academic soul sister
filling holes in the universe
what’s not going to be filled?
with love
a banner for this
for building things that are important
to remember
the backups to our lives
~by Josh Hine, inspired by Nancy Smyth
Dr. Josh Hine, the assistant dean for students and academic affairs at the University at Buffalo School of Social Work, wrote the following poem after listening to me share about Melanie and the impact of her death in a gathering of faculty and staff. Josh says it was based on my words so it’s my poem; I say he wrote it. So maybe one calls it Josh Hine’s creation, inspired by my sharing, or a poem written by Josh Hine based on my experience. It doesn’t matter to me. The phrase “academic soul sister” came from Melanie herself in a text message she sent to Laurel Hitchcock, Nathalie Jones, Laura Nissen and me the day before she died– it’s what she called us. She was telling us she loved us “in case,” because she knew she was having a medical crisis related to her surgery. She died the next day.
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