For the past week I've been thinking about my college classmate Brad Will. We weren't really friends, but we attended many of the same parties. My eternal memory of Brad will be of him grinning; he was often stoned. The college was small enough that we all knew each other in some way.
Brad was murdered in Mexico about 15 months ago. I'd heard about this in early 2007, but the echos I got were that he was a photographer in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It turns out that the story is a lot deeper than that. If you have read the current issue of Rolling Stone (Johnny Depp is on the cover), then you will have read about Brad. Unfortunately, the article about him is not available on Rolling Stone's website.
I feel humbled. As I said, I wasn't friends with Brad, but we were often at the same parties, and we had mutual friends. On the other hand, given the size of our college campus, I could rightly claim that we were friends, for numerous reasons.
Brad took a different path than I did after college. I'm not surprised that he did so, and I admire him for what he did. When I first heard about it, his death didn't shock me. It's only in learning more about Brad's life after college, and the things he did, that I feel sad. Well, and the first news I had of his death made it an accident and not a murder.
Brad ended up filming his own death. It's all out there, on the intertubes. But I'd prefer to leave you with the memory I have of Brad: He was tall and skinny, and his glasses were big. His smile was bigger, though, and that's what he left you with. He was always happy — yeah, maybe he was always stoned back then — but you never left his company feeling down. Rest in peace, Brad.
he did have a big smile.
Posted by: sizz | January 22, 2008 at 19:01
I'd rather know Brad the way you remember him. Thank you for sharing your memories with us.
Posted by: Catheroo | January 22, 2008 at 21:39
Filming one's own death would be macabre. It is hard to lose people who are part of our memories or lives.
Posted by: Margaret | January 22, 2008 at 21:55
I'm sorry about this Ali. {Hug}
Posted by: Carrie | January 23, 2008 at 00:17
Nice piece Ali. You should do more writing like this. You have a knack for it...reflective, insightful.
Posted by: Gretchen | January 23, 2008 at 09:30
YOU knew Brad??!!?? I can't believe the coincidence.
I was in Mexico when the riots in Oaxaca escalated, which was also when Brad was killed. The Mexican news showed his video immediately. At the time, I wondered if the US news was as candid with his death as the Mexican news--we tend to edit a lot of things and PERHAPS (considering the brutality of the video) rightly so.
Brad was indeed killed, and he was killed for going into the middle of what was an extremely important strike against the abuse of power and corruption in Mexico--he went to the middle of it, where no other journalist dared to go, in order to help the people of Oaxaca to fight what is a rampant disease in Mexican government. He gave his life for this cause.
I must say, I last saw the news report and his video over a year ago, but I will never forget one second of the footage. I am glad that you have other, more pleasant memories of this unique and courageous man.
Thanks for the post Ali.
Posted by: Aly | January 23, 2008 at 11:51
Oh dear Ali. What a sad story. Here I am saying there´s no way for Americans to make a difference in Mexican politics and yet here´s this guy dying in the streets of Oaxaca for it.
Posted by: misschrisc | January 23, 2008 at 12:20
Oh man, he filmed his own death? Oh my God, I don't even know what to say here. Big hugs to you and of course prayers to Brad up above.
Posted by: Ms. Glaze | January 26, 2008 at 14:39
I didn't really know what to say, but then I thought of your friend when I was listening to "For a Dancer" by Jackson Browne. (Cf my last post on And So Forth, although I didn't write about that directly...)
Posted by: Betty C. | January 28, 2008 at 01:56
Happy landings, Brad. Thanks for making a difference.
Thanks for the piece, Ali.
Posted by: Geoffrey | January 29, 2008 at 07:09
He doubtless would have been touched by the way you wrote about him. Premature loss - especially one as jarring as this - is never easy, of course. But when good souls like you share so poignantly, perhaps some good can come from something so senseless.
Posted by: Carmi | February 08, 2008 at 17:24
Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed listening to the song from Will's site as I viewed the images on Flickr.
John :)
Posted by: John C. Kieger | February 22, 2008 at 17:09