The MOON
sat SHOMER
with Jesse
and I
for ONE
was grateful
Needing the company
of wiser souls.
kelly salasin, marlboro
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Even back then, in 8th grade, Jesse was "the perfect gentleman". Kind, respectful, poised, extremely talented, dedicated and determined... and boy-o-boy..did he have style! I feel so fortunate to have crossed paths with Jesse by being his art teacher for 2 years at MES. What an inspiration he was to watch back then (see below) and the past few years, through occasional sightings in downtown Brattleboro. He always seemed to remain that same handsome, confident, polite gentleman that he was in Junior High....only in an even taller, even straighter, more graceful man.
with great sympathy to his family and friends,
Lauren von Krusenstiern, Brattleboro, VT
(jesse is at the far end of the table...totally focused!)
(sketch for a self portrait 2004)
with great sympathy to his family and friends,
Lauren von Krusenstiern, Brattleboro, VT
(jesse is at the far end of the table...totally focused!)
(sketch for a self portrait 2004)
Opportunities to Express Joy and Sorrow
Dear Friends and Family
Please pass this far and wide.
There are many ways to think and feel about Jesse, both his life here with us, as well as his passing. We are all still close to the shock, sadness, anger and a myriad of other feelings we face when thinking of this great loss. At this time, we would like to provide a variety of opportunities for people to express their joys and sorrows.
There will be a funeral at 11 am at Ker-Westerlund and Fleming on 57 High Street on the way in to downtown Brattleboro. A municipal lot is available a few doors away on High Street. This will be followed by a burial at the King Cemetery on Fox Road in Marlboro at approximately 12:00-12:30 pm.
The funeral and burial are open to one and all!!!
Parking will be along Fox Road between Ames Hill and Stark's Road. Carpool if you can, and dress for a snowy wood. Please do not block the cemetery entrance, plowing and sanding will be done for ease of access.
On Saturday, there will be a celebration of Jesse's life at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center from 1-3 pm..
Many of us gain comfort by being with others in an informal setting to speak of Jesse while others prefer a public forum to make a community offering. Some like to write, some to speak through music or art.
We will begin with an informal gathering at 1 pm to talk with friends, family and neighbors and enjoy refreshments in this beautiful space. At 2 pm we will convene to listen to the heartfelt thoughts, songs, poems, memories, prayers and well wishes.
In the spirit of keeping a graceful flow, we ask that you speak or perform from the heart and use lean expression as we expect many will want to share. We will close at 3pm.
If you are not comfortable sharing in this format, you may visit Jesse’s “shrine” and leave your thoughts in silence or writing. These writings will be copied and shared with Lisa and Ed in a book for each of them. They will then be burned in a later ritual and the ashes placed in a handmade vessel as a tangible and sacred record.
Those unable to attend may send words for this express purpose to me over the coming week.
For directions go to www.brattleboromuseum.org
For parking we recommend the Marlboro College Graduate Center next door.
Jodi Paloni, Marlboro
Please pass this far and wide.
There are many ways to think and feel about Jesse, both his life here with us, as well as his passing. We are all still close to the shock, sadness, anger and a myriad of other feelings we face when thinking of this great loss. At this time, we would like to provide a variety of opportunities for people to express their joys and sorrows.
There will be a funeral at 11 am at Ker-Westerlund and Fleming on 57 High Street on the way in to downtown Brattleboro. A municipal lot is available a few doors away on High Street. This will be followed by a burial at the King Cemetery on Fox Road in Marlboro at approximately 12:00-12:30 pm.
The funeral and burial are open to one and all!!!
Parking will be along Fox Road between Ames Hill and Stark's Road. Carpool if you can, and dress for a snowy wood. Please do not block the cemetery entrance, plowing and sanding will be done for ease of access.
On Saturday, there will be a celebration of Jesse's life at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center from 1-3 pm..
Many of us gain comfort by being with others in an informal setting to speak of Jesse while others prefer a public forum to make a community offering. Some like to write, some to speak through music or art.
