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Emily Rainbow Davis's avatar

I think I was in one of those plays in that apartment! What a heady time! And to think it kicked off your relationship with Farrell. (My friend and I called him Gatsby. I'm not sure we knew his actual name for a while.) This was such a lovely full tribute to a complicated man.

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Joel Jones's avatar

Of course! You were Hilary Hope in Winning the Lottery with John Chapin and an actress whose name escapes me. You were young then—in high school maybe?

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Emily Rainbow Davis's avatar

I can still sing you the opening of the song! I don't remember the other actress either, sadly. Maybe she will reveal herself. I was, I think, either just finishing up high school or just finished? Was it the summer?

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Joel Jones's avatar

It was summer so you probably just graduated high school and were heading to college!

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Emily Rainbow Davis's avatar

Sounds right. Last hurrah before departing!

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Barbara Fornoff's avatar

I wish I had the chance to meet Farrell but your piece is so vivid and your stories of your time with him brings him to life. He had so much spirit, thank you for helping me know him more deeply.

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Jamie Dyer's avatar

I miss that dude. You captured him perfectly, flaws and strengths. I feel fortunate to have been able to spend a few hours with him at his house a couple of weeks before Shauna killed him. I loved Farrell for how he saw all of us arty-farty types too. It's too bad we couldn't always reciprocate.

The sex-cult you reference was actually a group of rich dudes who paid younger women to engage in debasement and humiliation. Shauna was one of those women. Of the group of men, one is dead, two have left town and one is still in Charlottesville. Those are the ones I know about. One of the women who was ensnared is dead and I count Farrell as a peripheral death. As damaged as Shauna was, her involvement with those brutes damaged her even more. I can't prove it but I believe her involvement had a bearing on her murdering Farrell.

Thanks for writing this, Joel. I'll pass it around.

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