![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Erik-Rhodes.jpg\" "\\"Erik")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By A.J. Llewellyn<\/p>\n
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Erik Rhodes, real name James Elliott Naughtin left this life last week after a long effort to do so.<\/p>\n
We communicated online. I got to know him through my friend, director John Bruno.<\/p>\n
I knew him just a little.<\/p>\n
I cared about him – a lot.<\/p>\n
He was a writer. A wonderful<\/em> writer. Underneath it all (ironically the name of his former blog) was a nice man, a kind man, with tremendous insecurities that seemed unfathomable in life and especially so in his passing.<\/p>\n He also had a fantastic sense of humor. No matter what he did, he had a quick, sparkling wit, a self deprecation that was refreshing.<\/p>\n I begged him to write a book…he never did.<\/p>\n Upon his death, the evil, nasty Internet Trolls wrote disgusting<\/em> things about him – even on his own Tumblr account. They left vicious tweets and nasty posts on various porn blogs.<\/p>\n What did it achieve? His family were horrified and deleted all his blogs.<\/p>\n For those who didn’t get a chance to know him but could have come to appreciate his searing intelligence it’s just too late.<\/p>\n Now even his words, his amazing words…are gone.<\/p>\n I have been trying to make sense of his loss as my friends, like John — his most passionate supporter, who dragged Erik into the director’s chair for Falcon Studios — grieves profoundly.<\/p>\n This morning it came to me. I think Erik and James would like this. I bid them farewell and a peaceful soul retreat as I offer these words:<\/p>\n \u201cI would rather be ashes than dust! \u2015 Jack London<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aloha oe,<\/p>\n A.J.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By A.J. Llewellyn Erik Rhodes, real name James Elliott Naughtin left this life last week after a long effort to do so. We communicated online. I got to know him through my friend, director John Bruno. I knew him just a little. I cared about him – a lot. He was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8,3,4],"tags":[16,43,221],"class_list":["post-1806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-category-writing-and-poetry","category-celebrities","category-life","category-love-and-sex","tag-a-j-llewellyn","tag-erik-rhodes","tag-internet-trolls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1806"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1811,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1806\/revisions\/1811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajllewellyn.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
\nI would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
\nThe function of man is to live, not to exist.
\nI shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
\nI shall use my time.\u201d<\/p>\n