Resquiat in Pace

As my friend Squidbag posts, today his friend and mine Jonathan Guy would have turned thirty. This post started its life as a comment on Squidly's blog, but grew.

I also had the privilege of knowing Jonathan Guy at New College, more as Mac guru than in his incarnation as PBJ. I'm sorry to say I never smoked up with Jon, but I did get to know and like him a great deal.

I still remember the day I found out that Jon had died. I had just returned to New College from my home in Sunrise, in southeast Florida, where I had been avoiding working on my thesis. I was sorting through all the junk in my campus mailbox, when I found the note from Student Affairs about Jon's death. I felt at the same time empty and overwhelmed -- my usual reaction to the deaths of those close to me. This was a big theme for me at the time: as some of you reading this know, my New College thesis was about watching my dad grow sick and die of AIDS.

After I finished my thesis, I spent more time than necessary on its acknowledgments pages, a New College tradition. Allow me to quote from the first section:

Rescquiat in Pace [sic]

Jonathan Guy. As he wrote on Josh Heling's dorm room wall, shortly before he left New College for the last time, quoting King Lear: "As flies are to wanton boys, so are we to the gods -- they kill us for their sport."

I really liked what Squidbag has to say. If you knew Jon -- or if you wish to honor the memory of anyone who is no longer with us -- I commend his post, linked above, to your attention.