The hotbed of liberalism. My mom had warned me about this as she begrudgingly accepted my decision to attend the University of Texas as Austin. At seventeen, I wasn’t really sure what a hotbed of liberalism was but I thought it sounded pretty fun. My first night at college I attended the Plan II Symposium, a long and dignified series of lectures regarding academics, scholarship and intellectual curiosity. At the end of the evening, we divided up into groups of eight or so freshman so we could be introduced to our peer mentor, an upperclassman in Plan II who had been selected to assist us with integrating into college life. As I stood there with a group of awkward, teenagers-turned-intellectuals, I was introduced to a flash of life whom I learned was Anne Anderson.
She was tall…very tall…which was accentuated by her white platform heels. She had on a white leather minidress and the buzzcut hair on her head was bleached platinum blonde, accentuating her creamy dark skin and bright eyes. Her eyes reminded me of those of a newborn…lost somewhere between blue and grey, always changing with the light. She had a flashbulb smile, almost manic, and she threw open her arms and said something certainly witty which I cannot recall well enough to effectively quote. She then told us to follow her to the Casbah. The Casbah? Was this a club? I was too embarrassed to admit I was only 17 and could not get in anywhere as I forgot my fake ID at the dorm. I followed along as she marched…no, skipped…down the street, singing, talking to us, mocking us for being so uptight. “This is supposed to be FUN, people!” After a few minutes of walking behind her, we arrived at The Casbah, an apartment complex where I would discover a few other amazing people in the upcoming months. We gathered around Anne’s small apartment, sitting in a circle on the floor, as she shared some beer with us and ordered pizza. I looked around at the art and poems on her wall, the pictures on her refrigerator, the huge stacks of CDs by all kinds of artists. As it all sunk in, I realized “This must be a liberal!” I was so excited to think I was in a hotbed of people just like Anne! My mom was so wrong! Of course, I learned over time that very few people are as bright, as magnanimous and as sparkling as Anne Anderson, but she sure started things off on the right foot.
As the semester wore on, I became quite ill with mononucleosis hepatitis and was too sick to stay at school. I was flown home to Dallas, away from the hotbed of liberalism and back to my parents’ home. While I was at home recuperating, they suddenly and dramatically ended their 20 year marriage and I fell apart. I called Anne, my only connection as UT, and told her what was going on and that I might not make it back to UT. She said she would make some phone calls and get back to me. She arranged for my brief leave of absence and helped me make up the tests and papers I had missed. Because of her help, I finished the first semester with a 4.0 and was able to continue my schoolwork uninterrupted. She was my hero after that.
Over the next few years, I stayed in third-party contact with Anne through mutual friends I met in Broccoli Project and heard snippets about narcolepsy and depression and I am not really sure what. College came to an end, everyone moved on, and I entered into the self-centered world of medical training. Fast forward several years. Sarah Hepola came to my engagement party in Austin and told me about Anne’s brain tumor. Brain tumor? I didn’t really hear much more about it until I heard that Anne had died, which unfortunately supports my theory that bad things happen to good people. I am saddened to read about Anne’s struggle with the medical system. I am regretful I never called or wrote or said goodbye or thanked her for being who she was. I am angry over the injustice of yet another young person dying so far before their time. Mainly, however, I am grateful that I had the opportunity to know Anne Anderson and that she introduced me to the hotbed of liberalism all those years ago. She was such a star.
Kelley Jacqmin Phillips, M.D.
| « | (index) | » |