Jay Lake Memorial . . . Thing
So . . . we all gathered at the Six Arms today, ostensibly in honor of Jay. A lot of folks were there. I knew all of them. We greeted each other, hugged. We ordered food. We talked a little about Jay. We talked about a lot of other things. And then ebourne and I left. We went and had ice cream. And . . . that was it
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At the annual gay square dance convention, which like the whole gay community has suffered more than its share of death over the years (though, fortunately, not so much lately), we have two traditions: a Memorial Tip during one of the "everyone dances together" sessions, in which we dance to honor the memories of all those we've lost (sometimes a sad song, sometimes a joyful one), and a time for each club to pin the badges of those members who've passed on in the last year to the memorial quilt which hangs in a quiet place at every convention. These are a couple of ways in which a memorial event can be added to an existing gathering, and neither takes more than 15 minutes.
There isn't a lot of time to devise an appropriate memorial event or to get the word out. Maybe we could ask for an announcement at the awards ceremony (is that when everyone wears their Hawaiian shirts?) for a be-shirted gathering of all Jay's friends at the end of the ceremony to take a group photo in his honor. (It's the Locus Awards, there will be many good photographers present.) Perhaps we could all raise a glass to him as well, if that's an option at the venue. Of course, there would be sitting and talking about Jay afterwards, but the ceremonial gathering and acknowledgement of Jay's passing is the point. Would that be enough of a formal acknowledgement, do you think? Or is it too much like the informal JayThing this weekend?
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