In Memory of Prof. Anca Romantan
Dr. Anca Romantan, an assistant professor in Communication at UMass Amherst, passed away peacefully on April 14, 2008 after a long struggle with lung cancer. She was at home in Arlington, MA, with her husband Cornel Ban and her mother Adrianna Romantan.
Dr. Anca Romantan received her PhD from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania and was hired at the Department of Communication, UMass Amherst in fall 2006. Her appointment to the department was universally received with excitement and a sense of magic, and her energy, courage and commitments to teaching and writing in the course of her illness have been sustaining–to her but also to those around her. If you would like to send a card or note for Anca’s family, please send it to the following address:
Cornel Ban C/O Emily West
Communication Department, Machmer Hall
University of Massachusetts
240 Hicks WayAmherst, MA 01003-9278
If you wish to share your memories and thoughts of Anca with her family and friends, we welcome you to post your comments below. We hope to draw from your comments during a memorial service which will be held in Anca’s memory in the Amherst area sometime in May. Details regarding this service will be announced here as well as on the department website in the following weeks.
If you like to share photos of Anca with her family, please send them to webmaster@comm.umass.edu
Memorial Services:
Memorial Service at Memorial Hall, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Sunday, May 18th 2008
2 p.m.
Memorial Hall, UMass Amherst
Memorial Service at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Monday, May 19th 2008
3:30 - 5:00 p.m.
Room 500, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Memorial Service at the International Communication Association conference, Montreal, QC
Saturday, May 24th 2008
6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Salon 8, Le Centre Sheraton, Montreal, QC
Links:
April 16th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I met Anca when she arrived at the University of Pennsylvania in the summer of 2000. Our common Transylvanian roots led to instant friendship and Anca’s vivaciousness, good humor and lust for life made her a sparkling companion to be around. We shared a wonderful year at Annenberg full of joyful get-togethers and common experiences. Her talent, her spirit, her humor will be greatly missed.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Dear Anca,
I will miss you forever… and my students… Parts of you will be rooted in us and the followers, forever.
with lots of love,
Lin
The following is something I call it “evidence” between Anca and I… bits and pieces, everything I can remember… Sorry I just leave it in my most intimate language…
我来的时候，是她在Umass-Amherst的第二年。必修课，定量研究方法。
我以为自己永远都不会修定量方向的课的；但是她不同。
她真的智慧、开放、渊博。那种有“根”的学者。她展示给我，一个遥远国家来的羸弱的姑娘，可以做到多好。
我记得第一次上课，她要我们自我介绍。我可怜的结结巴巴的英文，但她点头，微笑，最和煦最真诚，不需要语言——不全然是鼓励，而是真的听明白…… 在全班每个人都说自己不强于数量方法之后，她略低头说自己知道这个program的哲学和审美偏向critical… 但你们不应该是因为对定量方法无知而逃避，至少基础的认识可以帮助你们平衡/拓展眼界。。。
她姓氏很长，其实不难念，但大家耍赖叫她Professor Anca，她甜甜笑；她说她来这里，因为life quality高，不整天想都是“升级”发文章评tenure （昨天的纪念仪式上，高她一届的师姐也说，本以为她不会来了，因为有其他top的offer，但在闲谈的时候，大家论及valley中的各种文化生活，就是这个，打动了她）；她会在课间摸出很大一个橙子，慢慢拨，一屋的清香；她扎绚烂的头巾（后来知道是化疗的。。。）；她下课后抱着腿坐在路灯下，路牙边，等丈夫来接…… 她有一个黑色皮质的大书包，从来不是手提的，而且在地上拽来拽去，其实挺cute的。。。 上课的时候如果你坐的够边，能够看到小姑娘面上很严肃地讲着严肃的题目，腿儿却躲在讲台后面欢快地荡来荡去。。。
