I’ll be the moderator for today’s program. Since 2010, I have been a co-editor, with Loren, of Insurgent Notes. Unlike many of you, I met Loren before I had read many of his writings. It was probably in the mid-1980s. We struck up a friendship which deepened over the next twenty plus years. Even forty years ago, it took a while to read what he had already written and, perhaps needless to say, he kept on writing. In the weeks since Loren died, I’ve re-read some of his texts and discovered things that I had either missed, misunderstood or failed to appreciate the first or second time. They’re not quite biblical in character but they do invite serious study and discussion.
I’m hoping that today’s memorial allows all of us to remember who Loren was, what he accomplished and what his legacies might be. Let me briefly summarize what the program will consist of. We’ll begin with brief remarks by, if I’m counting right, nine individuals who knew Loren at different moments of his life and in different ways. Each person will speak for about five minutes or, in some cases, for less. I’ll recognize each speaker in the order we’ve agreed on. I’ll let each of them describe how they knew Loren.
After those remarks have been completed, we’ll take a brief break during which we’ll do a slideshow of photographs that capture aspects of the essential Loren. I’d especially like to thank Sharon Jaynes who agreed to share personal photos for that purpose. If things go as planned, the slideshow will be accompanied by a couple of music selections from the work of the composer Eric Satie, who composed music that Loren and Sharon both loved.
Then we’ll resume with an opportunity for others to speak about their recollections and appreciations of Loren. If you’d like to speak, please raise your hand by clicking on the box at the bottom of your zoom scream that’s titled Reactions, and then click on Raise Hand. I will call on you and you should then unmute your microphone. The open session will last for just less than an hour. The program is scheduled to end at 3 PM EDT.
I want to close with a few comments about the Loren I knew:
- Loren refused to be concerned about being respectable or fashionable. Instead, he held fast to his convictions, especially when they were perceived as going against the tide.
- He valued for himself what he valued for all—a life that was defined by an appreciation for the essential value of time. He hated the idea of wasting time.
- From his earliest political statements, he embraced creativity as a defining aspect of being human.
- He also insisted upon the need to know and appreciate all that had been accomplished and preserved—in philosophy, literature, music and art.
- And, of course, he was a believer in proletarian revolution and doing what he could to make it real.
As you might imagine, this was not an easy road to travel on. But Loren kept on it as faithfully as I can imagine.
Let me close with a mention of several preliminary plans to preserve and disseminate Loren’s distinctive views.
First, we’re hoping to publish a special issue of Insurgent Notes devoted to individuals discussing which of Loren’s essays and fundamental organizing themes were most important and why.
Second, some years ago, Italian comrades conducted extensive interviews with Loren which were published in Italian. Work is under way to translate the interviews into English and arrange for a suitable distribution.
Third, a collective effort is being launched to compile a complete and hopefully definitive catalogue of Loren’s writings and to then develop a plan for one or more edited collections to be published in book form.
We’ll keep you posted about developments by way of Insurgent Notes and the IN facebook page.