Wow. When I heard this, I was blown away.
These two reporters really get what makes FreeAssociates so special. Everything we’ve tried to build — and to express here on the site and out in the world — is beautifully explored in this “deep dive” audio segment.
I’ve known Gabriel Tigerman since he was three. He’s a talented actor, a funny writer and a kind and wonderful human. His parents, Wendy and Gary, are dear friends and Wendy’s been my co-creative rock for years. So when they announced that Gabe’s beautiful actor/comedian wife Kathryn was pregnant with their first child, I was thrilled, as was everyone whose lives they’d touched (and there have been many). Baby showers were held. Lamaze classes were attended. Cribs were assembled.
But the birth was fraught with unbelievable disaster. Baby Alice was rushed to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Kathryn’s life hung by a thread, all her vital organs shutting down as doctors made a heroic effort to save her.
Fortunately, it worked. Unfortunately, she now faces a long, difficult and very expensive recovery. You can read more here, on a site that’s been set up to deal with this horrific situation.
If you can help them out, even just a little, I know it would mean a lot to them — and to all of us. Thanks.
XO
Josh
(That an event like this can wipe a young family out financially, or hang a lifelong debt over their heads — much as a stroke or cancer or a heart attack can do the same for older people — is deeply wrong in a country as powerful, wealthy and creative as ours. I’m very happy we are moving away from that model. I hope that process continues and that the new system is honed so it actually works. But that’s another blog post. — JF)
Gabe leaves for college in just a few weeks.
Last night, we uncovered a Rolling Stone magazine from March, where Jon Stewart is talking with Bruce Springsteen about art, and whether he worries about losing his muse.
Springsteen says:
Then my kids came along , and at some point, Patti was assisting me in the fact that I was not as attentive a father as I should be, and my argument was, “Don’t you understand? I’m thinking of a song!”
. . .
One day I realized, “Wait. I’ve got it. I’ve got more music in my head than I’m going to live to put out.’ But your son or your daughter, they’re going to be gone tomorrow. or the day after. I realized, “This is what’s going to be gone, and this is what’s going to always be here, not the other way around.” Music and art are always flowing through the ether — they’ll always be there — but life, life moves on and is gone. Life is locked in an eternal dance with time, and unlike art and time, the two can’t be separated.
Thanks, Bruce.
