Brenda Jo Bright, RIP

I learned today, a year late, that lung cancer finally took Brenda Jo Bright, the pre-eminent scholar of lowriding. Having sunk a good 7 years of my life and virtually all of my scholarly activity into the topic, I owe her virtually everything. When I first searched for lowrider scholarship in spring, 1997, Brenda's work provided the main hits. Her dissertation at Rice provided me with a theoretically and ethnographically rich starting point, not to mention giving the project I was starting to dream up legitimacy. To my knowledge, her book with U. California Press never appeared, but I hope it still does.

I never met Brenda, and only communicated with her through a couple of emails, but I feel a significant loss. Like Judith Butler's recent eulogy to Derrida, this experience brings into focus the affection it is possible to feel for someone whom you have read, if not met.

Somewhere, there should be a car mural of Brenda, the originial antropo-loca. RIP.