Note from David Findlay
Thursday, March 8, 2007

From: David Findlay [sodome@mac.com]
Date: March 8, 2007 4:46:42 PM EST (CA)
To: Bentley Ball [justbentley@mac.com]
Subject: Re: Bearing Bad News

Hi Bentley. Actually, Chrissy B had been on my mind for nearly a month. I was talking about her last week for no particular reason I could remember. So sad to read yesterday that she'd died. Yes, she introduced us, and brought a lot of other joy into my life, too.

She was a mentor, a hero, and an incredibly patient friend. She shot some of the first smut I ever performed in and let me roam her science fiction collection; made room on her couch when I was homeless and made room in her politics for my naïeveté. She was stubborn generosity personified. She led by example and taught without preaching, but when she chose to preach she was a sound-byte queen: as eminently quotable and unflappably erudite after passing endless bowls around the dinner table as under the television lights on the front lines. Whether or not one saw eye-to-eye with her on every issue, it was impossible not to learn from a discussion with Chrissy B. She lived her politics with passion, perspective, encyclopedic knowledge and unending good humor. On most issues her political analysis was so many zillion miles ahead of the curve that ishe was usually waiting for the rest of the world to catch up. I hope some day we do.

I'm going to be out of town on the 21^st. If you have the chance to salute her spirit and her surviving friends/allies for me, I'd appreciate it.

Call me sometime?
XOXO
love ~D