Goodbye, Roger Ebert!

I couldn't go on without noting the passing of Roger Ebert. It's startling how much he was liked in his final years, since critics had never before been known for their popularity. He broke new ground on that.

In the seventies and eighties, I remembered I would tune in to Sneak Previews on KETC-PBS Channel 9, even when I didn't plan to see any movies that month. He and Gene Siskell were just that interesting. I admit that I liked him a lot better than Gene. When there was a movie I loved and (frequently) had no one to talk to about it, he and Gene Siskel fulfilled that role.


In his later years after Siskel's passing, Ebert's stature continued to grow. He was no longer just a critic, and people actually loved him.

People were well-prepared for his death. His doctors had to go on a scorched earth policy with Ebert's body to fight the cancer that inflicted him. Throughout all the disfigurement and, undoubtedly, pain, he still managed to smile and never lost his humor or wit.  He commented openly and bravely on his sickness and his mortality.

One of the happiest things about my life was living on the same planet as Roger Ebert.
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My life report: 

I have more to say about him, but it must wait. I have to finish critiquing a friend and fellow writer's manuscript and I'm way behind. I might not be able to give the time to his book that he deserves.

Otherwise, I have 3,000 words written for my writer's group. That's 2,000 for this week, and I'm already half way done with next week's. I don't have the frustration of being unable to set my visions down in words fast enough. I am growing into writing.