{"id":1577,"date":"2006-11-16T06:21:27","date_gmt":"2006-11-16T11:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2006-11-16T06:54:18","modified_gmt":"2006-11-16T11:54:18","slug":"alan-symonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/2006\/11\/16\/alan-symonds\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Symonds"},"content":{"rendered":"

I ran the Agassiz with Alan Symonds for some 15 years.\u00c2\u00a0 In June of this year, on the steps of the Agassiz, he died unexpectedly of a heart attack at 59, and\u00c2\u00a0on Monday the 13th (which should sound more ominous than Friday the 13th, if you think about it … ), Harvard held a memorial for Alan at the Agassiz Theatre.\u00c2\u00a0 400 people crowded into the 350-person house, with over 100 more watching on closed-circuit in the neighboring dance center.\u00c2\u00a0 For a bit on who Alan was, this <\/a>“in-house” obit’s good; and this one <\/a>is also pretty thorough (and took a full-page column…!).<\/p>\n

I was asked to speak, along with Alan’s brother (who narrated a fabulous slideshow of Alan’s youth) and his old friend Joe Mobilia (who met Alan in highschool and was working on the Hasty Pudding renovation with him when he died).\u00c2\u00a0 Alan’s role at Harvard was borderline ineffable and immeasurable, and the legacy-worthiness of what I’d written (most of it just after he died, with no memorial in mind) kept me up at night.\u00c2\u00a0 And as I said to Michael a day or so before, I didn’t know if I was more terrified of losing it and being unable to speak, or going into a zone without getting emotional at all…<\/p>\n

I got pretty choked up but nevertheless essentially sailed through and was told by many I done mighty good.\u00c2\u00a0 I sort of don’t remember my bit, really, standing in the spotlight only dimly able to sense the assembled multitude with whom I was attempting to project contact, doing what had been imagined for weeks, but with details and sensations that had somehow never been even vaguely imagined.\u00c2\u00a0 Pretty much an out-of-body experience.<\/p>\n

The rest was better than good, tears mixing easily with gales of laughter, lots of talent pouring out of true devotion, the energy given back manyfold by a rapt audience of truest friends spanning over half a century.\u00c2\u00a0 So many familiar (and half-familiar) faces!\u00c2\u00a0 Lots of talk and hugs and catching up at the reception afterwards with people not seen for decades.\u00c2\u00a0 Hard to say something about an unexpected death could be perfect, but this was.<\/p>\n

For those with time on their hands, here’s my bit (minus the ad-libs, alas).\u00c2\u00a0 Flights of angels Alan.\u00c2\u00a0 You da bomb!<\/p>\n

Alan Intro<\/a><\/p>\n

Alan Part II<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I ran the Agassiz with Alan Symonds for some 15 years.\u00c2\u00a0 In June of this year, on the steps of the Agassiz, he died unexpectedly of a heart attack at 59, and\u00c2\u00a0on Monday the 13th (which should sound more ominous … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mainecourse.com\/mt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}