“favorite quotation: only believers in death will die!”
when i thought about doing this i didn’t realise that it was just a few days away from a full year since Stan my Man died.
i met Stan in 2003, we were first year Arts students at Wits Technikon (now known as UJ). even though we weren’t studying the same discipline, we became friends.
i fell in love with Common because of Stan.
*smh* i was with Stan when two of our white class mates were mugged in Jozi. i remember both of us agreeing that we were never to walk with white people anywhere. ever again.
Stanley was a great guy. A warm personality, with a sexy husky voice. a friendly brother who always had a smile on his face. Stand was a creative man, he loved the arts, poetry and music. All of his loves came to fruition at his joint in Tembisa, Papa Chilos.
the last time i saw Stan was in the Rosebank Mall parking lot. he was with friends leaving and i was arriving. serendipity had me drive into an open parking bay next to him as he was pulling out.
we exchanged quick surprised greetings and laughs and off he drove. i thought i’ll hit him up later on facebook. i still hadn’t been to Papa Chilo’s and we still hadn’t had that coffee and chat we had been promising each other for over a year.
words still escape me when i remember finding out that he had been in a car accident with his girlfriend, the mother of his son. she had died and he was fighting for his life. there were so many of us hoping that he would pull through… one only has to look at his facebook page which remains a shrine for us to go to when we think of him. the regret is immense. but the good memories are greater. i miss him often and i know that many more miss him like crazy.
all we have now are the memories. the sound his voice – those who were lucky to see him perform his poetry and those of us who have Sliq Angel’s last cd have a piece of his voice with to go back to…
and his facebook page where his last status update read:
work beats vegetating …………handle yours!!!
12 July 2010 at 07:02
~Stanley Parkies