Posted by Jordan Plawner on January 15, 2002 at 12:13:30 from 62.243.244.4 :
Why I just decided to type Ed's name into a search engine after not trying to contact him in 9 years, I do not know. I took his class on the recommendation of a friend in my freshman year in 1989. In the midst of 200 person general education classes, here was this professor coming late to class, handing out articles and basing a whole class on a sentence or an idea. We were all slow to pick up. Reminds me of studying Talmud for the first time with scholars. To them, the nuances and ideas are clear and bright. It was a surprisingly diversified class, probably because they heard there were no tests and that it was 'about' drugs. What is was about was the three C's; consciousness, choice, conduct and the diversified class stayed and learned about themselves. I carry the three C's with me wherever I go and use them whenever I need strength or have lost my way. I have been able to do everything I have wanted in life and I owe this to being taught how to be self-educated and self-aware-- the one thing that our society fails to teach us. The greatest material gift he gave me was my autobiography, which I pull out every few years and read. It is an invaluable document of a young man and reminds me how far I have come and how I have yet to go. For Jews, the perfect world is right here just like it is, but with love, kindness, and selflessness. This is why religious Jews believe that each person can create the next world and live it now. Instead of wishing Ed is now in a better place, I would like to thank him for making this world a better one because I suspect his heaven was doing just what he was. Thank you to the Powell family for allowing us to express ourselves, however late.