1. Madeleine L'Engle
This is the only author I truly feel as if I know as a friend. I love SO many of her books, including the classic she is best known by (A Wrinkle In Time). I strive to be as intelligent and heartfelt as her. In her books she seems quite liberal and almost vague with the question of faith, but in reading some of her autobiographies I learned she was deeply invested in prayer and scripture, but not in a way that was copying the church culture around her. Unlike many, she was not afraid of science or ideas as threats to her faith. JUST GO READ HER BOOKS I'M MESSING UP THIS EXPLANATION.
2. Freddie Mercury
OH GOSH SWOON. It's no lie that I usually prefer playing Queen songs on the piano to what I should be practicing. Freddie's voice has captivated me for years, along with millions of other people. Plus, those white pants (you know the ones)! EESH! I found out that Freddie was gay AND dead at the same time. DOUBLE devastation. Anyway, his story is so tragic. I just finished a documentary on him and agh, I sobbed because it made my love life look positively CHEERFUL. And that's just sad. Regardless, I am a bit starstruck for Freddie, but then again most of us are, so I'll carry on.
3. Johann Sebastian Bach
I feel really silly saying I love Bach because who DOESN'T? But then I realized, plenty of people don't! Lots of people think classical music is boring (and I think those people are uncultured swine). Bach, besides having a crazy life story involving lots of dukes, and also 20 kids, absolutely was divinely inspired to bring us music that would shape history. I consider him a scribe. Bach CAPTURED music so brilliantly, it's helped us understand melody and harmony in a fundamental way. It's math-y, beautiful, organic, and I just love him forever. Totally have fantasies that his ghost will appear in front of my piano and say something nice to me (in German, obviously).
4. Oscar Wilde
I was not always a Wilde fan. At first, I thought his writing was pretentious and redundant. I read several of his books and plays and was still steadfastly in the "WHY IS HE CONSIDERED A CLASSIC" camp. But then, towards the end of high school I had to write a (huge) paper on him, taking several of his short stories and connecting them to his personal history. His stories started to seem poignant and meaningful in the context of his life experiences, and I've been a fan ever since. I think he was a wonderful writer whose life was, like lots of the greats, tragic.
5. Billy Wilder
I've seen over a dozen Billy Wilder films and also taken a rigorous college course on his work and I can safely say I am obsessed with his story and the stories he so beautifully portrayed on screen. Wilder, because of his Jewish background, left Germany during WWII and ended up in Hollywood. I loved watching the themes in his movies connect to his own life story. There were times in class where I wanted to sob as I saw the plot lines in his films mirror the experiences he had as an immigrant, a victim of war and loss, a husband, and an artist. What a life, dude.
*DISCLAIMER: I do not necessarily emulate all these people or condone their choices. In fact, they all made big mistakes. Except Bach. Bach was perfect.
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