In honor of Allison Crews
Sylvia Plath. Anne Sexton. Many other mother writers dead by their own actions. And now Allison Crews.
I never knew Allison. But I was impressed with her writing and her activist work. I wrote about how my students responded to her piece When I Was Garbage in a Mothering in the Ivory Tower column here at Literary Mama called Family Lit 101. I was moved by her as they were, as were the readers of the site she produced, Girl Mom. She will be missed.
I am sorry that she felt so alone. I cry for the son she left behind. I am sad to know that another one of us literary mamas did not make it.
Think of Allison. Hug your children. And write. Damn it. Keep writing. In that way, we honor her truths with our own.
7 replies on “In honor of Allison Crews”
I knew Allison when she was a little girl. She was the smartest the most interesting kid. And made a impact on my daughters life. They were friends. Allison you will be missed.
I have known Allie since Jr. High School. She was my neighbor and my friend. We would always walk to school together and ditch together. When she wanted to escape her family she would always come over to my house and hang out with everyone. I lost contact with her after we graduated. I would her different things about her from some other friends. They would tell me how she has turned her whole life around and is a writer and a speaker. I was so proud of her, that she has accomplished so much since she went through so much during school and her pregnancy. I lost contact with her when we graduated. I went to her funeral this past saterday 6/18/05, and met up with a couple of the girls me and Allie used to hang out with. We all could not believe what happened. She will always be in all of our hearts. We will miss her very much.
I was so glad that she was in this world, and I totally belived that she was making this world a better place. She was so smart, and funny too, I especially like how she was about compassion for kids and how she spoke out against injustice. I feel so sick, I wish I never lost touch with her, although I read her article before I met her, I didn’t know she was the person who wrote the article that made me save my hipmama magazine. I met her through an online group called so. cal. attachment parents. and I just loved her, I wanted to get to know her, and did see her in person a few times. She was the same age as my youngest sisters, and her son was the same age as my son. I was so impressed with her and wanted to know her and watch her grow. I wish I could have befriended her better. But when I went away on vacation in Florida, my nephew died, and I emotionally couldn’t go back on line for about 3 years. I feel such loss, what a powerful soul she had. my heart goes out to her family, and her beloved son, she worked so hard and cared so deeply. I am in shock, I wish this was all a hoax, but I know in my bones its not, I havent been checking my emails until tonight, and I saw it in my mothering news update, I would have went to the funeral, I want the world to know about allison crews, I knew her as Ali, and only knew her briefly but I was very attached to her presence here on earth. I will never forget the time I visited her, and how she and her mother and little sister all read Hello Moon simultaniously. Her beautiful face. my heart goes out to her family, I’m so sad that she was so tortured, I miss her, I have always thought about her and wondered what she was doing and looked forward to see where she was going. She was so precious to this world, and I wish she never experienced being treated like garbage, and I will do my best to make sure that no one gets treated like garbage again. I loved you Ali, and wished that somehow, there was a way to help you get on the other side of you pain, so you could be here today. I feel so helpless, is it luck that causes one person to survive and another not to make it through their agony?
Ariel has written about Allison’s funeral/memorial, and her memories of Allison, on her website here:
http://www.arielgore.com/
I just wanted to make a correction. Allison Crews did not take her own life. The cause of her death is under investigation at the present time. To group her with lost, lonely, misunderstood souls is only accurate if you are comparing their brilliance and talent. Thank you for appreciating her importance and impact.
The above poster is correct, the cause of death has not been determined. I am the one responsible for the inaccurate statement that she committed suicide. I never meant for people to think she did it intentionally, it was just the only word I had for what I immediately thought had happened, that she had accidentally killed herself.
I am Julie, Alli’s partner. I posted under extreme distress, as I was one of two people who discovered Alli’s body in my home. I didn’t mean to set off a tidal wave of assumptions, but I obviously wasn’t the picture of clarity or lucidity at that moment (or any of the rest of them since then, really.)
Alli will always be loved, missed, and remembered.
she died of a seizure from Wellbutrin. official coroner report