后来接触多了，因为发了封信给她，讲一个感兴趣的题目。她说多有意思啊，这怎么是email谈得清楚的，到我办公室来：
她问我还好吗？——一句寻常的How are you doing——大家习惯回说fine了。但面对她，你会有很多很多“不寻常”要吐露。我说stressful。她说这可能是你人生最stressful的半年了，都会过去的。
她说我在email里提到的那本书很棒、那个学者非同寻常……我没有跟其他老师提过，但告诉她，这位学者给过我一个offer，但significant half在这边，所以我来了。她连说what a pity，但又道：你会渐渐发现，过来是对的，我跟丈夫分开这段时光，很难很难的（当时她丈夫在maryland念博士）。。。
她津津乐道她下学期要开的课（就是这个学期的Media and Political Culture）。。。方方面面都有包容，理论根基扎实得很，却丝毫不“骇人”——她始终都是慈悲的，宽容的，非常非常能够/也愿意去“理解”的。。。
她在12月23号上午发信给大家，说记得下午5点前要交final paper啦。。。别怕别怕，不要留incomplete，我知道你们的处境，我只要看你们有没有用心。。。不用担心grade。。。交了就能好好享受这个实在是应得的假期啦。。。
寒假去波多黎各，我还寄了张贺卡给她，祝她身体健康。。。那时候，只是隐隐约约觉得她似乎有点什么，但纵贯那整个学期，她真的都是很真诚很乐天很开放。。。 很cute…
这是我在这里的第二个学期，也是第二次选她的课——这里要求是老师不可以连续两个学期给研究生开课……我想她只是好想教书。。。甚至下学期的课表上，还列有她将给本科生开的两门课……
老秘书sue给她用最鲜亮的纸张印了syllabus，我知道sue很爱她。。。那色彩真真灼伤眼睛，但一个学期渐渐下来，也就好了。。。（Sue昨天告诉我，她根本没有跟任何人讲身体情况有多严重；即使最后几周，她还是要事事躬亲的——Sue看到她丈夫hold住她，她在机房复印阅读资料给学生。。。）
第一节课上她介绍课程安排的时候，我跟身边的以色列同学小声说话，她停下来问我们在说什么。我局促得满脸通红。她还是微笑，就像邻家姐姐，真的是好奇，连声鼓励我说。 我讲过，她微笑，好亮好真，连说wonderful…
我告诉她Gitlin那本书，我们在另一门课上也用。她说你觉得这书怎么样。我说我不喜欢它。她笑，说，那么我们来批判它。。。
她上课一直上到两个星期前，每节课丈夫都陪她来，到后来，他几乎是要搀扶她进教室，落座……但她讲课时候仍然是智慧又待每个人以一种personal way… 从来没有不耐心，从来不敷衍。。。
我到后半个学期，要第一次做presentation了，好紧张，根本不在听之前一位同学讲，一遍遍翻着自己的稿子……她看到，频频侧头笑。。。
当大家的讨论涉及我的题目，她说你们别动Lin’s cake，让我们休息一会，下面听Lin’s presentation… 课间大家说Anca你不舒服的话走吧，我们自己讨论就好了。她说不呢，我想听Lin的，她准备了——我说人永远不能prepare enough的。。。她说我知道你已经well prepared了，go ahead。。。 。。。我讲完，她说excellent. very reflective. I like it…
（我傻乎乎地觉得她只是反胃或者什么，还拿出一课薄荷糖给她；她笑着接过含下，说谢谢你，很提神。。。）
后来到第二次presentation，她听得好认真，频频点头。在我得意洋洋讲认识作者是我master的导师时，坐得直直，笑得甜甜。整节课她提起气来说的每一句comment，感觉都是盯着我的眼睛，要讲到我的心里去。。。
那节课，我居然忘了要交期中的proposal，跟她讲 说周末email发给她好不好，她笑说没关系，我会在这里，走不了。。。。。
学期过半，一节课开头，她拿出纸张，问每一个人还“欠”我们几份读书报告没有grade… 我好后悔没跟她说没关系的，那是促使我们学的一种方法，我们已经学到了。。。
三星期前的下课时分，大家就下星期的presentation安排吵吵嚷嚷，Anca有些难得的气急，说，别吵别吵，我可吵不过你们。。。 还简单点评了下governmentality。。。 说有很多很naive的application，Foucault的本来用心是什么。。。 这个题目事实上正是她的专攻。。。她应该有很多东西告诉我们。。。 。。。
5天前，上个星期三的晚上，她回我交的第三份读书报告：Thank you so much… I’d love to talk about this with you during the summer time. …
Anca，我会想你的！
—
第一学期一个晚上，下课她一时没有走。
Tim, Anilyn, Alicya, Toks和我围在教室一角唧唧喳喳。她坐在讲台后笑，说我真的喜欢你们这一届。。。 你们是所有的课都一起上的，是吧。。。
—-
这学期的课要读很多书。她为了帮我们收集齐，担了小半个学期心。
有几本很贵，50美金60美金这样子。她让我们去买，说 “I will reimburse you with my research grant…”
—-
我说我还不能选课，因为学校认为immunization手续不全，但我不能make他们指定的一个接受injection的时间段，他们说这个学期就没有其他available的机会了…… 小小的她立刻“拍案”，说这是怎么样的卡夫卡式的荒诞！你去找Kathy跟Marti，没有任何道理行政机构有这种权力。。。
April 17th, 2008 at 10:54 am
It´s really difficult when it comes to using past tense to refer to people who´ve had a great impact on my personal and professional development. Anca Romantan is and will always be the woman and teacher I´ve always admired for her ellegance and for her teaching skills, for her background career and for her strong personality (Modern Applied Languages Department- LMA, Cluj- Napoca, Romania). May all these thoughts comfort her family even if I can tell from my own experience that nothing can replace the one you still and you will always love…Life is unfair…
April 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Anca was a dear friend and a beautiful person. I will always remember her elegance, wit and kindness. This is such a heartbreaking loss. The world has lost a beautiful woman and my heart goes out to Cornel, her colleagues, many friends and her students. We are all better for having known her and diminished for having lost her.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Anca and I were at Annenberg for graduate school together, and my work, time, and life there would have been far less without her insightful, supportive, and always intriguing part in them. She will be missed greatly.
