Losing Battles

I'm sure by now you are all aware, April 4, 2013, Roger Ebert, the renowned film critic, lost his battle with cancer.  

I came home the afternoon he died and cried inconsolably. 

It might be difficult to understand why I loved him so much. Many people close to me have noted the contradiction of our philosophical viewpoints. I am Mormon. He was a non-committal, culturally catholic, atheist. I am extremely conservative, backing gun rights and opposing socialized healthcare. Roger was a proponent of gun control and felt it was our moral obligation to support Obamacare. Nevertheless, I forgave him his philosophies because I think he honestly believed in the system, however flawed it is. He felt compassion for his fellow man, noting how many people suffered from violent crime and a lack of proper healthcare options. It was out of love that he fought so hard for the "Left".

Political, religious, and philosophical ideologies aside, he was a brilliant and emotionally intriguing essayist. Many people will remember him for winning the first Pulitzer for film criticism and the only critic to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But I will remember him most as an influential teacher. His essays forced me to be analytical about film, but more importantly, they caused me to be analytical about life. 

After sixteen years of faithful readership, I have lost one of my most important teachers and friends. My heart aches.   

In other news…an update on my kayaking training. Sadly, three weeks ago, I injured my elbow at work, and I am now suffering from a form of tendonitis known commonly as "tennis elbow". It sounds pretty lame, but, let me just tell you right now, it hurts like a MOFO!!! I am forced to change the dates of my expedition, because I haven't been able to get in the water in weeks, and I'm still in recovery mode. I'm thinking mid june, but that will depend on how well I recover in the next few months. If I'm not better by then, I'll be forced to look at a later, hotter date. Oh, goody.