Another Death

I've blogged before about people who've died -- a professor who influenced me deeply and a former colleague I'd hoped to make peace with.

But this is a new one for me to get my brain around:  a murder.

A local theatre director, Ben Bradley, was found murdered in his home -- the victim of multiple stab wounds -- this weekend.  (Story here.)  I didn't know him personally, but I knew his work well, and to the extent that I (in my theatre critic capacity) am a member of the Los Angeles theatrical community, I can say that this well and truly bites.

Of course, in my lawyer capacity, I know pretty clearly that murders happen -- so often that they don't even make the news.  But those tend to happen in circles in which I (thankfully) don't travel, so it's easy to distance myself.  In my circles, people die of "old age," or illness, or accident.  And it's tragic and sad, particularly when someone is struck down so young, but that's Fate or Shit Happening or whatever you want to call it. 

This is someone whose life was intentionally ended by another human being.  Viciously.  Brutally.  For some reason we do not know but are pretty damned sure was inadequate justification. 

And so, with the new year, that's supposed to bring hope and that sense of optimism that comes with a (figurative) chance to start all over with a clean slate, Ben Bradley was stabbed more than ten times -- leaving his family, friends and colleagues with a feeling of emptiness, sickness, and disgust.