In memory of my friend Chris Al-Aswad.

Thank you Chris for your kindred spirit, warm friendship, generosity and courage… you are sorely missed by all who had the honor of knowing you.
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Yesterday I and many others were shaken and grieved to the bone upon learning of the sudden premature death of Chris Al-Aswad. Chris is founder and senior editor of the extensive online arts journal Escape Into Life. He had just celebrated his 31st birthday on July 16th.

Chris was a very dear friend and ally, a trusted confidant and an ardent supporter of AQ-V. I feel as though a piece of me has been ripped away. It hurts deeply. For Chris was the type of person who made a mark on you immediately. He was highly unusual as he lived life with no facade or pretense and never halfway. In fact, I don’t think he knew how to do otherwise. It was not in his mechanism; it was not congruent with his inner core. Chris brimmed with substance, depth and sincerity; he questioned everything with childlike innocence and he was equally complex. (Being of Jewish-Iraqi heritage, one can’t easily avoid being complex.) Chris was passionate about life, friendship, writing, art, traditional beauty, unconventional beauty and was fiercely loyal and supportive of not only his friends but his vision for Escape Into Life and its members—a vibrant online community of creatives including visual artists, writers and musicians. He approached life with fervor, inquiry and discovery—taking a cue from his remarkable mother Rosalind who EIL was created as a tribute to last year.

It is staggering the amount of content Chris produced along with his contributors—a vast library of poetry, essays, reviews and nearly 2,000 artist profiles—plus the huge following he attracted in just a year’s time. Chris was remarkably knowledgeable; he presented and informed us of art and literature from antiquity to contemporary; he wrote brilliantly and with gusto. No one could ever accuse him of being one dimensional; instead his interests were quite broad and always intense. In fact, Chris was very intense. Like many of us creatives, he was a bit manic. Well, more like a whole lot manic in the case of Chris. He would frequently go 48 hours or more without sleep and little to eat, working tirelessly on EIL for no pay whilst writing articles for other blogs, etc. on the side to foot his bills. His emotions ran the gamut from euphoria to much less so. Chris often told me EIL kept him sane and was the only thing holding him together. I was worried and chided him as I was concerned he would make himself super ill if he did not pace himself and obtain some better balance. I had learned of my own lack of invincibility the hard way years ago in my late 20s. I was encouraged by a recent email from him in which he boldly declared he was not a @#$%!! machine and he had begun to back off a bit. Thank God, I responded. We all need to be recognize we are not a machine.

Life is unforgivingly fragile and goes by much too fast. The untimely death of our precious friend Chris serves as a painful reminder, one which I protest with all my heart.

Slow down, slow down… a word of caution to us all.
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Read a terrific interview with Chris back in 2008 where he openly and honestly discusses his aspirations, passion for writing, obstacles and the importance of relationships. For those who know him, you will smile widely knowing him better and for those who did not know Chris you will certainly wish you had.

>> Interview with Chris Al-Aswad
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>> Escape Into Life
>> @EscapeIntoLife
>> Blog of Innocence
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Chris is to be laid to rest this weekend. Prayers of comfort and support for his family. Today is a day of remembrance and gratitude for Chris’s life and contributions. You can participate on Twitter using the hashtag #TYChris.

View Chris’s obituary and sign his guestbook here.

(AQ-V posts will resume next week.)
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