Leslie Harpold
I won't pretend that I knew her better than I did. I was awestruck and envious of her ability to tell a story with extraordinary grace, humor, and insight. Her talent was so glaring to me, her voice so clear, that I imagined the words just spilled out of her onto the page, and without so much as a spell check, she'd hit 'save' and gift it to the universe.
She came to a party that Choire, Philo, and I threw in the summer of 2002, at the place on East Houston that once was the Idlewild bar. Not that long ago, but another lifetime ago, it seems. That was the first and last time I met her. We had mutual friends, and I wish that I'd gotten to know her. But that seems like such a selfish thing to say after someone is gone. I should have made an effort while she was here.
Hers was one of the first websites I found when I discovered blogs. Exactly how I happened upon even the word 'blog', I can't place, though I remember that time vividly. She was a pioneer, a trailblazer, a real and purposeful voice in the once little known world of the personal web. It's safe to say that she was a large influence on, and inspiration for, the start of my own online writing life, and so in that way, mine was one of the many lives that changed because of her.
By all accounts, she was an inimitable character and a freaking force of nature. She was also, her friends say, incredibly optimistic in the face of recurring heartbreak and catastrophe. So, this seems overwhelmingly appropriate: Leslie Harpold's Possible Scenarios for Heaven. I'm betting, if she said it's possible, that's the way it is.
Thanks, Leslie.
My deepest condolences to Leslie's friends and family.
