My friend Misty Catherine Bassi was killed riding her bike in May, 2009. She was the most gentle person I have met, and it took me a long time to register that she was gone.
We met at the UMass pagan group where we were often the only people over 20 to attend meetings. She would always insist on grounding cerebral concepts by demanding how lessons could be applied to everyday life. Misty was also one of the only people who could out talk me about Babylon 5, a brilliant and campy Sci Fi series, and she nursed a burgeoning talent for drawing.
Misty started life landing in a bad situation and was adopted away. Misty worked long hours as a custodian for more than a decade to put herself through UMass. Misty was killed two days after finally graduating.
She died at age 33, I was 28 at the time, and for years I almost knew I would die at 33. And for years hence my imagination would fantasize about her final moments, the heat of the road, an over-air conditioned ambulance, over and over again, as if I saw it enough she wouldn’t have died alone.
- June 9, 2010: Misty Bassi memorial at Ghostbikes.org
- June 1, 2010: Remembering Misty, Only in the Republic of Amherst
- April 21, 2010: A better reminder, Only in The Republic of Amherst
- April 21, 2010: Scholarship honors UMass graduate Misty Bassi, killed while riding bike to work in Amherst, Masslive
- October 29, 2009: Family of Misty Bassi, killed while riding bicycle in Amherst, urges leniency for Parvin Niroomand, sentenced to 3 years probation, Masslive
- June 3, 2009: Lawyer says 75-year-old Parvin Niroomad, accused of killing bicyclist in Amherst, not trying to evade police when she drove home, Masslive
- May 30, 2009: When bad things happen…, Only in The Republic of Amherst
- May 27, 2009: Amherst woman, Misty Bassi, identified as victim of fatal bicycle accident, Masslive
