Remembering Evangeline1

As many of you already know, Evangeline tragically died in a car crash earlier this year. Known outside of SG as both Lauren Brook Matyis and Ari Said, she was just 25, and is survived by a 4-year old daughter, Avigail Jerusalem Matyis.

It’s always especially sad when we lose one of our own. Below, two members of our community that knew and loved Evangeline – filmmaker Michael Charron (a.k.a. SG Member: MichaelElder), and artist, actress and SG Tatian – remember her vibrant, creative, talented, generous, and loving spirit.

R.I.P.

Our condolences go out to the family, loved ones, and friends she left behind.

SG
XOX

(A trust fund has been set up for Evangeline’s daughter – see details at the footer of this piece.)

I’m glad I never listened to my youth minister about how pornography would never lead to good things.

I met her through this site three years ago. The usual film crew I work with had entered a 48 hour film contest at the Alamo Drafthouse. It was horror specific and we decided if we were gonna make a horror film, we wanted to do a ‘70s style sexploitation with hot chicks and lots of blood. Now, if you know any actresses, you know that getting them to be in their underwear or topless for no pay isn’t going to be easy. So we sought out some girls that were already ok with that and decided to see if they could act. I found Evangeline and Tatian through the site and we shot the film. It’s nothing to really write home about. It’s fun, but we got way drunk while making it, and shot and edited the whole thing in less than 10 hours. We made the Top 5 films out of 50, so I guess it was something.

As it turned out, Evangeline was already an actress and a hell of a writer. We hit it off instantly and our sense of humor just clicked perfectly. We started working on scripts together, and two months later when her boyfriend cheated on her, we made room in my house for her daughter, Avigail, and her to come live here. For most of the past three years, they’ve been my roommates and best friends. Evangeline was also my writing and producing partner. We shot two features that we wrote together. I directed while she acted in them. We wrote several more scripts and had notes for more that I hope to produce one day.

It’s hard to sum her up in just a few words. Evangeline was so many things. Genius level smart, quick wit, fantastic writer with a creativity I’ve never seen. She was an amazing actress, a loveable person, and was drop dead gorgeous. Seriously, her pictures didn’t do her justice (even though she looks amazing in them). When she showed up to the film set that first night, I immediately saw that she was 100 times more beautiful in person.

She was also an amazing mother. Her child is such a special little girl and over the years I saw how much she meant to Evangeline. I’ve never seen a more loving mother in my entire life, and that little girl loved her mother back so intensely. As much as I hurt for her loss, I hurt even more to know she’s going to grow up without her mother.

The interesting thing I’ve noticed since she’s been gone is how much she meant to so many people. Even people that knew her for only a short time are so broken by this loss. She was a person you could spend a day with and feel like you knew her your entire life. I only knew her for three years and I can’t even imagine a time before knowing her. She feels like my entire life. If you knew her, you know exactly what I’m talking about. She really listened when you talked and she really understood you when you had something to say. She was a person you could talk to about anything, and I’m not a person who talks about anything. She took a closed book like me and made be feel so comfortable that I would tell her my darkest secrets, knowing she would never judge me.

She had a very hard life growing up. Too many bad things happened to her at too young of an age to handle, but she still loved and she forgave far too easily. She could be angry at someone one day and the next she’d be friends with them again. It would drive me nuts, because I’m definitely someone who holds a grudge. But over the years she wore me down, and now I’m much more likely to let things go. So much of who I am today is informed by my time with her.

She hadn’t been active on the site much lately, but she felt like it would always be a part of her because of the friends she’d made here and I feel the same way. I met the most important person I’ll ever know here, and that means a lot to me.

On her last night she was at work and we’d been texting a lot because it was slow. She was a waitress at a bar/barbecue place. As the night picked up, she got busy and didn’t respond as much. As I went to bed I told her I loved her, like usual. I woke up to find she hadn’t come home. I had a text from her at 2:22 saying that she loved me too. At 2:25 their car was hit and she died. I’m just grateful for that last message. I’ll always cherish the knowledge that it was the last thing she sent.

– Michael Charron

I loved Evangeline. I knew her on SG as that, and also as Lauren, and later as Ari Said. I can recall to this day, almost in perfect recollection, the first time I met her. Along with a handful of others, I was waiting for her to show up on set to shoot a short film called Road To Hell, which was produced for a film contest in Austin. It was a new experience for me, and because of her, it is one that I will never forget.

She walks in and looks around, asking about her obscure, new surroundings – because, by then, fake blood and brain matter had been made and was sitting on the counter of the kitchen. “What is this? Some kind of snuff film?” She says.

When answered with a “Well, yes it is,” she then asks where she should sit down. She takes a seat across from me on a couch and that was the beginning of our adventure.

