In Memory of Aino Paasonen

The AULA community was sad to learn of the passing of Aino Paasonen, who died July 14th, in Santa Monica after a year and a half long battle with brain cancer. Aino was a member of the faculty at Antioch University Los Angeles since 1993 and she enriched the lives of student and colleagues in the B.A. and M.F.A. programs as well as the rest of the AULA community with her inspiring presence. Aino taught The Art of Translation for the MFA in Creative Writing Program and courses in literature and the humanities in the B.A. Program.

Below are thoughts from two of her colleagues:

“…Her brilliance, her expansive knowledge of languages and literatures, the richness of her mind, the beauty of her spirit -- for all of these qualities Aino was legendary not only at Antioch University but in the many communities she touched. She was fluent in or had command of 10 languages (not counting Old English and Middle High German), in large part thanks to her upbringing in post-WWII Europe where the family lived in Hungary, Sweden, and France at the time of her early years. This exposure to multiple languages at an impressionable age clearly shaped her life's journey as a teacher, translator, memoirist, poet, storyteller, critic, and editor -- a person of letters, as we used to say. At the time of her death, Aino had been working on translations of poems from Finnish, Swedish, and Sami, some of which we heard Aino read at our Antioch Literary Uprising reading last spring 2009.

Aino once described herself as a citizen of the world, a "naturalized" American as well as a French, Swiss, Italian, Swedish, and Spanish impersonator. Remarkably, her French impersonator guise was on display during one of my last visits with her in mid-June, when she was still able to receive visitors and engage in limited conversation. While we were chatting, the phone rang. A friend was calling to find out how Aino was doing. Aino got onto the phone and immediately switched into French without losing a beat in a conversation that ended with a stream of "merci, merci, merci." I will always remember her lilting inflection of those words that seemed to come from a ocean of gratitude for life that spoke unconsciously from her depths. The next time I saw her, she no longer recognized me and seemed completely withdrawn into her own transitional world. Yet the last words I heard her say that day, as if out of a dream, were "all is well; everything is fine."

Aino will live on in the countless seeds she has planted with her inspiring presence over the years. Some of her books have already been donated to our Antioch library and will soon have bookplates in her honor. We will be gathering our thoughts over the weeks ahead about how best to pay tribute in memory of our dear Aino.

I close with the passage that always come to mind when mourning the loss of such a friend of literature as Aino. They are the words Shakespeare's Prospero spoke to the lovely sprite Ariel in The Tempest in the moment of Ariel's release from earthly bondage: "Then to the elements be free, and fare thou well."

In loving memory,

Kirsten Grimstad

Program Chair and Faculty

B.A. Liberal Studies

“… As someone whose life had been joyfully devoted to choosing the most accurate, most expressive word, Aino might have objected to the term “battling.” For there was no room in her life for negativity, not even at the end. Aino faced the specter of her own demise the same way she faced everything else in her life—with passionate optimism and a deep yearning to learn and know as much as she possibly could. The treatment she received ultimately failed her, but Aino herself never failed to embrace life and its infinite possibilities.

My last conversation with Aino was about a month ago, and I tried to convey to her at that time how much she was appreciated by MFA students and faculty, and by the Antioch community in general. Her warmth, her passion for languages, for translation, for literature, for life in general exceeded that of anyone else I've ever known. We had a good, long conversation, though not as long as our conversations typically were, as the words she loved so dearly were beginning to leave her. Still, it was a good talk between a pair of colleagues who were also friends.

Aino spoke eight languages. She taught The Art of Translation for the MFA in Creative Writing Program, and many of you who are reading this had the opportunity to work with her. One of the many innovations Aino brought to this essential part of the MFA curriculum was the opportunity for each successive translation cohort to read their translations at the on-campus Residency that followed their ten-week online translation conference. As Chair of the MFA Program, I would like this tradition to continue, in Aino’s name.

With admiration for a fellow artist for whom words mattered more than anything,

Steve Heller

Program Chair and Faculty

M.F.A. in Creative Writing