I Don’t Hate America!

Right now, tears are flowing freely and words are very difficult to come by, but I figure since I have this medium to let out feelings, I might as well take advantage of it.

Tonight we lost Jared Stene, Student Senate president at Winona State University, and more importantly to me, one of my best friends. I have never felt the loss of someone so close to me, coupled with the suddenness of the whole situation make this a very hard evening to get through, let alone post to complete, so bear with me.

I had learned of his condition just more that 48 hours ago, late Tuesday evening. Since that time we were all on a scary roller coaster ride hearing his condition change, for better and worse. Tonight that ride came to its end when we heard of Jared’s passing.

Jared was a special person; absolutely one-of-a-kind. The energy and passion he brought to every aspect of life, whether it was an affair concerning student issues, political action, simply entering the Student Senate office or one of the many nights at Schyde’s for wings, drinks and darts won’t be filled anytime soon.

He was someone who attracted a ton of friends and for good reason. His kindness, warmth and unique sense of humor (if you’ve never met him you have no idea how funny he was!) made him a natural magnet for people to want to be around him.

I first met Jared in the Spring of 2005 when he was on a committee in charge of the Mr. WSU competition; I had been hired as event host. Jared’s chief task was to coordinate games for the audience in the spirit of “the Price is Right.” It was through our work on that project which we got to know each other and I got to instantly know his love of that show. It was his love for that show which eventually lead to an effort to create a recognized student group, “the Price is Right Club” on the WSU campus.

He had an endless passion and ability to firmly grasp issues facing students. Tuition, parking, textbook prices, ability to vote in elections, and consultation with campus administration are issues that on the surface may not be glamorous, but are nonetheless important and Jared was a tireless advocate for them. For the final two years of my college career, I got to spend countless hours in committee meetings and office hours with him, and every Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Purple Rooms: Student Senate meetings. Every minute of that time I was able to feed off of his energy and passion.

I had the pleasure of traveling to Minnesota State University Student Association (Jared had been serving as a member of that body’s board of directors) conferences with him, including a week-long lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. March of this year, and sharing many hotel rooms with him at these conferences. I had the displeasure of hearing him snore in these hotel rooms, but really, who’s perfect?

He was passionate about issues which even fewer people would find important, such as WSU food services’s bastardization of Minnesota culinary tradition by labeling a dish “Tator Tot Casserole” and his fight to ensure that someone would water ski on Lake City 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

Oh, and the mochas (coffee drink consisting of steamed milk, espresso and chocolate). Boy, was he ever a coffee addict. He was a frequent visitor of Mugby Junction on Huff St., and was perhaps that business’s best patron. If not “best,” certainly “most frequent” fit the bill; once he requested a purchase history from his frequent customer card and the ensuing slip of register tape measured several feet. One day, Mugby even served a special drink in his honor: “the Jared.”

I feel blessed I had the opportunity to see him one last time on Wednesday evening. While it was difficult seeing him in the condition he was, we knew he was strong enough to fight and I know he did until the very end.

Jared has a very special family; parents Bruce and Char and sister, Caitlin (who is now at Winona State serving on the Student Senate). From my experience anyway, most people our age (early 20s and under) aren’t usually too comfortable having their parents meet their friends. Jared was, therefore I feel privileged to have gotten to meet and know them.

Stene family: my heart resides with you guys. I will keep Jared in my heart as long as I live.

For as hard as this is for me, I can only imagine how hard it is for many others those who got the special gift of being even closer to him.

Friends: Jared showed tremendous strength, and while this isn’t an easy time by any means, we all have the ability to rely on one another for our own strength to get us through this.

Yes, readers, the guy in the blue track-jacket with the neck-beard on the masthead of this blog is Jared. He was initially going to join us as a blogger here at IDHA, but his other commitments kept him from doing so. That’s not to say he never blogged; check out the archives of his personal blog he kept here and you will get a glimpse into the special human being we all loved, cared for and wished we could be.

Jared, as this box of Kleenex to my left is nearly empty, I want you to know that while it will not be possible to be as special of a person as you were, as futile of an effort it will be I will try my best to be as rock-solid of a person as you were. You left a void that will be impossible to fill in the Winona State community, and the world. I will forever be thankful for the friendship which you gave me.

Jared, I love you and will never forget the memories I had with you.

Goodbye my friend.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 4:15 am and is filed under Winona, DJ D.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.