Keenan Milton.8.4.74 -- 7.5.01 I MET KEENAN Keenan is a male Irish name which means "Ancient, Distant". Keenan is an anglicisation of the Irish name Cianáin. The Keenans were historians to the McGuire clan. WHEN I WAS 13 in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . He lived exactly 100 blocks from me. I was on 23rd street in middle class apartments, and Keenan was on 123rd living with his Grandma in the projects. Normally, someone like Keenan and I might never have met, but skateboarding skateboarding Form of recreation, popular among youths, in which a person rides standing balanced on a small board mounted on wheels. The skateboard first appeared in the early 1960s on paved areas along California beaches as a makeshift diversion for surfers when the ocean brought us together. We became instant friends, skating skating: see ice skating; ice dancing; roller skating. skating Sport in which bladelike runners or sets of wheels attached to shoes are used for gliding on ice or on surfaces other than ice. all over the city and spending every moment we weren't in school with each other. Soon other kids came around that we may have never met either if it wasn't for our common interest. Ben Liversedge and Gino lannucci came into Manhattan from Long Island. Chris and Jones Keeffe, Pete Bici, and Gio Estevez came in from Queens. Mike Hernandez from the Bronx. Alex Corporan from Uptown. All sorts of people that remain friends today came from all over a huge city to skate skate, fish: see ray. skate Any of nine genera (suborder Rajoidea) of rounded to diamond-shaped rays. These bottom-dwellers are found from tropical to near-Arctic waters and from the shallows to depths of more than 9,000 ft (2,700 m). and grow up together. But when I think about it, it was always me and Keenan. Everyone had to leave Manhattan to go home at night, and we would stay together. For some reason, lots of us were lucky enough to become professional skateboarders '''Ryan Shekler, Brooke Newbern, Luke Jones, Connor Burke, Chris Cole, Meggie Summers, Jerene Rogers, George Peters, Elizabeth Kemper, Doug Miller, Hunter Knight, Zach Dale, Tony Hawk, Cody Money, Sydney Dillon, Jean Postec, Rodney Mullen, Devante Smith, Arto Sarri, Geoff Rowley''' . There's nothing better than seeing the world and doing what you love with your friends, especially the ones you knew when being a pro was only something you could dream of. Keenan went everywhere you could imagine, blowing people's minds with his skating, and making them happy with his laughter and smiles. I think everyone that ever came into contact with Keenan would say that he was one of the kindest and happiest people they had ever met. I am so grateful for the time I was able to share with such an amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. person. We pushed and inspired each other growing up, and when we became adults we were so proud and happy for each other. When Keenan died, and the initial shock passed, I thought about his life and all of the amazing things he got to see and do. I thought of all of the people he touched and inspired. I thought about a boy who lost his moth er, had no father, and was just a skinny (Skinny Station Protocol) Cisco's proprietary implementation of the H.323 IP telephony model. Skinny phones can also be configured for the SIP protocol. See IP telephony. kid living in the projects of Harlem. And I thought about the amazing talent he had that took him out of there and allowed him to spend a good portion of his life living his childhood dream. I thought about a guy who always lived for the day and always had more fun than anyone else I know. I miss Keenan and I know I will miss him forever. When he died we all lost a great talent and a truly amazing person. I just keep reminding myself not to measure Keenan's time here in years: I measure it in life. He saw more, did more, skated more, and loved more in 26 years than most will ever do in 80. When it really starts to hurt I try my best to smile or laugh or skate, because I know that's what Keenan would have done. That's what he would want for all of us. |
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