Dear Bono,
How can I be so sad about someone I have never met? Well, not in real life anyway. I first met David Bowie as a young girl. I watched the Goblin King and sang and danced to the songs. I dreamt I was Sarah, twirling through the masquerade dream and able to look directly into his gaze. As a freshman in high school, the world of music beyond Disney films was just starting to open to me (I realize I was a bit old.) I went through the stacks of used music at Media Play and got my double CD "Best of Bowie" for $13. As I listened, I fell instantly in love with "Changes," taking on "And these children that you spit on as they try to change their world are immune to your consolations; they're quite aware what they're going through" as my mantra. As we prepared for college, I gazed haughtily at the popular kids in my high school who the line "I watched the ripples change their size but never leave the stream" as they stayed at home with their high school friends while I set out to change the world but studying to be a doctor in Africa. I continued to listen, his different lyrics spoke to me through my struggles and triumphs. I found friends through their love of David Bowie. A colleague with whom I felt distant from quickly became one of my closest allies after discussing the MCA "David Bowie Is" exhibit.
I almost went to Denver, to see his show back in college. My mom wouldn't let me go alone and my friend backed out due to finances and I knew sneaking out to a city 12 hours away wouldn't work.
I never saw him live. But I sat for hours in the video room at the MCA exhibit, listening to the music, his costumes near. To be so close to David Bowie, but yet so far.
"You're not alone...."
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