Theresa Duncan, Blogged On Perfume, Life, Arts, Dead in NYC last week Options

[NaturalJuice]

I'm surprised she didn't leave a note with instructions to tell people goodbye or something on her blog. No note, no nothing?

She left a very long note.

[baron]

Wow, I'm so shocked and sad to see this. I've read her blog for a long time, and I've had some brief email correspondence with her, and I've seen her and Jeremy around town at art openings from time to time. I never approached her in public, but I always thought I might some day. I so loved her writing that I was slightly afraid to approach her and have an awkward encounter that might take away from private joy I took from her blog. This is just so sad - from her blog I never would have guessed that her emotional life was this difficult. She was so full of life and intelligence.

[Raphaella]

Anya-is there anyway we can find out about the funeral?
I swear I am ready to get on a plane and go-I am so sad-

I agree with Baron-I so loved her writing-I loved sending her perfume samples and I had always wanted to meet her as well-

I have been searching the Detroit news to no avail-
and while it really is none of our business, (her personal life) she touched alot of people-I am just very confused and lost at how this could happen to someone with so many words and passions in them-
so sad about Jeremey as well-


Anya-any condolance/flower information would be wonderful-

[NaturalJuice]

I have been searching the Detroit news to no avail-
and while it really is none of our business, (her personal life) she touched alot of people-I am just very confused and lost at how this could happen to someone with so many words and passions in them-
so sad about Jeremy as well-
Anya-any condolence/flower information would be wonderful-

Hi Raphaella
I was just contacted by a police reporter for the NY Daily News. She is going to contact the ME in NYC and also use her Detroit connections to find out more. I'll let you know when I hear back.

Of course, the family of Jeremy hasn't given up hope about him.

I feel very strange being in the middle of this, since I only posted here to let our POL family know about Theresa. As I mentioned before, I got the info second hand, via Jeremy's ex-girlfriend, who is on the road today, but I am in touch with her via cel. I'm very cautious in what I'm telling everyone, but feel that any info the reporter can give back would be of interest to us all about Theresa. If only she knew how we all felt towards her, it may have made a difference, you have to think. Very, very sad, this chain of events.

[Guest_voyageuse imaginaire_*]

This is what she wrote on Passage d 'Enfer

http://theresalduncan.typepad.com/witostai...ll_du_jour.html

[i]"if Passage d'Enfer were a film its director would be Luis Bunuel.
Enfer is an haute bourgeoise having sex fantasies in church: fantastic and perverse.
Shapeshifitng and morally complex." Therese Duncan



This was so her, fascinating and always challenging the view of the reader.

[Raphaella]

Anya,

Please do not feel strange about "being in the middle" of this-you are the only contact-she was more well read than POL imagines-thank you so much for checking into all this for us and it is most appreciated-
You are very brave!

I personally loved her review of Carnal Flower...

[NaturalJuice]

Anya,

Please do not feel strange about "being in the middle" of this-you are the only contact-she was more well read than POL imagines-thank you so much for checking into all this for us and it is most appreciated-
You are very brave!

Brave, well, I don't know about that..but well-connected, yes, I realize that now. Mercy. I just remembered I know a ME in the NYC office! He's on my NP yahoo group, an author, very interesting guy. I just got off the phone with him, he's going to check into it and call me back today. He asked what borough, approx date, method, and I actually knew the street she was staying on. So if it's in the system, he should find the information.

PS. His novel, due out in the fall, will feature natural perfumery.

[darkdecadent]

I don't know the person, but her death and the suicide of her boyfriend makes me so sad now. Hope they rest in peace.

[leopoldo]

Thank you for sharing this news Anya, even though such a thing is always a burden. I hope she's at peace and that her family's pain can be shared with those they love. The same for Jeremy.

Suicide is so quotidian it never surprises me who it reaches and who it touches, especially those who sparkle brightly. But it's always tragic, in its ugly ordinariness.

[NaturalJuice]

Confirmed. A person named Theresa Duncan died and the autopsy results will be available in six weeks. I have the case #, which I will not release, of course. Her family was involved with claiming the body, and the body was released to them. I have no other information than that, and I forgot to ask the date, but I gave my ME friend the approximate date of July 12th when he asked earlier today, and I'm sure that's what he went on.

