R.I.P. Marina Keegan
There are numerous accidents taking place across the globe even as I write this. Many of them leave people injured, and in some cases dead. Unless, God forbid, it's someone we know personally, we don't usually react.Why then has Marina Keegan’s death sparked so much emotion, not only in me but in thousands of people unknown to her, the world over?
Marina Keegan was a student at Yale: a Yalie. She had written extensively for her college online magazine. She was idealistic, intelligent and talented. How do I know this? I’ve read her work. I first stumbled upon her article in The New Yorker. She had written two pieces for The New Yorker. They were unpretentious and appealed to me. In one of them, she makes a reference to Trafalmadorians from Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Since that’s a book I’d read, I could relate to her writing better.
It was then that I noticed a tribute to her.
Marina had met with an accident and it had proved fatal. She was twenty-two. She was due to join the editorial department of The New Yorker in June and she died before that could happen.
The most heartbreaking thing is to read her essay ‘The opposite of loneliness’, which includes some of her musings on life. She writes “But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re part of us and they are set for repetition as we grow up and move to New York and away from New York and wish we did or didn’t live in New York. I plan on having parties when I’m 30. I plan on having fun when I’m old. Any notion of THE BEST years comes from clichéd “should haves...” “if I’d...” “wish I’d...” …. "We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time.”
A week later, she’s dead. Her last essay has acquired tragic significance with her death. Her words live on in our hearts as we try to make sense of this cruel twist of fate.
The world will miss her talent. And so will I.
There are numerous accidents taking place across the globe even as I write this. Many of them leave people injured, and in some cases dead. Unless, God forbid, it's someone we know personally, we don't usually react.Why then has Marina Keegan’s death sparked so much emotion, not only in me but in thousands of people unknown to her, the world over?
Marina Keegan was a student at Yale: a Yalie. She had written extensively for her college online magazine. She was idealistic, intelligent and talented. How do I know this? I’ve read her work. I first stumbled upon her article in The New Yorker. She had written two pieces for The New Yorker. They were unpretentious and appealed to me. In one of them, she makes a reference to Trafalmadorians from Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Since that’s a book I’d read, I could relate to her writing better.
It was then that I noticed a tribute to her.
Marina had met with an accident and it had proved fatal. She was twenty-two. She was due to join the editorial department of The New Yorker in June and she died before that could happen.
The most heartbreaking thing is to read her essay ‘The opposite of loneliness’, which includes some of her musings on life. She writes “But let us get one thing straight: the best years of our lives are not behind us. They’re part of us and they are set for repetition as we grow up and move to New York and away from New York and wish we did or didn’t live in New York. I plan on having parties when I’m 30. I plan on having fun when I’m old. Any notion of THE BEST years comes from clichéd “should haves...” “if I’d...” “wish I’d...” …. "We’re so young. We’re so young. We’re twenty-two years old. We have so much time.”
A week later, she’s dead. Her last essay has acquired tragic significance with her death. Her words live on in our hearts as we try to make sense of this cruel twist of fate.
The world will miss her talent. And so will I.
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