Memories of Writer Friends Who Have Vanished From My Life

I am rereading an essay written by an old friend from back in the day, in the early 2000s. It is one of my favorite pieces of literary criticism cum personal essay, a postmodern critique of the music of Joni Mitchell, which I loved so much I included it in my first book, an anthology of young Filipino writers, which garnered for me my first finalist citation from the National Book Awards. [This was in 2003.] It is still a powerful piece of literature. But I do wonder where my friend is now. Come to think of it, I have known so many people in my life, in my journey as a writer, who like me wanted to be writers, too. So many of them were so good. But whatever happened to them? Why did they stop writing? Where are they?