[NaturalJuice]

Confirmed. A person named Theresa Duncan died

Wanted to clarify why I used that awkward wording. As he and I were talking I said something along the lines, "oh, so sad, so it was her" and I believe he had to shift into municipal employee mode, which is understandable, and he said, "well, a person with that name died, etc."

[Twitchly]

Thanks for the update, Anya.

So very sad.

[Fulltiltredhead]

... If only she knew how we all felt towards her, it may have made a difference, you have to think.

Actually, I don't think so. I think many people corresponded with her via pm and she knew very well that she/her blog was popular, that she had a loyal following, and that many people thought she was marvelous. She was not a person to be much moved by what other people thought, though. She measured herself by her own yardstick. If she wasn't happy with herself, nobody else's approval would have made any difference. She wasn't that kind of person. IMO and from what I knew of her.

[acrew]

I have been awed by the writing this woman produced. She had a gritty poetry. This amazing comment from an interview with her:

Q: If you were to make a perfume that embodied the essence of Los Angeles, what would it smell like?

A: My cologne is called Santa Ana after the powerful winds that bring desert heat and faraway smell into the city. It smells like: Celluloid and sand, coyote fur and car exhaust, contrail cloud and chlorine, bitter orange and stage blood and one bushel of ghostly, shivery night-blooming jasmine flowers like blown kisses from the phantoms of the ten thousand screen beauties who still haunt our hills every full moon because they think it's a stage light.

----------

She was an artist on many levels.

Hi, I wrote the above interview with Theresa for LAist.com. Thanks for the quote. That was my favorite response and question as well.

I am so shocked that Theresa's gone. She was a truly original bright light. I am so sad to hear that she chose to leave this world in the way that she did. She communicated her passion for life, her boyfriend and her art in such beautiful and smart language. We are all bereft. I guess her light was so bright that she couldn't help be consumed by its intensity.

-Adrienne Crew, labrain.com

[minette]

i believe, also, that as brightly as someone's light shines, that's how dark can be their darkest moments. the depth of one is the depth of the other. life is chiaroscuro - ni l'un, ni l'autre - with many shades of grey in between.

[NaturalJuice]

Update:
She will be buried tomorrow at the Lynch and Sons Funeral Home, LaPeer, Michigan.
The family is requesting donations in her name be made to the Whitney Museum, NYC.

Jeremy came back to the converted church where they were staying and found her the night of July 10th.

[kimberlygem]

Here is a link to the obituary:

http://www.lynchfuneraldirectors.com/obituaries-lapeer.html


So sad. Is there any news of Jeremy? I imagine the families of both are just heartbroken. Just a terrible end to such talented individuals.

[glorious1]

I'm sure that they are clinging to whatever hope that they can muster.

[helg]

She wasn't ignored! Helg, she didn't publish most of the comments she got, but she got a lot of comments. Her blog was more like a magazine. She didn't like it to get too interactive.

Never implied that she was.
(I kinda recall though that people were quick to condemn her here when that Slate "scandal" erupted and I think I was the only one defending her, actually, but could be wrong?).

QUOTE(NaturalJuice @ Jul 20 2007, 12:26 PM)
... If only she knew how we all felt towards her, it may have made a difference, you have to think.

Actually, I don't think so. I think many people corresponded with her via pm and she knew very well that she/her blog was popular, that she had a loyal following, and that many people thought she was marvelous. She was not a person to be much moved by what other people thought, though. She measured herself by her own yardstick. If she wasn't happy with herself, nobody else's approval would have made any difference. She wasn't that kind of person. IMO and from what I knew of her.

Even if she knew that she was popular (I'm very willing to believe so myself) there must have been factors weighting in such a major decision and of course no one among us is privy to those things, alas.
So with all due respect I think it's unfortunate to make assumptions at this moment.

Better keep her in our memories as someone who had a lot to offer still and was cut at her bloom....It's really tragic.
It's also tragic for her boyfriend and both their families. Rest in peace.

[Guest_voyageuse imaginaire_*]

(I kinda recall though that people were quick to condemn her here when that Slate "scandal" erupted and I think I was the only one defending her, actually, but could be wrong?).

sadly I 'm so not surprised!


a true class-act person who didn 't crave for attention but just did what she had to do in life and death. I had no idea people exchanged emails pms with her (I don 't belong to any clique here or anywhere else), I was too intimidated to even dare get in touch with her but I 'll miss reading her thoughts and words.