Stephanie revisited

I heard from yet another old acquaintance of Stephanie, whose memorial page I host. He pointed out that my online tribute didn't say anything about how extremely smart she was, and he's right. He also wrote, "I am stunned that she worked as an exotic dancer, I guess she loosened up a bit after she dried off her wings and flew away." I'd say "loosened up" is an understatement; she was capable of being fairly irrepressible, if not wild. On the other hand, she was depressed a lot, too, unfortunately. Most of all, I think she felt very much like a complete alien in modern society. She had great reserves of, yes, intelligence, love and creativity, but she also usually felt unable to express these gifts, and cut off from humanity in many ways. In a sense, she was the embodiment of the classic superhero -- someone with great powers who is blocked from using them to make herself and others happy, whose powers instead cut them off from others and make them lonely.

Not a week goes by that I don't miss her.