I remember walking through the streets of Budapest with Anca when we were there for a conference. She told me about life in Romania “in the old days,” peered with me through a fence hole at hidden statues from the old regime, and wandered with me through Hungarian tourist traps :). Her graceful way as both scholar and friend delightfully rolled together made every outing both joyous and fascinating.
We love and miss you, Anca.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Anca, I can still hear your beautiful melodious voice and your laughter. We only worked closely together for a short time in 2002-2003 on the Electronic Dialogue Project, but it was a joy.
I don’t think that human beings are programmed to grasp the loss of another. It’s impossible, really. Anca was vibrant, joyful, passionate and beautiful. I know all this even though I did not know her well and haven’t been in touch with her for years. But when we learn that the world has lost someone like Anca, I think we begin to understand how profoundly each individual’s energy shapes the vast landscape of our lives… even if that personal contact itself is merely fleeting.
Anca - you are loved, remembered, and missed.
Cornel - I am so sorry that this journey through grief for you is now beginning. I lost my husband less than two years ago and the pain is still with me. But I have become accustomed to my grief. In a strange way that grief is what connects us to the people we loved and continue to love so much.
May you find meaning in your pain, and solace in the knowledge that your loss is shared by many many souls.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I appreciate the opportunity to share my experience of Anca as a teacher with her family and friends.
Anca was my professor for Quantitative Research Methods, a class I entered with great apprehensiveness, even dread. Any class with the word “quantitative” elicits this reaction from me, and in my experience has triggered a pattern of self-doubt, procrastination, and failure when it comes to engaging “hard science,” math, and the like.
But my experience was exactly the opposite in Anca’s class. From the first she created a context of scholarly inquiry that made it possible for me to successfully navigate the class and what’s more enjoy the process. She identified what was good in my work and encouraged me to build upon that. Her written and oral comments were detailed and supportive. And her enthusiasm for my project reinforced my sense of the importance of my work, and increased my own enthusiasm.
I don’t know where Anca’s pedagogy left off and her warm, open, and positive personality began, but it was owing to all this and more that I worked hard, did good work, and actually enjoyed my quantitative research methods class! Her openness to perspectives and approaches that were different from hers helped me to open my mind to a methodology that I had thought was anathema to my research agenda, even my ideological perspective. I learned to appreciate the efficacy of quantitative methods to engage in socially relevant research. I did not become a quantitative researcher, but I learned to appreciate it — something I did not think possible until Anca became my teacher.
