I received word from Lisa this evening over at The Shattered Lens that Gary Loggins, one of our writers, passed away over the weekend. I’m going to miss him.
I’ve been in a bit of shock over the past few hours, alternating between tears and smiles. Tears for his loss, smiles for his Kindness and Passion. I can’t say I knew him directly – we talked to each other only a few times, but his writing always showcased his love for cinema and he was kind to others (something in short supply these days). It’s not easy putting words on the page, but Gary was the personification of Wu Wei, the Taoist notion of Effortless Action. He made writing seem like it was the easiest thing to do and I like to think it was because he had so much to say. Every member of the Lens has their own specialty or focus, and classic films was his. He had this quiet consistency that’s easy to admire. He wrote like he didn’t care if anyone was reading, and as a result, found a lot of people who enjoyed his work (myself included).
We sometimes forget that behind every set of paragraphs, there’s a writer with a finite amount of time to their lives. We assume that there’s always a new post around the corner, a new article being written. That they’re willing to put in the effort to get their thoughts down and then have the courage to actually share it is a gift. That there’ll be nothing new to look forward to stings. I honestly wish I got to know him a little better than I did.
Though he didn’t know it, Gary was also part of the inspiration for Days Without Incident. He was one of the first individuals outside of Ryan that had his own separate site while still contributing to the Lens overall. This convinced me that itt was possible to still be part of a team while still doing one’s own thing.
Gary’s work can be found on his personal site, Cracked Rearviewer.
I’m labelling this an Incident, and as such, dropping the clock back to zero.
