Janine

Crash victim was teacher in Poland School District

I worked with Janine Walker at The Last Unicorn years ago, perhaps the last independent record store in Utica. She certainly was a Van Halen fan. I've always remembered her when I hear/play/think of VH. Some people are inextricably linked to certain music in your memory.

This news naturally comes with dual significance for a motorcyclist.

It's a strange time of year for those of us in four-season climates. It's spring. We get to ride again. We're excited. We're restless. We haven't ridden in months. We're rusty. We're like beginners again. Maybe impatient. We make mistakes, and we take risks, driven by the thrill of riding. We all negotiate risks every day of our lives. Some of us accept grater risks to feel alive.

My father's been riding since he was a teen. He taught me how to ride. He taught me how to ride responsibly. He broke both legs in a wreck when I was a few months old. He had metal pins holding his knees together for a while and still has the scars. Maybe he was lucky that was the worst of it. Maybe he instinctively did something to minimize the damage. Maybe there was nothing he could have done at all. My dad still rides, and I'm glad I've gotten to ride alongside him.

I'm writing to somehow share the weight with everyone affected. It is so incredibly painful to lose things that you love so greatly, whether it be faith in a machine or the presence of a someone as fucking cool as Janine Walker.

I will ride again this week just as cautiously or daringly as I always do, but some songs will never be the same, ever.