And I know that many other of Anca’s students had similar positive and perhaps transformative experiences. She was an extraordinary teacher. I thought of her often after that class ended, and looked forward to her recovery, when I hoped to have the opportunity to get to know her better as a mentor and friend.
I send my deepest sympathy to Anca’s family and friends. I wanted you to know that I am among those who will always be grateful for the short time when Anca was my teacher.
Ellen
April 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
I send my deepest sympathy to Cornel and all of Anca’s family. As mutual international students, joining Annenberg at the same time, we often shared stories about our ‘home’ countries, and the families we missed so dearly.
Words can’t describe my feelings upon hearing this news. I haven’t seen Anca since our graduation from Penn in the Summer of 2005, but my memories of her during that weekend, and of course her fabulous contagious laugh will remain with me.
As everyone has expressed here, Anca was an amazing woman. She was unequalled in her keen intellect, and her ability to smoothly bridge the stubborn quantitative and qualitative divide. Her European roots remained with her always, and I remember fondly, her need to draw everything back to another inpenetrable European theorist as we struggled together through our first quantitative methods class in Sociology. We never expected then that she would become such a quantitative queen!
I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to know Anca. I will always remember her friendship, her gift for teaching, her sparkling intellect and the fact that she affected so many people’s lives, in so many ways.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Que Dios te bendiga, Anca.
April 18th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Anca was a very much beloved member of the Annenberg community. She was curious, smart, friendly, sincere, determined, and lovely. Her passing is such a loss for us all. She contributed so much to the world in the short time that she was with us. She simply made this world a better place.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I send my deepest sympathy to Anca’s familly and to Cornel. I knew Anca and Cornel from many, many years, during their studies at Babes-Bolyai University , Cluj-Napoca, Romania. We were very good friends and I became their godfather back in 2000. The sad news had strucked me and all the acquaintances from Romania and from the Cornel’s little birthtown and everybody will miss her beauty, vivacity, her optimism and her love for life . We will miss you forever, Anca.
Dumnezeu sa te odihneasca in pace, scumpa mea fina!!! Cu adanca si netarmurita durere, Marius si Romana
April 19th, 2008 at 3:11 am
My deepest sympathy turns to Anca’s family in these terrible moments they experience with her passing away. I have known Anca since 1998 when she was my teacher at the Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Faculty of Letters, Applied Modern Languages Department. For me she was the perfect teacher, devoted to her job, close to her students, always smiling and full of love for life. I had the chance to see her on her wedding day in Cluj-Napoca and take a picture with her and Cornel. I also met her good friends, Sia, Alexandra, and Maria, who only had praise words about Anca.
We will never forget you, our dear teacher and friend!
Dumnezeu sa te odihneasca in pace!
Adina si colegii din promotia LMA 1998-2002.
April 20th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
We grieve to hear that Anca is no longer with us in body, but her spirit will always live in our memory! I spent a great year with Anca at Penn: we shared an apartment, long conversations about Foucault and Althusser, culture and politics (Anca, I still have your notes inserted in _The Archeology of Knowledge_), and coffee at midnight with Cristina and Corina, and schnitzel recipes, and hopes and dreams. Anca, I can see you in your ecossaise dress, which you would wear with so much style, and I can hear your lovely voice.
Our hearts are with Cornel and your families!
Dumnezeu sa te odihneasca in pace!
Monica and Vlad
April 21st, 2008 at 10:45 am
The memories you have left us with will always be cherished.
April 21st, 2008 at 11:50 am
My heart is just broken to hear this news…Anca is such an amazing, sparkling spirit. There aren’t too many people whose laugh, wit, joy and sense of caring pop in to my head with such crystal clarity when I think of them.
Cornel, my heart and Mark’s go out to you during this sad, sad time. We were talking about the day when we came to visit you both in Delaware, and we’re so very fond of you. Please know there remains a huge community of people from Penn and beyond that care about you very deeply, the passage of time and separation of miles notwithstanding.
I will miss Anca terribly but will carry that beautiful spirit of hers with me always.
