Thirty Years

Someone posted on facebook this link of Yoko Ono sharing a lovely memory of her and John Lennon having tea late one night with their three cats. One of them, Charo, John was particularly fond of and he would affectionately pet this cat and tell her, "You have a funny face!"

This anecdote struck me because when my parents' cat George was first born on our back porch (I say "our" because it was when I still lived with them) I thought he had a funny face and I started calling him "Funny Face George." I still call him that. I think it sounds like a nickname someone in the Mafia would have.

I could say a lot of things about John Lennon. The Beatles were the first rock band I ever really got into-- and this was when Hammer, Paula Abdul, and the New Kids On the Block reigned supreme on the radio waves. John Lennon was certainly my first teen idol (along with Madonna, and then later followed by Courtney Love, Tori Amos, Ani Difranco, and Kathleen Hanna). When I was 21 and living in New York City, my devotion to Lennon was clear-- I visited Strawberry Fields many times, probably more than was healthy. (Strawberry Fields is a patch of Central Park with tiles on the ground that spell "IMAGINE" surrounded by a circle of tiles, in memory of Lennon... people leave candles and pictures and other offerings there-- I once left a sunflower, which you can buy from street vendors in New York.) I insisted on being there on his birthday and the anniversary of his death... which was ten years ago, so he would've turned 60 and it would've been 20 years since his assassination. I liked to take pictures of the fans and some of the odd types who hung out there. When I turned the work in as my end-of-semester project for one of my classes, my teacher didn't understand, and maybe it was my fault for not making it clear: the project wasn't about John Lennon, it was about the fans, this cult(ure) of people who gather around for his birthday and the anniversary of his death.

When my brother told a friend I was getting married, the friend said, "She's getting married? I thought she was married to John Lennon the way nuns are married to Jesus!"

So that's part of my personal history regarding John Lennon... I mean, I could write a book. But, John Lennon, wherever you are, I think you know that the world is praying for you more than usual tonight.