Terribly Sad

I just found out this afternoon that my favorite English professor, David Foster Wallace, died on Friday. Apparently he committed suicide. I was in a class of his at Illinois State University, not knowing that he was a nationally known and celebrated writer. He was known for writing Postmodern literature that was very detailed and over the top. I liked some of his short stories, but was not a big fan of his topics, although they were incredibly creative. But I loved having him as a professor. He expected more out of his students than any other professor, and we wanted to give more because of that. I remember that he was so intense and passionate about learning and reading and words and meaning. It is just so saddening to hear that he was in so much pain that he ended his life.

Some things I will never forget about DFW:
--the fact that he drank Tab
--he always made us sit in a circle
--he swore a lot, but when he found out it offended some of the students he immediately tried to stop
--any time I saw him outside of class, he couldn't remember my name, but always remembered that I was the girl from Kokomo, so he'd just call me 'Kokomo'
--he started my love for being a grammar nazi. he once said that writing with poor grammar was like going to a job interview with Oreos in your teeth. it didn't matter what you said, all they would remember were the Oreos. I used that example EVERY year in my classrooms.
--when you turned something you had written in, he poured over it, writing comments (good and bad) all over it. It was always so exciting to get something back from his class. Nothing made me more frustrated in school than when you would work soooo hard on something and the only comment on it (except for the grade) was a 3-4 word overview.

Anyway, I wanted to share my thoughts on this tragedy. What a sad loss, and what a shame for his family and the future students who would have had him in class.