in memoriam

Photo source: Theresa Duncan, The Wit of the Staircase, January 3, 2006

El Chamizo Volador dedicates this post to the late Theresa Duncan (October 26, 1966-July 10, 2007), pioneer video game designer, filmmaker, culture arbiter and compelling author of The Wit of the Staircase blog. Her style and fierceness have left a mark on this blogger.

Duncan left her hometown in Lapeer, Michigan for work at the World Bank in D.C. where she discovered new media and its potential for story-telling. She soon partnered with illustrator Monica Gesue and together they authored Chop Suey, and interactive CD-ROM for girls. Other games followed. In 1999, Duncan and her romantic partner, the artist Jeremy Blake, collaborated on The History of Glamour, an animated film about a young rocker who moves to N.Y.C. in search of stardom but ultimately chooses "grammar over glamour."

Duncan's own biography resembles the story of her film's heroine. From the outside, she seemed to have what many only dream about. She was beautiful, intelligent and sophisticated. Her relationship with Blake seemed idyllic. Her blog entries conjure up a chic lifestyle amidst the art intelligentsia of L.A. and New York. Inexplicably, she took her life on July 10, 2006. Blake followed her a week later by walking into the ocean.

Links:
The Wit of the Staircase
The Golden Suicides