fivecats journal

Andrew Cooksy
1979, Washington, DC
(Photograph by Daniel Bullock)
Printed here with Andrew's permission -- As If Not Getting it Was Really Going to Stop Me
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I first met Andrew Cooksy the day he graduated from high school. I was at the graduation to see several of my other friends graduate and, to kill time, another Maryland friend and I were generally making nuisances of ourselves in the outdoor stands waiting for our friends' names to be called.

The Salutatorian gave his speech, a long, drippy, stereotypical "I loved everything about high school, I'll remember every person in high school, and If I died right now don't morn for me because I've had the best moments of my life right here and I can't imagine ever being happier" speech.

The audience, dulled into a mid-morning nap, failed to wake up for the Valedictorian's speech.

The soft-spoken voice went through his speech fairly quickly, as if half-afraid that he might get pulled from the podium at any moment. The speech itself, was one of the best I'd ever heard. The tone was full of praise for the school and the officials, but the actual language was so incredibly scathing and angry that it was if he was using a very long and sharp blade to slice through his frustrations from the past four years. ("By having us stand in long, unmoving lines to take care of mundane administrative needs, our Office Staff has prepared us for the business world many of us will be entering into in the coming years") The audience sat passively with their eyes glazed over while the blood splattered all over them.

Obviously was someone I had to meet.

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