Thursday, December 6, 2007

Goodbye Hoof



The buffet is lit by candles tonight in honor of the life of Greg Hoofnagle. Greg and I were in some of the same classes over 30 years ago at Western Washington University when he was a rising star in the journalism department, although we didn't know each other or later realized we were there until we talked about it 20 years later.

We recalled a most memorable class with Tom Robbins as guest speaker, shortly after Cowgirls was released in paper where he begged a beer from the audience and drew hisses from the hardcore feminists in the audience even though he carefully tried to explain the the difference between sex and sexism, it made no difference, they did'nt want to hear his description of what it was like for a guy to have an erection in a field when he thought about his girlfriend. It was astonishing how, even though we didn't know each other, I remember who he was (Western Front editors had a pretty high profile on campus) and how we shared other vibrant memories of those times, like the war that went on in dorms in the Fall of 1975 where residents voted their lifestyle preference by putting a cross or a cannabis leaf in their windows. It was a heck of a colorful tic-tac-toe on those buildings overlooking Bellingham Bay or High St. that season. Maybe we remembered it so well because it was the kind of thing that one best appreciated as an outsider, not as one or the other side trying to outdo each other.

It was an honor to have Greg in my classes at Clark College. He took on new computer applications with a zeal and intensity that makes it a real pleasure to be in an educational institution helping others gain access to digital tools and what they can do for them. It was a privilege to have been his faculty sponsor for the Washington Award for Vocational Excellence. The WAVE scholarship is a highly competitive, funded by legislative fiat and paid for two years of tuition. Greg couldn't attend the luncheon with state officials in attendance where he was recognized because he had a more important personal duty: he had to help care for an urgency situation involving his grandmother. Family and friends play an important role in our lives, but maybe even more so for Greg.

In 2003 and four, it was excellent to watch him take his vibrant, energetic work ethic and intellectual intensity to challenge and raise the bar up at Washington State University Vancouver's Digital Technology and Culture program where he finally earned the bachelor's degree he began so many years earlier before a period in his life where he didn't make the best of choices.

And it was very exciting to have watched him turn his life to another new level in the last year after recovering from catastrophic health episodes. His legacy will be memories of many, many folks who will recall his positivity, high energy, and the intelligent sharpness he brought to his life and endeavors. Goodbye, Hoof. You inspired a lot of us.

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posted by well-executed buffet at 8:19 PM
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