Great in Death as in Life

I had gone to bed more than once with these individuals. We spent nights curled up together on the couch, in the recliner, and multiple times in the bed. I always shared my favorite blankie. When I actually met them in person, it made those nights even more special. 

Each year, the literary world loses greats, those individuals whose lives were changed by great books and who went on to change lives. This loosely penned blog is no place to begin writing about Maya Angelou. What I have to say won’t make her more than what she made herself, as she wrote in “Phenomenal Woman”: “I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me.” 

I’m always shocked when I hear about the death of an author. After all, I grew up reading books by dead authors. Perhaps it’s because they give life to so many characters. Perhaps it’s the growth of young adult literature. I envision a young person driving the plot, dealing with teen angst or grappling with first loves or racism or sexuality or poverty. Perhaps it’s due to social media bringing the authors into our lives and classrooms through Skype or Twitter. 

When I last saw Walter Dean Myers, he didn’t even look like a man in his mid-70’s. He had attended the National Council of Teacher’s of English (NCTE) annual conference numerous times where I had the great fortune to see him. I posted a picture on Facebook that was taken in 2013; I didn’t stand in the autograph line that was around two hours long. He lived what he wrote. On Twitter, Kylene Beers (@KyleneBeers) posted about Myers, “Reading is not optional.”

It was the recent passing of Nancy Garden that truly inspired this post. The A&E section of the Chicago Tribune listed 84 Notable Deaths of 2014. There was no date listed for the scrolling picture column nor were there 84 deaths noted (some of those images were advertisements), but there was a picture and mention of a director who died on July 2 which was more than one week after Nancy Garden passed away. Angelou was No. 16 on the list. Fred Phelps, Sr., a documented bigot, hater of human rights for all individuals, and someone who willingly disrespected funeral rites for military servicepeople, was No. 41. Garden did not appear on the list.

I had the great fortune to sit at a roundtable discussion with Garden at NCTE in Boston last November (2013). It was actually blind luck. I entered a room late to listen to authors talk about censorship and they broke off into roundtables. Due to my untimeliness, I ended up at a back table, but it was a table that welcomed Garden. Garden is special to me for a number of reasons. She was a brave and courageous woman during a time when those traits were not embraced. I wrote about her extensively in my dissertation.

She was a groundbreaking author in regard to writing about issues of sexuality. It has been oft written about, and she discussed it that November day, why she chose to write Annie on My Mind: As a young lesbian, she was looking for a book about a young lesbian who did not commit suicide, die, get sent away, or get turned into a heterosexual. According to Lambda Literary online (http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/rem/06/24/in-remembrance-nancy-garden/), Garden was set to receive the 2014 Lee Lynch Classic Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society because Annie was “one of the most important classics in lesbian literature.” 

While I can still take any of these authors to bed with me, each of these people will be greatly missed. Just as in life, these individuals will live greatly in death.