When you go looking for something specific, your chances of finding it are very bad. Because of all the things in the world, you’re only looking for one of them. When you go looking for anything at all, your chances of finding it are very good. Because of all the things in the world, you’re sure to find some of them.
-The Zero Effect
I’ve dreaded this day for a long time. Quarter to Three has been a small close community for over a decade. We know each other about as well as any group of online people can know each other. Which is to say we know each other pretty well. When one of us dies, it will really matter. We will feel the absence. We will grieve.
That day is here. Scott McKinnon, who has been posting as Mink Staccato for a few years now, took his own life on Sunday.
In addition to knowing Scott from the forum, I got to spend a few hours with him online when we recorded a podcast last November. It was one of the most enjoyable podcasts I’ve ever done. Scott and I clicked. He was the kind of guy who made me wish we lived in the same city. He was kind, friendly, thoughtful, funny, observant, smart, and just the right amount of cynical and world weary. He had gravity and substance. He was passionate about pinball, which is a pretty cool thing to be passionate about. He also seemed restless, like he wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere better, and he was determined to commit the time, effort, and introspection to get there. But for whatever reason, he chose another path on Sunday.
Scott was a photographer (above is a self portrait from a series of pictures he took of himself sitting in his various classrooms at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where he was working on a degree in art). You can see some of my favorite of his pictures after the jump. You can see more on his blog here. And you can get to know him a little better in this podcast, which we recorded last November.
Scott, you are missed.
