don't believe what you've been told

blood_shotwhore @ 2007-06-07T19:51:00

2007-06-07T23:52:22Z

Kelly Wallace, 1983-2007
In Memoriam
By MIKE MILIARD
May 24, 2007 11:25:48 AM

REMEMBERED: Wallace, left; a memorial “ghost bike,” right.
Kelly Wallace had a lot of friends. In the Merrimack Valley. In Somerville. In Allston. “Everyone knew her,” says pal Erik Lipson. “She had friends down in Florida, up in New Hampshire. In California. In Chicago.”

One of those friends was Gordon Riker, an artist from Boston-via-Halifax who was killed while riding his bike on Huntington Avenue on April 4.

The day after Riker died, Wallace wrote a message on her MySpace blog.

“I can’t even believe this. Gordon was such a safe rider. I even made fun of him for wearing a helmet before, but he laughed at me for NOT wearing one. . . . So to all my friends, all over the country, riding bikes . . . please be careful.”

Kelly Wallace was killed on May 6, after her bike was hit by a car in a crosswalk at the intersection of Cambridge Street and Harvard Avenue, in Allston. Near that spot, a stark white “ghost bike” stands in her memory, adorned with handwritten notes and a profusion of blooming flowers.

It’s the second fatal bicycle accident in Boston in a month. But no newspaper besides the Eagle-Tribune, from near Wallace’s hometown of Methuen, seemed to notice. Why?

“A lot of people who knew Kelly, or who didn’t but [who] care about Boston bike issues,” says her friend Carolyn Zaikowski, “are really confused and sad that there hasn’t been any coverage of this.”

Kelly Wallace loved animals. She loved her dog, Zero, and her two rats, Sophie and Chloe. She loved books and writing poetry. “Music and reading and words,” says friend Nikkie Wordell. “Those were her life.”

And she loved music. Everything from the Beatles to the Misfits. Kid Dynamite. Bane. Converge. “She went to shows all the time,” says her friend Jamie Press. “She was the smallest girl ever, maybe 100 pounds. And she would be on top of people, crawling to the front of the stage to sing into the microphone.”

“We used to call her our little scene queen; if there was a show, she was there,” says Wordell. “We really clicked and got along because we were both really sarcastic. She was also really caring. Always there to give you advice.”

“She didn’t always have the easiest life herself,” says friend Gina Luciano. “So it was really cool that she put everyone in front of herself.”

“Kelly was just amazing, from point A to point B,” says Bob Tyrrell, who was with her the night she died. “She was absolutely gorgeous. Every dude I know had a crush on her. She was really into tattoos; she had some awesome ink. She was just a great person and would always make you smile.”

As Wallace’s friends commemorate her life with new tattoos, mix CDs of her favorite songs, and memorial concerts (one is being planned for June at the International Community Church, in Allston), they’re also working to make sure her death was not in vain.

Immediately after the accident, Zack Smith established the Kelly Wallace Memorial Fund, a nonprofit to buy and distribute bike helmets for free. Already, the fund has raised nearly $1000, he says. At Hellmets.org — that’s H-E-L-L: “Helping Everyone Live Longer” — you can donate money or buy a helmet for yourself at cost.

Jaffney Roode, a bike messenger, didn’t know Wallace, but her death, along with Riker’s, hit home. So she’s organized a meeting on June 10 at the Democracy Center (45 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge) to talk about how to make Boston’s streets safer.

In the meantime, wear a helmet. And remember Kelly Wallace’s own words: “please please please be careful.”

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some bastard from wrote into the phoniex saying-
Two sides to every story
Your in-memoriam piece on bicyclist Kelly Wallace said she was “hit by a car in a crosswalk.” You didn’t say whether she was obeying motor-vehicle laws at the time. That’s key. Most bike riders in Boston, for example, run red lights. Did she?

Many bikers ride against traffic, too, and in between rows of cars. They also whoosh by on sidewalks, treating people like inconvenient meat pylons on cement slalom courses. They’re supposed to ride slowly, announcing their presence via bells, but few to none do. What do they care if mere pedestrians suddenly turn and get maimed by 200 pounds of rolling steel? Yet they expect the public to care about them. Perhaps they should stop caring so much about “global warming” and start being more courteous to their fellow humans.

Unless and until cyclists start obeying current laws (for instance, by using reflectors and lights at night, and by discontinuing to ride without the use of hands) they shouldn’t be surprised if “dooring” becomes a fine — and widely practiced — art. It’s not enough to wear helmets; cyclists need to use what’s inside those helmets, too.

