Yesterday the news came that Joan Didion died on Thursday.  She was 87 years old.  I did not know her personally, only through her collection of essays Slouching Toward Bethlehem.  She wrote about the chaos of the 60s.  Her writing electrified me, and made sense, in a primal way of the extremes that had erupted all around me.  The wanton destruction of Nature, of innocent life as my country flexed the war-making muscle in Vietnam, and 1969 the year of peace and love, symbolizing the exploration of another basis for living together.

When I heard the news of her death I paused to recognize the loss that I felt.  I first felt the loss of others I believe with the death of Hunter S. Thompson.  Thompson superficially appeared, to be a “free” spirit, but he lived and wrote on the edge.  I’ll never forget reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. 

And there have been others.  The death of David Bowie affected me in a similar fashion.  I was never a “fan” and yet I returned over and over to some of his hit tunes.  I was in awe of his ability for metamorphosis as a story teller.

My generation is passing.  And the world is not the same as we found it.  So much has changed, mediated by the exponential development of technology.  With the enhanced power and reach of our tools, nations and certain individuals, favored by the serendipity of advantage, capital and ambition, have further colonized populations across the globe, spanning cultures and countries.  Yes, I mean Facebook, Google, Amazon, Koch Industries, etc.  We are in the beginning throes of global warming with devastating weather events.  The collective will to make structural changes is failing.

My generation is leaving, one by one.  Those coming after us as well as the earth are in peril.

Everyone knows that the party ends, must end sometime.  As the old saying goes, “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”  No one gets to stay here.

A fine account of the life of Joan Didion was published by NPR.  For the entire text CLICK HERE.

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We need a tune do we not, music and lyric to hold onto?  This one by Boston will suffice: More Than a Feeling. Released in 1976 it is about loss.  The song is a testimony to the power of music.

More Than A Feeling

By Boston

I looked out this morning and the sun was gone
Turned on some music to start my day
I lost myself in a familiar song
I closed my eyes and I slipped away

It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
Till I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin’ away

So many people have come and gone
Their faces fade as the years go by
Yet I still recall as I wander on
As clear as the sun in the summer sky

It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
Till I see Marianne walk away
I see my Marianne walkin’ away

When I’m tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day
And dream of a girl I used to know
I closed my eyes and she slipped away
She slipped away

It’s more than a feeling (more than a feeling)
When I hear that old song they used to play (more than a feeling)
I begin dreaming (more than a feeling)
Till I see Marianne walk away

Lyrics by Tom Scholz