An artist remembers the RFK assassination

[Len Colby]

I read this a few months ago an immediately thought of posting it here but only got around to it now. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to who the author is and who her boyfriend Robert was? I added the text in brackets [ ] for context.

Soon after, [the shooting of Andy Warhol] one of my customers [at Scribner’s Bookstore] and I fell into a discussion about our political responsibilities. It was an election year and he represented Robert Kennedy. The California primary was pending and we agreed to meet again afterward. I was excited about the prospect of working for someone with the ideals I cherished and who promised to end the war in Vietnam. I saw Kennedy’s candidacy as a way in which idealism could be converted into meaningful political action, that something might be achieved to truly help those in need. Still shaken by the Warhol shooting, Robert stayed home to do a tribute drawing for Andy. I went home to see my father. He was a wise and fair man and I wanted his opinion about Robert Kennedy. We sat together on the couch watching the primary returns. I was filled with pride as RFK delivered his victory speech. We watched him leave the podium, and my father winked at me, taking pleasure in the promise of our young candidate and my own enthusiasm. For a few innocent moments, I truly believed that everything would be all right. We watched him file through the jubilant crowd, shaking hands and emanating hope with that classic Kennedy smile. Then he fell. We saw his wife kneeling by his side. Senator Kennedy was dead. “Daddy, Daddy,” I sobbed, burying my face in his shoulder. My father put his arm around me. He didn’t say a thing. I guess he had already seen it all. But it seemed to me that the world outside was unraveling, and, increasingly, my own world as well.

EDIT - Formatting

Edited March 31, 2011 by Len Colby

[Michael Hogan]

I read this a few months ago an immediately thought of posting it here but only got around to it now. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to who the author is and who her boyfriend Robert was? I added the text in brackets [ ] for context.

Soon after, [the shooting of Andy Warhol] one of my customers [at Scribner’s Bookstore] and I fell into a discussion about our political responsibilities. It was an election year and he represented Robert Kennedy. The California primary was pending and we agreed to meet again afterward. I was excited about the prospect of working for someone with the ideals I cherished and who promised to end the war in Vietnam. I saw Kennedy’s candidacy as a way in which idealism could be converted into meaningful political action, that something might be achieved to truly help those in need. Still shaken by the Warhol shooting, Robert stayed home to do a tribute drawing for Andy. I went home to see my father. He was a wise and fair man and I wanted his opinion about Robert Kennedy. We sat together on the couch watching the primary returns. I was filled with pride as RFK delivered his victory speech. We watched him leave the podium, and my father winked at me, taking pleasure in the promise of our young candidate and my own enthusiasm. For a few innocent moments, I truly believed that everything would be all right. We watched him file through the jubilant crowd, shaking hands and emanating hope with that classic Kennedy smile. Then he fell. We saw his wife kneeling by his side. Senator Kennedy was dead. “Daddy, Daddy,” I sobbed, burying my face in his shoulder. My father put his arm around me. He didn’t say a thing. I guess he had already seen it all. But it seemed to me that the world outside was unraveling, and, increasingly, my own world as well.

EDIT - Formatting

Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe.

[Len Colby]

Correct, it was from Smith’s book JUST KIDS about her early years especially the ones she spent with Mapplethorpe, who was struggling with his sexual identity at the time. It is highly recommended. Bill Kelly might be interested in the first few chapters because she is only a few years older than he is and grew up in Germantown then in a small town close to Camden.

BTW Mike, have you read the book or did you Google the text or did you figure it out on your own?