We will begin with an informal gathering at 1 pm to talk with friends, family and neighbors and enjoy refreshments in this beautiful space. At 2 pm we will convene to listen to the heartfelt thoughts, songs, poems, memories, prayers and well wishes.
In the spirit of keeping a graceful flow, we ask that you speak or perform from the heart and use lean expression as we expect many will want to share. We will close at 3pm.
If you are not comfortable sharing in this format, you may visit Jesse’s “shrine” and leave your thoughts in silence or writing. These writings will be copied and shared with Lisa and Ed in a book for each of them. They will then be burned in a later ritual and the ashes placed in a handmade vessel as a tangible and sacred record.
Those unable to attend may send words for this express purpose to me over the coming week.
For directions go to www.brattleboromuseum.org
For parking we recommend the Marlboro College Graduate Center next door.
Jodi Paloni, Marlboro
I guess I still need your help jesse
As you can see, I'm as good with computers as I was back in JH with you! I still need your help- that last posting was from me, Jennifer Wales- Mount Desert Island, Maine
Bon Appetite Jesse
My Dear Dear Jesse,
Did you forget about our dinner? Remember, the one I was going to take you out to when you turned 21! It was the last week for you as an 8th grader in my classroom. You had finished all your work and were getting ready for graduation. I called you over and expressed that in the years that I had know you, while I certainly enjoyed exploring math, literature, and a love of excellent food with you, I had one deep disappointment. Your face looked so serious and I remember you didn’t even push your bangs out of your eyes, which you always did back then. My disappointment, I continued, was that I was your teacher and not your peer. Oh don’t get me wrong, I loved all the laughs and watching you grow and challenge yourself (you certainly didn’t need any motivation from me), but what I really loved were the easy and interesting conversations we would have about anything from food to buildings to friendships. It was those conversations that would have been wonderful to have with you eating sushi in the middle of a cow field at 3am watching the stars, not eating sushi on a sticky old three-legged couch in the middle of the junior high room. As so I made you a promises that day. When you turned 21, we would go to dinner and enjoy a meal as adults, as peers, not as teacher/student.
And so Jesse, we will still have the dinner, I know we will. I’ll be sitting in some café half way around the world surrounded by people who speak a different language and think a different way. I’ll be eating the most wondrous food that I can’t pronounce and, better yet, not really even know what it is. And then it will happen, you’ll appear with your wonderful boyish grin and while pushing your hair out of your eyes, laugh as you sit down to join me. Oh you’ll be there, I’m sure and the conversation will flow as easy as it did on that sticky old couch.
Until then, I found an evaluation I wrote about you at the end of 7th grade. In reading what others have written about you as you grew into a man, how clearly you stayed true to your self. Bon Appetite Jesse, Bon Appetite!
Eval for Jesse L
Jesse has been a pleasure to have in the JH this year and we look forward to another year. Jesse’s intellectual ability and role in the community was most clearly displayed in his leadership and extensive time commitment to the yearbook. Never has there been a student who so completely devoted himself or herself to a project that ultimately was for others to enjoy. Tim and I were so completely impressed by Jesse’s commitment to others; I know he expressed burn out at the end of the project, but I hope he soon recovers!
Math was a place for great learning and, I believe, a greater sense of self-confidence for Jesse this year. To say he began the year with just a bit of “math phobia” would be an understatement, and yet Jesse finished the year with top marks and an expressed confidence in his math ability. His grades in other subjects such as writing, science, social studies, and lit do little to show the completeness that Jesse approaches all his work, putting nothing but 100% into each and every assignment.
Our goals for Jesse next year are to continue to challenge him and provide him structure to push himself as far as he can go academically. We expect a high level of excellence from Jesse and will continue to do so. Socially, Jesse has expressed apprehension about creating a social group for himself, after having so many close friends leave this year. I have faith that Jesse will rise to the occasion, as he has demonstrated countless times this year, and fill his social needs, both in and out of school.