April 21st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
My deepest sympathies to Anca’s family. I was her colleague at Annenberg from 2002-2006. Anca was a fascinating person – she had the most interesting titles for her academic papers, she could talk to anyone about any topic, and she rode a foldable bike. It is hard to believe that she is no longer with us. But, Anca, in the beautiful place that you are now, do keep riding that little bike and we will always remember all the wonderful ways that you made us smile!
April 21st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Although Anca entered Annenberg a year ahead of me, we ended up taking several classes together and got to know each other very well. We also ran into each other on the train a lot when we both lived in Newark DE. She was such a joy to be around. She had a face and smile that spelled sunshine even in the gloomiest of days. She was a great conversationalist, which made the hour-long commute of ours that much more tolerable. She was knowledgeable beyond the bondaries of my imagination. She was always curious, positive, and interested in what I had to say, even though half of the time I didn’t know what I was talking about. She was a wonderful person and a beloved friend. I will miss her dearly.
My deepest condolences to Cornel and the other members of Anca’s family. Her passing is an unfathomable loss to us all.
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
I had the privilege of being high school colleague with Anca, and later we each decided to pursue graduate studies across the ocean. She was a great friend and a brilliant person: this word is often overused, but in her case it’s just right, her intelligence and open mindedness was more than doubled by brimming energy, enthusiasm, empathy and sense of humor.
At the end of those formative years of high school, I think we all knew that she was to be great in any domain or profession she was to chose, the world was waiting for her. She had great models of teachers, in our school as well as in her family, and I am glad she also chose this way.
Anca’s untimely loss is irredeamable, but her perserverance is a model and what she has achieved in her life will not be lost, she will stay in our memories. Requiescat.
My deepest condolences to Cornel, Adriana, and Mircea.
Odihneasca-se in pace.
April 22nd, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Perhaps it is not my place to offer condolence to the fine men and women who knew Anca best, who feel the loss of her most. Beyond one or two nods and smiles — beyond those scant and tiny hellos in the halls of our building — I did not know her.
But in the short time Anca worked in Massachusetts, word of her magic found its way to me via my students and classmates. There were too many raves for her to be missed: “Anca helped me,” and “she knows how to make difficult ideas clearer — even after I sought help and struggled for so long,” and “Anca is the best teacher I know!”
These who testified to me permit me to testify that Anca lived for learning, and that her light had moved those who knew her — who know her still. Could these words, so clumsy a measure of her loss, and a measure taken by me at so great a distance, still be some comfort to her loved ones, to those who knew her best?
I hope so. May her light always shine.
Peace,
Perry Irwin
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:58 am
Anca was my professor for quantitative methods at UMASS. I am saddened not to have had the opportunity to know her better, and words – the very things we study and theorize here – seem incapable of expressing the strange sense of loss I feel. Yet words are what we have. And even though we often feel them incapable of articulating the nature of our sadness or our joy – so many of you have nonetheless given such beautiful words in celebration of Anca.
So, these descriptive words are not mine, but from those of you who have shared your memories so far. I was struck by the consistency of them, so many appear over and over in these messages. They paint a rich, vivid, and resonant picture of this striking and amazing woman. They are at once beautiful and haunting, and have compelled me to compile them afresh, with some additions of my own. The world has clearly been made better by you, Anca. Shine on.
Sparkling
like champagne, or stars in the evening sky, a
Magical
burst of energy. A
Spirited
conversation, sprinkled with
Humor
Wit
and spice. The essence of her
Vibrant
Joyful
Warm
like
Sunshine
on your face in autumn. With
Laughter
Brimming and bubbling at the edges
Grace
precedes her.
Strength
unfolds along her path
Elegantly
and quietly.
Delightful
are the moments shared
and remembered. Impossible to conceal this
Passion
For life. Impossible to conceal this
Curiosity
Sincere
and compelling
Openness
Determination
Brilliant
Like champagne, or stars in the evening sky.
Devoted
Friend, teacher, student, and
Beautiful
inside and out.
Peace.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Nu-mi vine sa cred incredibil ce s-a intamplat e o mare pierdere moartea Ancai o fata atat de inteligenta.
