Our virtual lives have a tendency to live on. Today my constant social networking stream, which gives me the latest on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn in a single overflowing column in my browser popped up a smiley face from artist Vanessa Monokian to photographer Fred Karrenberg. I don't know why I decided to click on this. I really don't. Normally the stream goes by unread like the running stock market numbers at the bottom of the nightly news show. But I decided to click on the smiley face.
It's been years since I have contacted anyone from my one year studying for an MFA in New Media at Florida International University. I loved the artists and my classmates. I loved the classes and the opportunity to show my video art in Miami. But bills added up and a second MFA seemed less important than taking care of finances.
I remember Fred as the hyperintellegent voice of reason, a genius professor that decided to translate his love of detail into gorgeous, tedious photos of nature. Meticulously he would use this large photoscanner, his videos touching reflections of wilting flowers, each frame betraying a little less life. His vibrant photos were lifelike representations that you wished you could pluck out of the 2D image.
Today is Fred's birthday. But while his FB lives on, Fred Karrenberg passed in the summer of 2010. And why I didn't notice one less friend among 700 friends brings up the very definition of friendship.And so this very belated birthday wish, past the point of it mattering, is sent to the unforgettable Fred Karrenberg. Your character, your memory, and your Facebook page live on.
It's been years since I have contacted anyone from my one year studying for an MFA in New Media at Florida International University. I loved the artists and my classmates. I loved the classes and the opportunity to show my video art in Miami. But bills added up and a second MFA seemed less important than taking care of finances.
I remember Fred as the hyperintellegent voice of reason, a genius professor that decided to translate his love of detail into gorgeous, tedious photos of nature. Meticulously he would use this large photoscanner, his videos touching reflections of wilting flowers, each frame betraying a little less life. His vibrant photos were lifelike representations that you wished you could pluck out of the 2D image.
Today is Fred's birthday. But while his FB lives on, Fred Karrenberg passed in the summer of 2010. And why I didn't notice one less friend among 700 friends brings up the very definition of friendship.And so this very belated birthday wish, past the point of it mattering, is sent to the unforgettable Fred Karrenberg. Your character, your memory, and your Facebook page live on.
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