“I Rained”: On Loving and (Un)becoming

This is a story of loss but also a story of love, a narrative, attempting to share my memories of my friend Paul and his death, which occurred during fieldwork I conducted in Oregon in 2007. This is also a story of my struggles with chronic illness. Together, these experiences have shaped how I embody, interpret, and understand loss. To tell this story, I weave together Peter McWilliams' poem, “Rain,” personal narrative created from field journals, and musical lyrics from Paul's band.