Finita, la commedia

I was greatly saddened to learn of the death, over the weekend, of someone I greatly admired and respected - Shannon Larratt, founder of BME.  Coincidentally, it's almost exactly three years ago that I started off this blog with a short entry outlining some of the background to my involvement with BME and although I haven't been a contributor there since that time, I look back on those eleven years with nostalgic affection.

I was fortunate enough to have met Shannon in person one time when he visited the UK, and although I can't say we were close friends or anything, I flatter myself to think that he used to value my contributions to the site.  His encyclopaedic knowledge of Body Modification was equalled only by his ability to express it in a way which was always informative, interesting and captivating.  It's typical of him, I think, that he managed to write his own obituary so very eloquently: goodness alone knows how long it must've taken him to do it, wracked with the constant pain of such an increasingly degenerative condition.

I don't have any hesitation in saying that had it not been for his inspiration I'd never have become involved in the world of Body Modification to the extent that I did, and for that I owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude.

Requiescat in pace.