Ye Olde Rad Blog

The month opens with a tragedy: Tania was hit and killed by a bus while walking her bike across the street. We don't know all the details except it happened near the corner of Figueroa and Jefferson [Los Angeles]. Readers of Wendy's Film school chronicles will recall Tania from way back.

She graduated from Film school at USC only last year [grad school]. Tania was one of Wendy's closest friends. Wendy is devastated. Tania was a big part of her support group. She just saw Tania the day before. Tania was planning to help Wendy with her foley session [sound effects] tomorrow .. for her thesis film.

I still remember climbing the stairs to Tania's 2nd-floor apartment [called "the pink palace"]. The walls were lined with black & white photos of her and friends having fun. She was a people-oriented person. Wendy learned to edit with Final Cut Pro on Tania's Mac G4. She would often crash on Tania's couch after a long night of editing cuz her house was only a few blocks [walking distance] from campus.

Tania's thesis film, Seahorses, which Wendy edited, is currently screening at various festivals around the country. Her site is here. Bio here. She always had such a zest for life .. never said a bad thing about anybody .. made a mean salad, too. She was an interesting/fun person. The videopool describes her like this:

"Trepanier has just completed her MA in an innovative inter university Women's Studies program in Halifax. Trepanier is a bilingual, binational, bisexual woman who grew up in the Comoro Islands, Malawi and Trinidad. Much of her artistic and academic work addresses issues around cultural and sexual identity."

I remember the irony when Tania started dating a guy, and had to keep her heterosexual relationship underwraps [no public displays of affection] because she was receiving scholarship money from the Lambda Alumni Association, and she didn't want to jeopardize those badly needed funds. Opposite the usual scenario.

She was so young and had so much to look forward to. I can only imagine the thoughts that must've run thru her head those last seconds. Life seems so fragile and fleeting.