Am fost colegi de scoala primara clasele V-VIII pana in 1990. Nu mai am cuvinte…
Dumnezeu s-o odihneasca…
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
My dearest Anca,
I miss you. Words cannot express, and yet we love them all the more for the beautiful ways they fall short. You loved Pessoa and Rilke. I should offer something from each but for now, these two from Rilke.
love always, Sharon
******************************
Yes, Spring needed you. Many starts
waited for you to see them. A wave
that had broken long ago swelled toward you,
or when you walked by an open window, a violin
gave itself. All that was your charge.
–from the Duino Elegies: The First Elegy
And you’ll like this one, from Sonnets to Orpheus:
Sonnet 14
Look at the flowers, true to earth’s ways,
we lend them fate from the rim of fate–
but who knows! If they deplore their decay,
it’s up to us to be their regret.
All wants to float. But we trudge around like weights.
Ecstatic with gravity, we lay ourselves on everything.
Oh what tiresome teachers we are for things,
while they prosper in their ever childlike state.
If one took them into intimate sleep and slept
deeply with things — oh how light he’d come
back, changed with change of day, out of a mutual depth.
Or perhaps he’d stay; and they’d bloom and praise him,
the convert who’s now like one of them,
all the calm sisters and brothers in the meadow’s wind.
April 24th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Draga noastra, nu vom uita niciodata colindul cantat de tine, il auzim inca vibrand din vocea si sufletul tau frumos: “Floricica, floricea, ce esti mandra ca o stea…”
Dumnezeu sa te odihneasca!
April 25th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
It is difficult to imagine that anyone could have had a conversation with Anca and then forget her. There’s solace in that; like so many others, I have no trouble at all remembering multiple dimensions of her spirit and her approach to life. Her consistently keen insight, her often unconventional views, and her combination of humane compassion and grasp of life’s harsher realities make her one of the most interesting people I have ever met. News of her death shattered the illusion of a hectic schedule I was facing that day and has haunted me since. I have trouble imagining what it must have done, and continues to do, to her students, colleagues, and her cherished family. My thoughts have been with you all since the moment I heard this news, and they won’t leave your side for the foreseeable future.
April 25th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
I met Anca at Annenberg in 2000 and shared one year of many late night conversations in the Graduate tower, laughing together with Monica and Cristina.
When one of us went to our hometown, Cluj, we brought packages to and from our families full of home-made goodies. We celebrated Easter together, painting eggs and going to the Romanian church in Philly.
We talked about professors, classes, the world, and common friends we knew back home.
I fondly remember Anca telling us how she cut her own hair - snip snip and there you go! I loved Anca’s short hair cut.
Despite being very intellectual, and a fine academician, Anca’s demeanour and spark reminded me of childhood innocence, Ion Creanga stories, and running through orchards, chasing butterflies.
It is impossible to describe how shocked I was to learn about her sickness and then her death. We hadn’t been in touch for many years, but her memory was very lively in my mind.
I am sending my warmest condolences to Cornel and Anca’s family.
April 27th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Anca applied to the Communication Dept. when I was the grad. student member of Personnel Committee. On a crisp January morning, I escorted her through the usual campus tour, soon after the Learning Commons had been launched. In an email thanking me, Anca noted that UMass’s “soaring research plans and sinking libraries” struck her as a noteworthy combination — just one of countless examples, I’m sure, of her lively way with words!
As others have already written here, superlative terms are often overused, but Anca epitomized them. She was supremely prepared for her presentation and her interviews, without a whisper of smugness. She neither claimed too much nor tried too hard.
With deepest condolences to all who mourn her, but also with gladness that we have a chance to celebrate her life here.
April 28th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Viata e nedreapta pentru unii.
Anca a fost cea mai buna eleva a mea. Pentru mine a fost o minune: o fiinta sensibila, deosebit de inteligenta, foarte tenace, cu o energie inepuizabila.
Canta minunat, era la fel de stralucitoare si la matematica si la fizica si la materiile umaniste.
Dormi in pace suflet bland!
April 29th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
My most vivid memory of Anca, the one I will keep in my heart always, is from the welcoming events that took place when she first arrived in Amherst. She was so brilliant, so beautiful, and so full of joy.
She is missed as a colleague, for sure. In her short time here, she elevated our profile with her amazing accomplishments, energized our classrooms with her dedicated teaching, and epitomized exactly the kind of thoughtful and engaged scholar we all hope to be. But I miss her most sorely as a friend.
