I learned early this morning that Dustin Howes has died.  Dustin had been fighting ALS these past three plus years–with his characteristic energy and zest for life.  Somehow, while very ill, he completed Freedom without Violence, while also writing extensively about his illness and keeping up a voluminous email correspondence with his friends (who were legion).  No one who knew him could forget Dustin’s broad smile and his way of striding into a room as if its walls would have to burst to contain all his energy.  He gave himself without reserve to all the things he loved.  And he cared passionately about creating a better world than the one we currently inhabit.  His continual mediation on the problem of violence and his desire to craft, in his terms, “a credible pacifism” have influenced my thinking and my politics profoundly.  I am sure there are many others who would say the same.  He was looking forward to continuing the dialogue we had been conducting on this blog–just one sign of how he was engaged intellectually to the very end.  He was equally dedicated to maintaining his ties to family and friends. All the instruments agree; it is a sad day.

• Dustin Howes