Sunday, November 29, 2009

Meredith’s Europe #1: Meredith’s Bright, Cosmopolitan Generation That Will Surely Remake Europe

Posted by Earthling



To the left of this page, we see the many faces of Meredith - Mez, as she was known to her friends and family - seemingly always smiling, a happy girl, blossoming into womanhood.

The product of an East-West marriage, she embodied many cultures, many interests. Meredith had worked hard to win the prestigious ERASMUS scholarship which funded her year in Italy.  Her sister Stephanie said Mez was “excited at the prospect of “¦ studying to improve her language skills, meet new friends, and immerse herself in the culture” of Italy.

Perhaps because of her dark beauty, she felt at home among Italians whom she so physically resembled. Once in the country, already with an excellent knowledge of the language, she loved to hang out with her English girl friends, other Erasmus students, and Italians ““ the new cosmopolitans of Europe who have so much in common and so many things to look forward to, in their year together in the sun-drenched ancient hills of Italy, and in the many years ahead of them across Europe.

Together, they are part of what one social scientist has called the ERASMUS Generation - a generation that will surely re-make Europe in the years to come.

Although we still anticipate the final meting of justice in the sad case we all follow here, we need at times to rest, contemplate, and consider Meredith the person, the friend, the student, and the appreciator of culture, music, and dance. With utmost respect, therefore, we present some music videos in memory of Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher.

At top here, in remembrance of Meredith’s being a beloved sister of Lyle, John and Stephanie, you can see New Zealander Hayley Westenra singing, with her younger sister Sophie, a touching rendition of Across the Universe of Time: “You turn around, looking at me, laughter in your eyes, and now I can see.” 



Above here, in honor of Meredith’s love of Italy and its culture, here is one of its greatest operatic arias, Signore, Ascolta! from Puccini’s Turandot, as sung by Renata Tebaldi, the great Italian lyric soprano:

Stephanie remembered her sister as “one of the most beautiful, intelligent, witty and caring people you could wish to meet”¦. a 21-year-old student who was into her studies, worked hard, and enjoyed spending time socializing with her friends and family”¦. We feel it is no exaggeration to say that Meredith touched the lives of everyone she met with her infectious upbeat personality, smile and sense of humour.”

On the recent sad second anniversary of Meredith’s passing, her family said: “We can only hope now that a conclusion is reached in the next five weeks, so that we can finally dedicate ourselves to remember Meredith for the person that all of us knew and not as a victim or as a news item.”



And above here, a song that combines purity and passion, like Mez did, as well a reference to the Father of the Italian language: Dante’s Prayer, by Loreena McKennitt: “Cast your eyes on the ocean, cast your soul to the sea… When the dark night seems endless, please remember me…. please remember me….” 

In memoria di Meredith, con la speranza di giustizia e di pace.

Posted by Earthling on 11/29/09 at 03:41 PM in Concerning Meredith

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A note to readers who want to watch these moving videos, if they are not showing up. You might have accidentally uploaded version 8 of Internet Explorer.  Microsoft updates IE7 to IE8 online without warning, and it has a known widely-reported problem with Flash videos, which of course includes these YouTubes.

The smart move here might be to the excellent Firefox browser or its amazing Mozilla big brother SeaMonkey. They only take 5 minutes to install, and with Flash installed too you will probably never look back.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 11/29/09 at 05:24 PM | #

The Erasmus generation of which Meredith was so naturally a part is a community of high-achieving, charismatic and caring students and ex-students who do a lot of networking on the web.

You can see some of Meredith’s Erasmus contemporaries in these two videos here.

Posted by Peter Quennell on 11/29/09 at 05:45 PM | #

The genesis of finding music/videos about grief was a class on grief that I took this fall, as well as my dance class for which I selected the music a few weeks ago. I dedicated my music selections that day to Meredith. I would like to thank my wonderful Thursday morning dance class that inspires me so much, as well as Chira385 and Hopeful on this site, for their kind suggestions of songs.

But mainly, thank you, Pete, for creating and maintaining this beautiful website which is such a fitting tribute to Meredith Kercher. I only hope the story and music videos above can give some comfort to hearts beating in sympathy for Meredith, especially during this difficult week.

Posted by Earthling on 11/30/09 at 12:56 AM | #

Earthling, these songs and videos are really a beautiful and fitting tribute to Meredith - I think they capture a bit of her gentle spirit, kindness, and grace.  I hope that many will listen to these songs and remember Meredith this week.  Thank you for making this tribute, and again - you know I love that you also remembered her in your dance class.

Posted by chira385 on 11/30/09 at 05:05 PM | #

Thanks Chira. It was not difficult to get inspired by who Meredith was… I mean, just looking at these wonderful pictures is inspiring.

What I hope and pray for this week is that people, in court and out, will remember who is the TRUE victim in this case.

Posted by Earthling on 11/30/09 at 09:46 PM | #

We are Seattle-area residents and we would like to offer our apologies to Meredith’s family for their terrible loss at the hands of someone who, unfortunately, also came from Seattle.

Posted by Parkman on 12/01/09 at 01:19 AM | #

A beautiful tribute Earthling: wonderful music from exceptional female voices.

May Meredith always be remembered as a beautiful young woman who was a symbol of peace, harmony and the love of learning in Europe.

Posted by Tiziano on 12/01/09 at 09:24 AM | #
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Or to previous entry WHY Did She Have To Go Like That? Our Saddest Day In Two Years