He would cut out designs from construction paper and frame the song titles, making art that enhanced the 10,000 Maniacs or Julia Fordham tape you had just received. He made mix-tapes with music you might not yet know. He wrote long loopy notes to friends and passed them off in the hallways, lines upon lines of erudition written in a tiny but consistent hand.
He read Anne Tyler novels and was in love with Anna Quindlen. When I first met David Levithan, he was the editor of my suburban New Jersey high school newspaper.
