they helped us by bringing the frame over in their van and even reassembling it. Coming from Los Angeles where my mother raised us with a healthy paranoia about strangers, it was refreshing to be in a place where people are kind and talking to strangers can lead to new friendships. And coming from Los Angeles where at any given location, it's easier to run across a celebrity than a friend, I love being in this town where walking around, I'm pretty much guaranteed to run into at least a half dozen people I know.

The man who died was only 34, my little brother's age, and he died in his sleep of natural causes. It's tragic and sobering that someone so young and fiercely full of life can be gone in a night. Being at the memorial was sad and beautiful -- hugging friends, getting overheated in the sun, watching the kids run around and chase hoops, seeing people who have left Davis and come back and left again and came back for this, all of these people who are this town to me, our community.

It reminded me how important it is to spend time and cultivate friendships with people you love or find interesting or are just getting to know. It's good that I interact with lots of folks at work because left to my own devices, I tend to hide away and work on my projects by myself. Seeing the web of friendships brought together by this man makes me determined to spend more time with other people. But after the memorial, I met up with Charlie and while he worked on the forge, I worked on this sculpture, thinking about the beauty and delicacy of life, its intricate connections and balance.