Eulogy for Joseph

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Eulogy for Joseph

By: DevlinRyder

As we watched Joseph's friends pour into town, I was

struck by how many distinct sets of friends he had. There

were family, skaters, punks, his urban posse, his boys and his

girls, professors, colleagues, New York friends, California

friends, cyberspace friends who'd never met him "in the

flesh". Trying to walk down the street with him was an

exercise in frustration, as Joseph's fans flocked to him.

He was so much to so many. One of his greatest gifts to us is

each other.

I remember the first time I saw Joseph. This was about nine

years ago. You couldn't miss him. It was in college at a

computer science lecture with hundreds of students. He would

skate into class 20 minutes late, flip his skateboard up onto

his desk, crack open a chocolate milk and begin to drink, all

eyes on him. He would turn around and give us a little wave.

The thing was -- and it clearly pissed off the professors --

he routinely scored the highest marks in the class on every

assignment. Immediately I said to myself, "I need to know this

guy." So I cornered him and said to him directly, "You and I

are going to be friends." Well, Joseph looked me up and down

and said, "Uh....No thanks..."

You have to understand . . . Joseph, in those days especially,

had an approach to people that was at best "challenging" and

at worst confrontational. Those who didn't "get" Joseph

brushed him off as a clown, but to those who watched and

listened, it was clear there was something extremely profound

going on. Joseph had an uncanny ability to see into people, to

look through you, to reflect your own insecurities and hangups

back at you, until you had no choice left but to drop them...

and dance with him. Joseph called your bluff every time.

Despite his best efforts to the contrary, eventually we did

become friends. I simply refused to let him go, or to let him

push me away. I knew in my core that if being Joseph's

friend required change, well then I'd change. He was

worth it.

Joseph was a computer hacker in the true MIT tradition. As a

teenager -- and he didn't often brag about this -- he

re-engineered some communication software into what became the

de facto standard for software pirates around the world. In

those days he was known by his handle, the "Code-God". Luckily

(for him and for us), he later turned his attention to more

"legitimate" endeavors. Joseph was an utterly brilliant

software engineer. For our senior term project the class was

broken into groups of four. Under Joseph's lead we

settled into an efficient working mode. One of us would get

Joseph's food, one of us would get his music, and the

third guy, well Joseph just told him to stay out of the way.

Joseph programmed, and, needless to say, we all took home

"A+s". Around Joseph, it seemed there were three ways to solve

any problem. The right way, the wrong way, and Joseph's

way, which made the "right" way look foolish by comparison.

Joseph found a home he loved here at MIT, where he found at

least a few people that could almost keep up with him.

Being around Joseph was a feast for both the senses and the

heart.

There are the delicious images, we all have archived in our

minds. Joseph was so beautiful to look at, so exquisite. His

hair, his skin, his eyes. To watch him skate - a blur of red -

the incarnation of intensity. To watch him sleep (and Joseph

could sleep anywhere - anytime) mouth open, looking just like

a baby... To watch him thinking, eyes lost in space, tuning

everything out while his mind unraveled the complexities of

some algorithm or machine...

And then there were the sounds. The tick-tick-tick of the

skateboard on the sidewalk that announced his impending

arrival. And wherever Joseph was, music was not far behind.

Reggae, blues, rap, rock. Despite appearances and his pale

face, Joseph was no "white boy." Watching him dance was a

lesson in freedom, an unadulterated joy. His Mojo was always

workin'.

And then there were the smells. I won't get into these,

those who knew Joseph primarily in Cyberspace were denied this

unique aspect of life with him.

With Joseph, what you saw was what you got. He lived without

pretense and gave of his pure heart completely. He had more

"best friends" than I can count, because he made each one of

us feel like his best friend. As far as I could tell, he never

really treated anyone differently from anyone else. He ignored

both celebrity and authority. When Bill Gates passed through

the Lab on his way to give a lecture, Joseph pulled him aside

and told him to "kick some ass."

Joseph was utterly unique. A genius. Compassionate. Generous.

Kind. He was not stingy with his love. He told us, and he

showed us. He gave and gave and gave. Each of us knows how

blessed we were to share a few moments on this earth with

him.

Although what we've lost is tremendous, what he gave us

is

immeasurable.

To those who knew him, no explanation is necessary... To those

who didn't, no explanation is possible...

Comments

Will

The writer, DevlinRyder, has some precious phrases throughout, but inconsistent overall. The work is patchy, a few trite phrases mixed in with some creative ones. The fault is that no single idea is developed very well, and the overall piece fails to really put me in touch with Joseph. Joseph nee...

May 12, 2017
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Eulogy for Joseph

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