Friday, September 7, 2012

David Rakoff


This is a great piece done by NPR on David Rakoff, one of This American Life's contributors who died a few weeks ago from cancer at the age of 47.  I have listened to it twice now and figure I will run through it at least once more to commit some parts to memory.

I think I am so moved by it because his personality seems familiar to me.  He has an undeniably Jewish sense of humor and approach to the world.  He reminds me of myself, my husband, of many people I know and love -- very pessimistic, self-loathing and critical -- but at the heart deeply hoping none of that is true. 

Beyond his exacting observations of the outrageousness of life, he finds keen and beautiful reflections on what it is to be human. Towards the end of the piece, and his life, his desire to experience that is palpable.  
Skip to 40:20 to listen (its much more powerful coming from him)  

"He had thought of himself as uniquely proficient at seeing, but now that sense felt insufficient. He wanted to grab, to possess, to devour, to eat with his eyes -- how he needed that power."

I think he achieved that and left poignant reflections here for the rest of us -- all that you can hope for as an artist or human I guess.



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