When I was a kid, my first introduction of any kind to David Lynch was the Twin Peaks segment on one of the I Love the 90s series that VH1 did during the early-to-mid 2000s. The handful of clips they showed left me fascinated for years, but with a lack of syndication at the time and streaming still being years away it wouldn't be until the very late 2000s/early 10s when I would download the entire series and binge the entire thing in like a 48 hour period on my computer.

The mix of mystery, humor, surrealism and soap opera spoke to me in a way that nothing else ever really had and so little else to that degree has, I could barely make myself sleep while watching it. Of course quickly after that came Twin Peaks: FWWM, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Dr, Lost Highway, The Return years later etc. As somebody who has a schizoid disorder that at that point in my life I was still very much struggling to keep a hold of, these films seemed like the answer to a question I still don't quite know, but kept and still keep searching for. Suddenly my entire concept of cinema changed, films I had loved for years quickly seemed really lame as I dug deeper for things that emotionally resonated with me more than the entry level indie films that had made up so much of my tastes in my teens and even early 20s.

As I grew up, my love for David Lynch and all his work only deepened. He drastically had a great effect on my taste in music as somebody who these days listens to more dreampop than anything else, my taste in film and TV it almost goes without saying as I explored his favorites and influences, my taste in artwork, my greater acceptance of other people, my use of meditation to manage my mental health symptoms day to day, my life of constant coffee consumption and so much more. He is the the personal embodiment of art for the sake of art in any form. My life will be so, so much less rich without him even if his productivity as a filmmaker had slowed considerably in his final couple decades.

I don't really have any original tribute that people are lot more talented than me haven't already written, my story is the story of so many people living on the fringes of society who found Lynch when they most needed him. I loved him and will continue to for the rest of my life.