Michele Kort,1950–2015 (senior ed. Ms. magazine, feminist, friend)
Michele Kort,1950–2015
As senior editor of Ms., she shared feminist thought and action through powerful storytelling
THE TEXT FROM MICHELE KORT’S SISTER, Melissa, on the last Friday in June read simply: “She’s gone.”
Ovarian cancer had finally succeeded in taking my friend of 40 years from me, you, her family, her circle, the world. But Michele, senior editor of Ms. for the past 13 years, lived too full and rich a life for anyone to believe she was truly gone.
For one thing, we can always read her. Michele worked with words. A gifted editor, writer and interviewer, she authored untold articles and essays. (I made her read everything I wrote, to the point where my first thought after being asked to compose this tribute was, How can I write it, if Michele won’t be able to edit it?) She edited books, including Here Come the Brides! Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage with Audrey Bilger, and wrote an acclaimed biography of singer-songwriter Laura Nyro, Soul Picnic, which she promoted around the country with readings that morphed into sing-alongs of Nyro tunes.
. . . . .
Then there were the many things she loved that she didn’t write about. She loved an empty space in a crowded parking lot, reading the sports section of the newspaper cover to cover and the sighting of (sometimes quite obscure) celebrities. She loved throwing huge get-togethers, where in the name of making sure no one felt alone she took her legendary party-thrower Aunt Miriam’s cue and brought strangers together with introductions that both inflated your importance (“I’d like you to meet one of the top writers in the country”) and might also include alarmingly personal details (“She had a really horrible boyfriend once but now she’s happy”). She loved the Ms. internship program and mentored dozens of young women over the years. She loved making guest appearances at university journalism classes and starting out every session with “If you’re a feminist, raise your hand.” She loved to say, “Being a feminist is not how other people treat you, it’s how you treat other people.” She loved private jokes, and she had at least one with almost everyone she knew.
And she knew many. A memorial was held for her on June 28 at the Santa Monica Synagogue. Melissa pointed out Michele’s knack for discovering musicians before everyone else. Her beloved nephew, Isaac Kort-Meade, recalled how she willed a dream of hers—sitting with him on a bench at his college campus—into reality. A throng of young relations agreed she was their coolest cousin. Miriam Cutler, her partner of almost 25 years, reminded us of the meaning of soulmate. So many were in attendance that those who couldn’t find chairs lined the walls. It was a full house. Michele would have loved that, too.
http://www.msmagazine.com/summer2015/michelekort.asp