Saturday I learned that my friend and professor Cole Young died last November. My SBU alumni newspaper tucked an unacceptably brief obit into a corner of an inside page. It said very little about a man who was filled to his brim with art and poetry and life. SBU never really knew what they had in Cole. He did more to edify his students than anyone else I met there, and no one in the SBU faculty could match his talent. Below is a more fitting obituary from a local paper, but to really know Cole you'd have to spend time with him. Listening. Every now and then an extraordinary person goes unnoticed outside of his own small context. I feel like I need to do my bit to introduce him in absentia.

I last spoke with him in 2002. He told me all about the cancer he had temporarily defeated. I was eager to visit him after that. I told him that I'd drive down in the fall and hang with him for a while. I wanted to see what he'd painted over the years and just spend time with a friend. He was thrilled to hear of my plan. But I let life get in the way instead. I never made the time to do it. It became that thing I'd think about doing but never did. I feel like I failed him. I was supposed to go see him and I never did.

Peace, Cole.

I've heard the song "Fix You" by Coldplay countless times, but it still grabs me by the throat every time. When I hear a melody that compelling, it makes me think it can be used as some sort of peace gun. Just aim it at the world and fire.

Pimpin' Discovery

If you haven't seen the show "I Shouldn't Be Alive" on the Discovery channel, check it out. Pretty amazing stuff. Also - you have to see "Before the Dinosaurs" on Discovery. The digital animation in it is better and more realistic than anything George Lucas ever achieved (and probably at a fraction of the cost). Oh, and don't miss "Brain Man". Totally amazing.

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