cw murder, antisemitism, homophobia

that-hoopy-frood:

seinfeldbassline:

so a gay jewish college student was murdered by a literal white supremacist 

this is what “free speech” for nazis means. this is what being “tolerant” of the alt right means.

this is the danger of thinking antisemitism is not still a real, deadly threat.

his name was blaze bernstein. may his memory be a blessing.

(ok for everyone to rb, esp non jews)

I wanted to say a few words about this…

Blaze was a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania. We were classmates.

He loved to cook… I had to kick him out of the Writers House kitchen once because it was past closing time.

His pastries were amazing.

He was the managing editor of Penn Appétit, our premiere food magazine.

He was pre-med, but loved to write, and didn’t believe we should separate the arts from the sciences.

He penned “Picking Marbles from Dirt”, a piece about the joy he found in writing.

He was the first high schooler to be published in the Penn Review.

We read together during the Review launch. We were both fiction contributors.

He was smart, gentle, grounded, and kind.

He was a member of our community, our house.

He was loved by everyone.

He was my friend.

“Writing gives me my voice, which is why my stories are in a constant state of flux. Even if I don’t change a word or a single letter, they move with me down corridors of memory, through seas of emotion, and into worlds both real and imaginary. As I change, they change, but even after days or months or years I can still find a version of myself (a time traveler from the past, present, or future) sitting there in the text and waiting to speak to me.” – Blaze