For Reuben.

At the risk of being maudlin, I need to salute another friend of mine who made an impact on my life and was gone before I realized I needed to tell him how much he influenced me.

Reuben Mitchell and I met when he was beginning his path as an MFA candidate at LSU and I was just entering the BA program as an inexperienced undergrad.

We bonded because we were both new to the program and we found a home at our work study jobs in the scene shop at the LSU theater department. We laughed for hours over the time consuming tasks like building staircases and tearing down sets tied to the back of the shop truck's bumper. We teased Jim Murphy, we bonded with our ATDs JT and Barr, we rode around in the shop truck for hours. We built some amazing things together.

Reuben was a friend.

He bridged boundaries this girl was unsure of and did it so effortlessly. The day the 365 Mafia won the Grammy for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"... Reuben went around for weeks maintaining that mantra. He taught me to say it like a sista. His words, not mine. And it is, yo. It's HARD out here for a pimp. He always looked out for me and had a ridiculous joke or a hug to cheer me up on the bad days. I'd like to think that we made a lasting imprint on LSU theater. A life I know is so fleeting, but I also know we were two of a kind. Our group, our peers, we were one of a kind.

One of my fondest LSU memories was the night we all closed Tennessee Williams in Quarter Time. A show directed by John Dennis. We were all terrified to work with him and it was filled with some of my highs and lows from college. One of my highs was that night. We went somewhere fancy, Juban's I think, and then to the Chimes, maybe. Those details are fuzzy. What is not fuzzy is the after party we all had in the basement of the building where our resident artists were being housed at the time. There was a room full of rolling chairs and I will never forget gliding around the room at top speed for hours. It was before digital cameras and Reuben kept rolling by me in his chair screeching "Did you get it? Did you get it?" I got that image. It remains indelibly imprinted in my head. And my heart.

So Reuben. You helped shape my career in theater more than you know. You didn't always want to be at that job, hell, neither did I, but you showed up more than most. You were a friend, a pal, a companion. You attempted to teach me to box (tuck your elbows in, stay low, keep your arms close), see? I retained some of it... I've never known anyone like you and I don't care to ever. Because you broke the mold. 

I salute you, friend. And I sleep tonight knowing you rest easy with the knowledge we have four more years of Obama to turn this country around. 

Thanks for being my friend.