Steve used to call me regularly to talk. He would start our conversation by saying that I should just tell him when he needed to stop talking. And then he would start. He would talk about Occupy or about a Labor Notes article or the Sotheby's contract fight. He wanted me to tell him if he was being impatient and he would ask me for perspective, to help balance out his passion.
In the last few years it seemed like Steve was on the edges of the movements and struggles because he was also struggling with his mental health and generally feeling an acute sense of disappointment that many of us on the left feel about the state of the world today. But even if he was on the edges, he was there actively, in that whole body kind of way that Steve had about him.
He was out there looking for the younger activists who were inspiring to him, sparking relationships with them and helping teach them about the left that he had grown up in and the movements that had made him into the amazing organizer and thinker that he was.
And above all, he shared his vision. More than ever we struggle with a lack of vision, of being hopeful and thinking that our efforts during the small upsurges that we all get involved in, despite ourselves, will make a difference. But Steve held on to his bigger vision, our bigger vision, and he never gave up. I'd like to think that his vision kept him together.
Those are the kinds of things he would talk about on the phone with me. And I wanted to be there for him because we're a community and we need each other. As I worked to be present for him in ways that were at times trying--he did have a way of drawing you into his sense of urgency and even with my relative youthfulness, that wasn't always easy!!--Steve taught me the value of fighting for one another too, for keeping us all in this fight for a better world together. I just wish he and I had talked about how I needed him too during those phone conversations, because his passion, energy and vision kept me together as well.
I miss Steve deeply. But he knows--in a way that we all know this deep down about ourselves and our movements--that we will keep on fighting, and that we will do it with love, courage and humanity too. Si se puede, si se puede, Steve.
-- Marsha N
In the last few years it seemed like Steve was on the edges of the movements and struggles because he was also struggling with his mental health and generally feeling an acute sense of disappointment that many of us on the left feel about the state of the world today. But even if he was on the edges, he was there actively, in that whole body kind of way that Steve had about him.
He was out there looking for the younger activists who were inspiring to him, sparking relationships with them and helping teach them about the left that he had grown up in and the movements that had made him into the amazing organizer and thinker that he was.
And above all, he shared his vision. More than ever we struggle with a lack of vision, of being hopeful and thinking that our efforts during the small upsurges that we all get involved in, despite ourselves, will make a difference. But Steve held on to his bigger vision, our bigger vision, and he never gave up. I'd like to think that his vision kept him together.
Those are the kinds of things he would talk about on the phone with me. And I wanted to be there for him because we're a community and we need each other. As I worked to be present for him in ways that were at times trying--he did have a way of drawing you into his sense of urgency and even with my relative youthfulness, that wasn't always easy!!--Steve taught me the value of fighting for one another too, for keeping us all in this fight for a better world together. I just wish he and I had talked about how I needed him too during those phone conversations, because his passion, energy and vision kept me together as well.
I miss Steve deeply. But he knows--in a way that we all know this deep down about ourselves and our movements--that we will keep on fighting, and that we will do it with love, courage and humanity too. Si se puede, si se puede, Steve.
-- Marsha N
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Thanks for your input to the Steve Blog. Learning about him through one another's stories is something we can continue to enjoy, beyond his passing. May his vision, work and passions live on through our paths, and be invigorated by our stories, sharings, and dialogues.
Thanks, from niece Audrey Kindred