- 7,363
- 28,985
- Joined
- Dec 8, 1999
This is certainly a sad day for all of us fortunate enough to have known Jake in any capacity.
As his time here proved, no matter how large the setting or how limited the exposure, his personality shone through with brilliance and clarity.
It was, for many of us, impossible to be exposed to Jake, even through a medium as distant and impersonal as text, without experiencing his wit and affable,good-natured character. Friendly and thoughtful, it was easy to see why he became known as a favorite among those who knew him through NikeTalk.
Fewer know that he was also a voracious reader, someone whose passion for life led him to seek out knowledge not for abstract or egotistical purposes but,rather, to better understand and improve the world around him. Though sadly infrequent, I always thoroughly enjoyed our discussions on and off NT, some ofwhich ran for over an hour and covered a wide breadth of topics. Within minutes we could go from sneakers to politics, from pedagogy to our mutual dislike ofDuke. He was a consummate people person, easy to talk to and even easier to like.
He was a great friend to us on NT, someone who people instinctively gravitated towards, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to tell him as much and let himknow how much I appreciated his presence here - for he truly is one of those people who made it so much fun to be part of this community.
A recurring theme in our conversations, due to NT, was diversity, and I thought I'd share a couple of quotes - contrasting quotes - of his about diversityand NikeTalk in particular, that we would all do well to learn from.
When I mentioned, once, that diversity was our greatest strength he responded by saying,
As his time here proved, no matter how large the setting or how limited the exposure, his personality shone through with brilliance and clarity.
It was, for many of us, impossible to be exposed to Jake, even through a medium as distant and impersonal as text, without experiencing his wit and affable,good-natured character. Friendly and thoughtful, it was easy to see why he became known as a favorite among those who knew him through NikeTalk.
Fewer know that he was also a voracious reader, someone whose passion for life led him to seek out knowledge not for abstract or egotistical purposes but,rather, to better understand and improve the world around him. Though sadly infrequent, I always thoroughly enjoyed our discussions on and off NT, some ofwhich ran for over an hour and covered a wide breadth of topics. Within minutes we could go from sneakers to politics, from pedagogy to our mutual dislike ofDuke. He was a consummate people person, easy to talk to and even easier to like.
He was a great friend to us on NT, someone who people instinctively gravitated towards, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to tell him as much and let himknow how much I appreciated his presence here - for he truly is one of those people who made it so much fun to be part of this community.
A recurring theme in our conversations, due to NT, was diversity, and I thought I'd share a couple of quotes - contrasting quotes - of his about diversityand NikeTalk in particular, that we would all do well to learn from.
When I mentioned, once, that diversity was our greatest strength he responded by saying,
no doubt, it's amazing to me, and it really is an international community, I have met a lot of great people on NT, that I wouldn not have otherwise met, Menace, Bastitch, you, hell I stayed with Alex, and KingMajix in the bay, Sulu, so many. I really am one of NT's biggest fans.
On the same subject, years later, he wrote,
I am not you, and thank god you are not me. This convo would not have lasted long if we were not two different people. Celebrating diversity is the key. NT (and the internet in general) causes us to lose our differences and become a name and an avy
Too often, there's a tendency among people to conform, to be eager to please and fit in rather than to be an independent thinker and remaintrue to ourselves. So, I really do hope that we can all learn from (and, more importantly apply) Jake's example to our own lives.
I don't know if he was ever afraid to be himself during his all too brief time here, but, if he was, he never let it show. He will always be known as anindividual, and an wonderful one at that. He greatly valued his friends, including the friendships he made here on NT, and treated everyone online as aPERSON, not just a "screen name" or "persona."
Jake was - and is - the type of person you never forget and while I expect countless among us to mourn his absence, we would do well to remember, too, that wewill have been forever enriched by the time he shared with us.