April 30th, 2008 at 10:58 am
To Anca in Mid-flight
For every wish to set you free,
a mad desire to bind you to earth.
Please forgive if love has made us
selfish. Such stays and anchors
crafted to keep you tethered,
built from every worldly pleasure,
weighted with memory and living:
these books to cling to your garments,
these friendships to clasp your hands,
these dinners are stones in your pockets,
and flowers growing in your hair
and burdening your wings…
And yet,
and yet, why should we hold you fast
to a world diminished without you?
After our goodbyes, we go back
to armies marching, hunger and
bread lines, greed and pipelines,
the countless fires of a burning world
and their dark obscuring smoke
that would otherwise loft you
on your way…
But then again,
but then again, over and over,
and over and over, though it is
our pain alone and no longer yours,
we miss your light.
April 30th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
You know, one of the things Anca and Cornel have taught me is how to love where I live. I am a big city person, and have always received my life in Northampton and Amherst with regard for the opportunities the Valley makes possible “for such a small place.” In other words, there’s always a qualifier; it is a place where, I have thought (archly, as someone who measures a town by its food), the menus are better than the dishes. I am on leave right now in Montreal, where the food is great. I wish I could have eaten here with Anca and Cornel both, since meals–at my place and theirs, last Thanksgiving at the home of my friend Susie Lowenstein–have been among our greatest pleasures together. But I will return to Northampton in August with a wiser, deeper sense of its graces. Anca called it “my beloved Noho.” She taught me that it is a place that makes for soft landings and infinite cultural possibility if only you look, that was good to her and for her in the course of her illness. Come September, it won’t be the same place because Anca won’t be there. But her depth, her beautiful impatience with trivia, her great sensitivity and delicate aesthetic, and her clarity about the stakes of “life, death and love,” in her words, have changed the place permanently. I will return to Northampton as the place where Anca lived–the air sweetened, the concrete on Main Street imprinted by her beautiful shoes, new kinds of attachment provoked by her wisdom. I am 50, Anca was 32; I can’t think of any one person a full generation younger from whom I have learned more, and in so short a time. I feel as lucky as I do stricken.
Love and solidarity to Cornel, his family, and Anca’s family,
Lisa
May 3rd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
We were lucky to become friends with Anca and Cornel over a short period of 18 months. Anca had only a matter of weeks before finding out about her illness when she arrived at UMass to begin what promised to be a stellar career. In this tiny blip of time between late August and early September, I remember several coffees and dinners full of plans and excitement for the year to come. Anca’s enthusiasm as a scholar and teacher were literally infectious as was her instinctive compassion and generosity. Her uncommon intellectual formation in the field of Communication, bringing together a passion for continental theory, a cosmopolitan and deep interest in political history and change and a rigorous training in quantitative research methodology, made her unusually good company both as a colleague and a new friend.
The remarkable thing about Anca was that she never for one minute lost any of these impressive qualities, even once she was diagnosed with the illness that she would fight with unflinching bravery to the very last week of her life. The absence of bitterness was stunning and a constant lesson for those of us who had some inkling about the pain she endured, the grim diagnoses, and the everyday medical humiliations. She did not want to discuss or analyze her “medical body.” She created and gently enforced terms of being that precluded a hint of pity from those of us who spent time with her as friends, colleagues and students.
I have many vivid and happy memories of Anca that seem too recent and real to articulate in the past tense. Anca as my 5-year old daughter, Aisha’s dear friend, making up magical games and scientific “research projects” sparking endless questions and pleas for future “play-dates” with “Auntie Anca” at “Anca’s river” which runs behind Smith College in Northampton. Watching dozens of movies and sharing many meals including a few holidays together, taking a couple memorable outings and even taking part in a raucous moment of collective protest together on a very hot early summer day in 2007 against one of George Bush’s feeble cronies who was inexplicably awarded an honorary degree from UMass. On that day in particular, I remember Anca as glowing and funny and full of fight against injustices great and small.
In my last conversation on the phone with Anca, she asked how her graduate seminar was going—Did the students engage with Foucault? Were they drawing the appropriate connections to the texts she had carefully selected for that week’s discussions? We did not say goodbye, but said we would see each other soon.
