Wendy Wasserstien Died Today

Wendy Wasserstein was a woman.

I am a woman.

Wendy Wasserstein was 55 years old.

I am 54 years old.

Wendy Wasserstein was born on October 8, 1950.

I was born on October 13, 1951.

Wendy Wasserstein was Jewish.

I am Jewish.

Wendy Wasserstein's mother brought her, as a young girl, to numerous Broadway's performances.

My mother brought me, as a young girl, to numerous Broadway plays and musicals.

Wendy Wasserstein went to college and earned a BA in 1971.

I went to college and earned a BS in 1973.

Wendy Wasserstein's life and life's work was very much informed by her being Jewish.

My life and personal identity has been much informed by being Jewish.

Wendy's work as a playwright was informed by the times in which she grew up, especially by the 1970s, during which the Feminist Movement hailed strong and influential.

My adult life has been informed by coming of age in the 70's, being a part of and influenced by the Women's Movement.

Wendy Wasserstein's female characters, according to today's New York Times Obituary, were always intelligent and successful, but wrought with self-doubt -- seeking enduring love a little ambivalently and not always finding it.

My middle name is Ambivalence, well, it's really Eileen, but you get the point.

Wendy Wasserstein won a Pulitzer Prize for her play, "The Heidi Chronicles," in which her main character, Heidi is representative of the female Baby Boomer who is well educated and trying to make it in what remains a male dominated society.

I never won any major prize, nor have I written any plays, but I found resonance in Wendy's plays and often her female characters spoke for me.

Wendy wrote her plays and essays with wit, humor and comedic dialogue as her characters searched for their own identity, while often despairing in today's society.

I have been known to be "heavy" in my thinking and feelings, yet I do maintain some degree of wit and humor and I am sure I will always be searching to complete my identity.

Wendy Wasserstein Died Today.

I was taken aback by the news, not knowing that she was even sick. As a woman of the Baby Boomer generation, I will miss her. I wonder, now, who will write the plays, spoken in our Collective Female, Baby Boomer voice, as we pass into the older generation.