I was at a friend's birthday party this evening when I got an email from my old boss that former President of the Yale Democrats and Obama fellow, Marina Keegan, had been killed in a car crash. Marina was the President of the Dems during my brief time in Connecticut and while I didn't know her that well, I feel a sense of loss for our community because I have no doubt she would have made exceptional contributions to progressive politics no matter what her ultimate career path.
Marina was beautiful, smart, motivated, and already an accomplished organizer by the time I had met her in 2010. I would have been jealous of her had she not been a constant source of help to me throughout that campaign. When you meet another campaign person and you just know they "get it," that was Marina. She cut lists, organized door knocks and rides to the polls all by herself...let alone without support, without my asking. When we organized an event with the President on three days notice, she recruited a bus load of students from Yale and then walked up to me with a smile on her face and calmly helped me direct traffic and hand out water to volunteers while she and her classmates were initially denied entrance.
Far be it for me to pretend I can mourn Marina having worked with her so little, when I know there are many people, possibly even readers of this blog, who feel her loss more deeply and acutely than I can even imagine. My heart goes out to them, especially to her boyfriend whose life will no doubt be changed forever. I'm sharing this story with you, because although I barely knew Marina, I know that our community lost someone special with her death. Now that you won't get the chance to meet her, I thought you should at least know what we were missing. Thanks, Marina.
For more information on Marina.
No comments:
Post a Comment