I miss Anca terribly and send all my love best wishes to Cornel, her parents and brother.
Paula Chakravartty
May 6th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
It’s so heartening to read on this page how Anca touched so many people’s lives. I certainly include myself among them. I feel so fortunate that Anca chose to come to UMass, which meant that I was able to spend time with her over the last year and a half, and get to know both her and Cornel better. As difficult as that time was for Anca, it was always a joy to see her and spend time with her. Her generosity knew no bounds – she devoted so much attention and care to others in the midst of what was, to all intents and purposes, an 18 month crisis.
I was so excited when I learned that Anca would be joining us here in the valley. I knew she had other job offers, and I couldn’t believe our luck that she would be our new colleague. I made so many big plans for the things we would do together – academic, social, and outdoors. I can’t overstate the deep regret and disappointment I feel that so many of her dreams for her time here were dashed. I try to find solace in the joy and beauty that she was able to find during that too-brief time. Anca truly knew how to live well. Many people are granted many more years, but aren’t able, or don’t know how, to live them well. Her capacity for living well is something to celebrate, and hopefully something I can incorporate into my own life.
Despite my grief, I know that I am lucky to have been touched by Anca’s unique brand of magic. To Cornel and Anca’s family, I am thinking of you.
Emily West
May 15th, 2008 at 11:57 am
you are what we should all be: expansive intellect and inclusive humanity combined into an enthusiastic and compassionate engagement with the world. your joy for life will be with me always and i thank you for that and so much else…
May 15th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
One of my most vivid memories of Anca is from Michael Morgan’s party in May 2007. Beautiful and radiant, she was enjoying the social occasion—conversations with friends, music, good food… And I was admiring Anca’s love for life despite her illness.
One particular detail sticks in mind. We were chatting about Eastern European cuisine, and Anca said she missed good Romanian bread so much that she started making it herself. From scratch. “No way,” I protested, “It must be too hard and time-consuming.” “Not at all,” said Anca and quickly shared her recipe.
It seems, nothing was impossible for Anca.
Her love and light will remain with us.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:27 am
We would like to say condolence to Anca`s family in these terrible moments with her passing away. We never forget you. God bless you.
Dumnezeu sa te odihneasca in pace!
Gabi, Alexandra si Laci Stark
May 18th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Hired only this past Fall of 2007 in the Department of Communication at UMASS, I only had the pleasure of knowing Anca for a very short while. My first impression of Anca was that she radiated warmth, courage, and light. You could see just in one meeting with her that Anca possessed a superior intellect, a generous spirit, and a love of beauty. I will always recall her silk and wool scarves during the balmy days of winter that she wore with unique style and flair.
Even in what must have been a daily struggle to overcome pain and discomfort, when we would see one another on the 4th floor, Anca would ask if things were going well and invite me into her office to chat. As a new colleague, she advised me to be brave as a faculty member and as a scholar. Understanding Anca’s personal struggle to continue teaching, writing, and living her words will remain with me.
Thank you Anca for bringing so much to this world in such a short time. My condolences to her family especially to her mother and husband that supported her to the very end of her journey.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Thank you all for celebrating Anca’s life today
and making us think in the beautiful people we meet everyday.
“Life is a station full of encounters and farewells.
The same train that comes is the train that goes.”
(entire song below)
Encontros E Despedidas
(Artist: Maria Rita)
Mande notícias do mundo de lá
Diz quem fica
Me dê um abraço
Venha me apertar
Tô chegando
Coisa que gosto é poder partir
Sem ter planos
Melhor ainda é poder voltar
Quando quero
Todos os dias é um vai-e-vem
A vida se repete na estação
Tem gente que chega pra ficar
Tem gente que vai pra nunca mais
Tem gente que vem e quer voltar
Tem gente que vai e quer ficar
Tem gente que veio só olhar
Tem gente a sorrir e a chorar
E assim, chegar e partir
São só dois lados
Da mesma viagem
O trem que chega
É o mesmo trem da partida
A hora do encontro
É também despedida
A plataforma dessa estação
É a vida desse meu lugar
É a vida desse meu lugar
É a vida
***