MoonGalSenior Contributor
Losing Cultural Touchstones
I am really saddened by the loss of David Bowie and Alan Rickman - both 69 years old. In various ways both these extraordinary men played a huge part in my life. Their deaths have raised a deep sadness in me - and a reflective quaility to my thinking, feeling, as I revisit my 20's - the hardest years of my life - for whom Bowie provided the musical score of my life and a 'friend' to connect with in music, images...
Alan's Truly Madly Deeply movie helped shift me through the break up of a relationship and ushered me into the one I am in now... and Alan's portrayal of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies was superlative, I can not imagine anyone else as having played the part. It was a fine redemption story one of utter love and devotion and so misunderstood.
Vale David.
Vale Alan.
Even though these people were not in my personal orbit, they were held deeply as cultural icons, and who they portrayed publicly were parts of me. I will miss them and I think at times like this we also touch more deeply on other losses, griefs, they become a catalyst to our other grief.
I am going to Melbourne with a very old friend (who also lives interstate) to attend the Bowie memorial tommorrow. It was spur of the moment, but so right that she and I connect at this time just for 24 hours.