We filmed that night for hours, in 105 degree conditions. We were all scantily clad; Evangeline was trotting around in a cute pair of boy shorts, comfortably spitting lines. She had a way of fitting right in, like we had been friends for years. She was nothing but friendly and engaging, despite not knowing any of us. I fell for her immediately – as it turned out, she was so, SO easy to love. 🙂

I felt as though I “meshed” with her. I hadn’t met a person like her ever. She was so unique, and deeply beautiful, like truly beautiful, the kind that is both inside and out.

When I think of Evangeline, I picture her gorgeous eyes, and the genuine smile she always flashed. I think of her being a very accepting soul. She never judged, and was open, truthful and honest.

She had a way about her, and had you ever had the opportunity to cross paths with her – it was a moment you would most likely not forget. Not only would her physical beauty catch your attention, the way she moved and talked would also. And if you were that person she was talking to…you would see the way she was inside.

Evangeline and I became fast friends. She was a girl that could come over and just melt into her surroundings. I always enjoyed my time with her. She never made anyone feel awkward or unwelcome – in so many ways, her presence was refreshing. To say the least.

After that first short film we did together, she asked me to fill in a short part in a webisode series she had written. It was about an exotic dancer’s adventures. The night we shot it, needless to say, was a very long, fun night. Evangeline was a very talented, witty, and creative writer.

People enjoyed being around Evangeline, in any possible way. I know I certainly did. I always knew conversations with her would be interesting, intelligent and fun. I always knew I would be embraced with open arms, despite any time lapse since our last visit, despite anything.

One of the times we hung out, she came over to my place to get tattooed by me. Before she came over, I told her to “be sure and have a picture of what (you) want, in it’s rough ‘actual’ size.” When she comes in, she hands me a piece of paper with “For Edward, with Love and Squalor” in a simple font and tells me she wants the quote as is and then a little doe “running away” to the right of it across her chest.

I kind of panicked because there were a million kinds of doe and deer pictures, and various tattoo styles out there, and I was a new tattoo artist (still learning). But she didn’t care. “Draw something” she said smiling, “I trust you.”

I ended up looking up a ton of deer and doe pictures online. I used one as a stencil, designed and tattooed the little brown deer – it happened to be the first tattoo I had done on anyone. I will never forget that night; the opportunity I had to spend that time with her, to sit with her, to watch her read comics as I drew up deer and does across from her.

When I was done drawing, I remember how nervous I was to tattoo her. I was so worried about the design not being good enough, but it was. I am pretty sure I only drew one or two deer “doodles” and they ended up being what she wanted. It was an “Ok, let’s do it!” kinda thing. She was so easy to please and even more easy to love.

I remember how cramped my set up was and how the two of us were laughing as we maneuvered to sit down together on a small bench. We had to sit “spider-style” as though on a swing, entangled legs with clip cords hanging all over us.

When we were all done with that tattoo, I looked at her and kinda of gasped. “Oh, no!” I said. She replied, “What?! What?!” I stared at her script and asked, “How do you spell Squalor?” (I was joking, of course.)

That night there were a lot of giggly, goofy pictures taken, and a lot of jokes and laughs shared. I was so honored that she had so much faith in me to let me do it. We ended that night with a big hug.

That hug was one of many I’d received during other great times I spent with Evangeline – shooting pictures together, having drinks…Hugs, hugs, hugs 🙂

And, her hugs, btw, her hugs… * sigh * …her hugs were amazing! She wasn’t one of those people who, when hugged, were careful to leave a huge “air cushion” in between chests. she embraced you fully – every time – and she did so as thought she hadn’t seen you in ages.

I miss not being able to hug her again. I cry when I think of all the people that will be missing that as well. Evangeline was an amazing girl. I truly loved her; Her personality, her accepting and passionate nature, her thorough beauty inside and out.

Evangeline was so easy to love.

I will never stop thinking of how the world has been cheated with her passing.

My heart aches… 🙁

I feel broken for all of those who knew her, and especially for her daughter Avigail, her mother Brenda, and her best friend Michael. There are no words I can say to console anyone who shares her loss, but to all who knew her and all who are grieving, Ari was (is) loved so very much, and by so many people. Grateful is an understatement when it comes to how lucky anyone was to have shared time with her.

I was blessed to have known Evangeline, a.k.a. Lauren, a.k.a. Ari Said. Knowing her has touched me, and has honestly changed my life.

I love you Evangeline (Ari). I miss you. Every day.

– Tatian Suicide

A fund has been set up for Evangeline’s daughter. You can contribute via the link below.

Read Evangeline‘s writing on her blog, TheGazaStripper, on MidEastYouth.com, and on SG’s Newswire.