Recollections of Josh Welsh

Andy says: I was fortunate to find Josh's name in a letter Jeff had written me, so I was able to track him down. He says that their movie "Todd's Visit" was "very bad", but I remembered it fondly enough that I felt compelled to try to find Josh. Josh replied to my email with some recollections of his friend Jeff:

• Jeff and I had lost touch and not spoken in many years but I think about him often. He was a great friend in college and a great roommate too. Sophomore year we lived on what was called the 'Environmental Wing' which was a wing of a dorm reserved for students who cared about the environment. I'm not sure we did that much for the environment outside of some recycling campaigns, but it was a way for a group of likeminded friends to house together at Kenyon. I recall that Jeff and I had a pretty small room -- two twin beds, 2 desks, and a stereo. I thought the room felt very small so I got rid of my bed and slept on the floor on a bedroll that I would put way during the day. This led some people to think that Jeff and I were sleeping together, which we weren't, but I didn't care, it meant our room felt bigger. I remember at the end of the day Jeff would sit on the edge of his bed to take his shoes off as I was lying down on the floor under my blankets. He would sigh heavily and say, "Another day..." Then in the morning, he would sit up, sigh heavily and say, "Another day..." It sounds bleak as I type it, but coming from Jeff it was dark and funny. When I knew Jeff, he was incredibly sweet and gentle, funny as hell, a great writer, and prone to depression. I don't think he shared a lot of his writing but I do recall one short story about a man sitting in a McDonalds, watching the kids play out on the playground. At the man's table, there was a large red button on the wall with a sign saying "Do not press button." Eventually the man gave in and pressed the button and I think the playground swallowed up all the children or something apocalyptic like that.

• After college Jeff came to visit me in Washington DC (where I grew up). I think it was March of 86. We made a movie together called Todd's Visit, starring Jeff, me, my father, and a few friends. I don't know if you've ever seen it but I'm happy to send it to you. I hadn't seen it for years and this Christmas one of my sisters surprised me by sending me a copy of it that she had found packed away somewhere in her house. The movie is very bad! But amazing to watch today to see Jeff and me in our early 20's doing our version of absurdist drama. The film is about a mysterious man named Todd (Jeff) who comes to Washington to see the monuments. He walks up to strangers' houses asking if he can stay the night and people amazingly say yes. Eventually Todd sees the monuments and then vanishes as mysteriously as he appeared. Let me know if I can send you a copy -- I think people who knew Jeff in Bowling Green would appreciate it.

• I loved Jeff's obituary and was happy to hear that Jeff spent his life surrounded by books and music. Those were the things he loved most when I knew him -- I spent many, many hours listening to the Beatles and Stones and much else besides with him. And of course cackling together over Kafka and Kierkegaard.

• When we were roommates we both went through a pretty brief but committed period of smoking a lot of pot and trying other substances. I remember one night we were under the influence of something or other and we came across a poster on a bulletin board announcing a guest lecture by Noam Chomsky. Jeff said his name out loud and we both freaked out -- to us, there had never been a more insane name than 'Noam Chomsky'. I remember Jeff running down the street that night yelling "Chomp! Chomp! Noam Chomsky!" over and over. I think about that night every time I see Noam Chomsky in the news.