Famous women give voice to murdered University of Vermont student's legacy (Live Earth tribute)

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Michelle was raped & murdered last fall, just 2 days after she had submitted this essay. What a touching tribute to an amazing women who was taken from us way too young :cry:

You can watch the video here

LINK

Michelle Gardner-Quinn wanted to make protecting the environment her life's work. As a young college student, she traveled to Costa Rica, Brazil, and South Africa to study nature in its purest forms. She was an avid supporter of Al Gore and his warnings about global warming. And last October, as a senior at the University of Vermont, she wrote a class essay expressing the joys of "digging in the earth," and her "strong connection to the natural cycles of creation."

Two days after she submitted her paper, the 21-year-old was kidnapped, brutally raped, and strangled to death.

But now her words live on, and they come from the mouths of celebrities, famous political activists, even British royalty.

Gardner-Quinn's essay, first read as part of her eulogy and later published in her college's quarterly magazine, can be found in a short film featuring famous women, such as actresses Meg Ryan and Kate Hudson and activist Tipper Gore . Each wears white, standing against a black backdrop, and reads Gardner-Quinn's words while holding a framed photograph of her.

The video was presented at the July 7 Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium outside New York and is now circulating on the Internet via YouTube, with more than 2,600 hits so far. Gardner-Quinn's mother, Diane, who also appears in the video, said she is touched that her child's lifelong goals have survived her tragic end. "I am feeling very pleased," she said yesterday. "This is something Michelle would have wanted very, very badly."

It was family weekend at the university when Gardner-Quinn disappeared. The campus was shaken, Gardner-Quinn's fam ily from Arlington, Va., kept vigil, and students, volunteers, and local police, the FBI, and National Guard scoured the Burlington area.

One student's parents who happened to be visiting that weekend were Susan Smalley and Kevin Wall, a producer of Live 8 and Live Earth, said Damon Cason, a Live Earth Films producer who directed the video.

[tewl]

1. Beautiful.

k&r

[wicket]

2. kick

:kick: