IMPORTANT: As of this posting, Alden Loveshade is very much alive.

Alden has been to far too many funerals/memorial services in the past few years, losing a father, two brothers, uncle, cousin, etc.  So many times it’s come up: “Gee, I wish I said that when he/she was still alive.”

Well, this is your chance. Feel free to post what you’d post if Alden really was gone.  Then, when the time comes, you can say, “Gee, I’m glad I said that when e was still alive.”  Note that Alden has professionally published 2,000 or so obituaries, and couldn’t resist co-writing his own.

Alden Loveshade, writer, photographer, personist, philosopher, animal caregiver, friend and family member, has died.  In accordance with es wishes, this article uses the genderless “e” for “he,” “es” for “his,” etc.

E graduated with distinction with an Associate Degree in Humanities from MSJC.  E was a member of the national honor society Phi Theta Kappa, co-editor of the campus newspaper, editor of student publications, homecoming king (winning with a bag over es head), two-term student government president, and area vice president and state board member for the California Community College Student Government Association.  While at college e was a winner of a Student Leadership Award and a Special Leadership Award and was named to the Order of the Pineapple.  The U. S. Jaycees named him as one of the Outstanding Young Men in America.

Returning to college, Alden graduated Summa cum Laud from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts and a minor in Chicano/Latino Studies.  E also became a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society.  E was co-creator and head writer of “Same River Twice,” a university-produced English language telenovela that won Best Film for Inland California Filmmakers, Smog Dance 1999, and was featured in the New York Latino Film Festival that same year.

It was produced with advice from Oscar and Emmy Award winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler, and under Executive Producer, writer, radio personality, documentarian and Emmy Award Winner Saul Landau.

E was also a director and playwright with several produced plays, including “A Very Bad One Act” directed by Daytime Emmy-Award nominee Ronald Layne Hoffman.  He worked as a reporter, newspaper columnist, book reviewer, researcher, investigative consultant, computer lab supervisor, teacher, web site designer, photographer, animal caregiver, and dishwasher.

E also published articles, short stories, poems, essays, play and movie reviews, cartoons, graphic designs, and photographs.  His work has appeared in a number of local, national and international publications under a variety of pennames.  Under the name Alden Loveshade, es work as appeared in a number of publications including Anaphora Literary Press, BBC, Flight Magazine, Guideposts Magazine, Hemet Magazine, Hungur Magazine, Intermittens Magazine, Sixfold Magazine, Yahoo! News, and Yahoo! Sports.  He also wrote under different names for a number of other publications including being a regular writer and photographer for a Pulitzer Prize winning periodical that is one of the 100 top newspapers in America.

As a singer, actor, playwright, director and in various other capacities, e was involved with about 200 community, college, civic, and professional productions on stage and in radio and television including choral, musical, drama, tragedy, comic, and one-act productions. E appeared in the world premiere of Will Eisner Award Hall of Famer Don Martin and Ron Hoffman’s mini-musical Mia Romantica Crazio.

E was a controversial activist who emphasized five basic beliefs.  These are 1) the rights of the individual, 2) the responsibilities of the individual to society, 3) the responsibility of parents and caregivers to prepare a child for life, 4) complete personal freedom in a free society if it harms no one, and 5) harmonious discord, accepting differences.  As a journalistic activist and investigator, e faced threats of incarceration and even death threats by phone, email, letter, and in person.  E spent time living on the street, and escaped after capture by an armed assailant.  Considering emself a “personist,” e promoted the use of the words “e,” “es,” and “emself” as substitutes for “he/she,” “his/her,” and “himself/herself.”

Es hobbies included historical recreation, acting, drumming, bicycling, being a lord of Sealand, and role-playing games, especially GURPS for which e was a playtester.

In lieu of flowers, it’s asked that donations be made to a favorite charity or group that supports the five basic beliefs.

IMPORTANT: As of this posting, Alden Loveshade is very much alive.