“For your last request, how do you want to die?” she asked.
I considered her and the question. “Kill me with chocolate.”
Smiling, she began to pour. “As you wish.”
The Strike
Wild as tornadoes,
flashy as lightning,
wondrous as magic and technology,
the Moon and the Grand Canyon,
the Great Wall and Angel Falls,
majestic as rolling ocean swells,
enigmatic as love and death,
dreams strike,
jolting you into confusion and fear,
surprise and excitement,
and contemplation and searching.
Today’s Theme Music
She blew onto the scene in my mind in 1975. Four years later, she was gone.
Minnie Ripperton hit us with her five-octave prowess via ‘Lovin’ You’ in 1975. In 1976, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a radical mastectomy . Cancer had already entered her lymphatic system and nothing could be done for her. It was a matter of waiting.
She didn’t shrink away from living or dying. Everything she experienced was shared with the press. We knew her progress as her health declined. Minnie Ripperton became an American Cancer Society spokesperson. More than all of that, she impressed everyone with courage that matched her prodigious talent.
She passed away in 1979, thirty-one years old. It was a short life, but, man, did she live. ‘Lovin’ You’ is easy to sing as you walk through a day, especially if spring is finally beginning to stir.
Michael Seidel, writer 