Robert A. Sides
Brookline
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WTF i hate people that talk shit about people they dont know.

blood_shotwhore @ 2007-04-15T23:24:00

2007-04-16T03:24:05Z

Melissa A. Lillis
Born in Holyoke, MA on May 28, 1986
Died Apr. 13, 2007 and resided in Monson, MA.

Visitation: Wednesday, Apr. 18, 2007
Service: Thursday, Apr. 19, 2007
Cemetery: Hillcrest Cemetery
Please click on the links above for locations, times, maps, and directions.

Monson- Melissa A. Lillis, 20, of Bumstead Rd., expecting her first child, Dakota Jasmine Stiebitz, were both tragically killed as a result of an automobile accident on April 13, 2007.

Born in Holyoke May 28, 1986, she was the daughter of Margaret Lillis and Kevin Wellington, with whom she lived. Melissa graduated from Palmer High School and currently attended HCC. She worked at Cumberland Farms and was a previous employee of Dunkin Donuts.

Melissa was an artistic woman who loved music, her family and friends. Along with her family, Melissa was very excited about the birth of her first child in September.

She was an extremely caring woman and will be greatly missed by her parents along with her siblings, Adam, Brittany, and Caitlyn Wellington, all with whom she lived. Melissa also leaves her love with her boyfriend and father of Dakota, Jospeh Stiebitz of Palmer, paternal grandmother Lillian Wellington and companion Dennis Harkins of Springfield, maternal grandparents John Lillis of Springfield, and Marjorie Goad of Ware. Her absence will be felt also by her aunts and uncles, Larry Wellington and wife Liz of W.Springfield, Lauri Barrows and husband Paul of Springfield, Robert Wellington of Chicopee, Avis Harrington and husband Frank of N.C., and Bonnie Lillis of Springfield. Melissa’s memory will not be forgotten by her many cousins and friends, especially Lynn Moynihan.

Funeral services will be held Thursday at 10:00 a.m. at the Beers & Story Palmer Funeral Home followed by burial in Monson. Visitation will be Wednesday from 5:00-8:00 p.m.

tibetan saying:

2006-11-07T01:47:56Z

"we must beware of trying to put a yak's head on a sheep's body"

blood_shotwhore @ 2006-09-04T21:16:00

2006-09-05T01:38:46Z

Cause we all go anyway im gunna say goodbye today, cause it could be anyday im gunna say goodbye today , we've grown in so many ways but im gunna say goodbye today, cause it could be anyday im gunna say goodbye today...
im gunna say goodbye today cause i dont know when we'll all cross paths again, till then ill be that, and see that, that speaks the truth, believe that ill see that...
your suffering will not be invain neither will be your pain every since you passed i hear your name, RIP
and you'd still be hear right here with us and we'll have plenty of time before death came to get us
what is death like? should i really care after looking at it was life really fair? did you burn any bridges? did u make amends? did u ask god forgiveness for your sins? what is heaven like? if you could come back should you? if you could communicate from over there would you?
so young, so gifted direction of life was uplifting when the wind shifted it turn for the worst with the blessing comes the curse took a dog into the hurst..... was way too young to die.... fell out the nest and was way to young to fly but that didnt stop fate from happenin... idle time with the devil....
sometimes the pain is too much too bare. i just wish you where here. sometime the pain.....

Kurt Vonnegut=awesome

2006-08-26T18:55:45Z

"Evolution is a mistake. Humans are a mistake. We've destroyed our planet.... Life...is no way to treat an animal"

"ive been smoking Pall Mall unfiltered cigarettes since i was twelve or fourteen. So i'm going to sue the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company, Who manufactured then. and do you know why?"
"Lung Cancer?"
"No.No. Because I'm eighty-three years old. The lying bastards! On the Package Brown & Williamson promised to kill me. Instead their cigarettes didnt work. Now im forced to suffer through leaders with names like Bush and Dickand, up until recently, 'Colon'."

"Honestly i wish Nixon were president, Bush is so ignorant. And i don;t like idiotic, impulsive people. he's not a capable human being. The war in Iraq shows that he's a phony christian. Remember what William Shakespeare taught us long ago: 'The devil can cite Scripture for his [own] purpose."

oo kane

2006-02-27T02:59:32Z

spinkickfooks: you should've been like
spinkickfooks: "do you like know who i am? i'm fucking ashley you know germain girl. i will destroy your life."

mhmmm interesting

2006-02-05T01:35:04Z

http://www.crush007.com/love.cgi?id=1139096390gma

friends only

2005-03-11T02:04:43Z