Two Thumbs Way Down--roger Ebert is dead

RIP Roger Ebert

Somewhere in a box in my office is a photograph of my best friend Connie posing with Roger Ebert at the first Sundance film festival we went to. It's a terrible picture. ((I took it.) The lighting was bad and people were jostling around us and though Ebert was very gracious, it was clear he had other places to be and other things to do. The picture was taken before the cancer that took Ebert's jaw and then his voice and now his life. I am so glad that picture exists.
 I never missed watching Ebert and his much-missed colleague Gene Siskel on their show. After Siskel died, it just wasn't the same, no matter how many guest co-hosts they tried out or whoever ended up sitting across the aisle from Ebert eventually. I loved reading Ebert's witty tweets and the journal entries he began posting when he lost his voice. People are posting some of their favorites of these essays--the one he wrote about being an alcoholic, the one he wrote about loneliness and the Internet--and rereading them, I am newly filled with admiration for his clean, clear prose and thoughtful insights.  Vaya con Dios Roger.