In summary, Jesse is an exemplary student and a true joy to have as a friend.
2 Fires
I met Jesse over a glowing bonfire. I, the new one, knew barely a soul. The crowd thinned and I sat with Jesse for hours. So strange to find one so young…17 then, maybe…who contained so much. I remember thinking that he wasn’t even a peer but somehow an elder. A man in a boy’s suit. An elegant boy’s suit, that. We talked about how different it must have been to know people only by firelight… as people once did.
The next fire was small. Just a few of us at a cookout to celebrate Trump as the sun sank. There’d been some earlier slapstick while we made Jesse a smoothie and everyone chimed in with recipes. Advocating for probiotics –which amused him; rice milk- which didn’t. Jesse was already graduated and already diagnosed. He seemed more of a boy that day…thin but carrying something in him that I couldn’t put my finger on. Kind of itinerant. He was wearing a tweed waistcoat and a cap and looked like a young man from a James Joyce or Steinbeck novel stepping off the family stoop for the last time. Ready to make his way in the world. The fear of the known and the unknown all mixed up.
The sadness of losing this extraordinary person is close to me today. I am so sorry for the many who knew him far better than I. Lisa and Ed, especially… and all the surrogates and friends who’ve loved Jesse into being the person we’ve all been touched by. He carried so much for us. May this generous, sprawling circle of people carry him within for a long, long time.
Virginia
The next fire was small. Just a few of us at a cookout to celebrate Trump as the sun sank. There’d been some earlier slapstick while we made Jesse a smoothie and everyone chimed in with recipes. Advocating for probiotics –which amused him; rice milk- which didn’t. Jesse was already graduated and already diagnosed. He seemed more of a boy that day…thin but carrying something in him that I couldn’t put my finger on. Kind of itinerant. He was wearing a tweed waistcoat and a cap and looked like a young man from a James Joyce or Steinbeck novel stepping off the family stoop for the last time. Ready to make his way in the world. The fear of the known and the unknown all mixed up.
The sadness of losing this extraordinary person is close to me today. I am so sorry for the many who knew him far better than I. Lisa and Ed, especially… and all the surrogates and friends who’ve loved Jesse into being the person we’ve all been touched by. He carried so much for us. May this generous, sprawling circle of people carry him within for a long, long time.
Virginia
A belated thank you
1/8/09
Dear Jesse & Family
This is regrettably the thank you that was never expressed. Let this be a lesson to us all…
I’d like to thank you for being so kind to Evan when we first moved to Marlboro. You were always so genuine, generous and good.
Thank you for inspiring Evan to take up the violin. The gift of music is truly the gift that keeps giving. I can never truly thank you enough.
And I’m fairly certain it was you who introduced my boys to the “Red Wall” series. Those were fun days of literature and imaginary play.
Thank you for being such a nice companion to take along to pottery classes at Bonnie Stearns'. I loved your creations.
The entire community thanks you for your memorable and strong performances at the NEYT.
And, thank you for sharing your light with all of us; though not nearly long enough, most assuredly the brightest light.
Peace is yours eternal.
With much admiration, Carol Ann Johnson
Dear Jesse & Family
This is regrettably the thank you that was never expressed. Let this be a lesson to us all…
I’d like to thank you for being so kind to Evan when we first moved to Marlboro. You were always so genuine, generous and good.
Thank you for inspiring Evan to take up the violin. The gift of music is truly the gift that keeps giving. I can never truly thank you enough.
And I’m fairly certain it was you who introduced my boys to the “Red Wall” series. Those were fun days of literature and imaginary play.
Thank you for being such a nice companion to take along to pottery classes at Bonnie Stearns'. I loved your creations.
The entire community thanks you for your memorable and strong performances at the NEYT.
And, thank you for sharing your light with all of us; though not nearly long enough, most assuredly the brightest light.
Peace is yours eternal.
With much admiration, Carol Ann Johnson
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