OCTOBER 22, 1992: “Out of the Academy and into the World with Carolyn G. Heilbrun”:
This is how I want to remember Carolyn Heilbrun, the lady in blue with the pearl necklace, 31 years ago. Carolyn had left Columbia with some fanfare, and was happy to be among her friends, colleagues, and many admirers at the CUNY Graduate Center. That October we celebrated her brilliant career as a teacher and writer, and at the close of a day-long conference organized in her honor, raised a glass to her future adventure.
OCTOBER 9, 2003
But there is another, more recent 20-year anniversary on the calendar of remembrance: that of Carolyn’s suicide.
She left us with few words: “The journey is over. Love to all.”
While we can’t rewrite this woman’s life, we can choose to remember her many words, words she liked to say, invoking Marianne Moore’s preference for language “which cats and dogs can read!” and that for years sustained us along the way.
