Rick Bragg and Reggie White

Sunday morning, before my sister and aunt headed to church and I headed back to Hoosier-ville, Rick Bragg was on C-Span's book tv. It was from the Louisiana Book Festival that happened in November. I am a big fan of Rick's and I think I was introduced to him through something else that was on Book TV. It was some kind of panel discussion if I'm not mistaken. I found him to be incredibly engaging and funny and checked out one of his books the next day. All Over But the Shoutin' It became one of my favorite books and made me think a little more about expanding into the Non-Fiction realm. I certainly have read more NF books because of him, and then I kind of just forgot he was out there until Sunday. He did the Jessica Lynch bio, but I didn't read it. I will have to pay a little more attention to him from now on so I don't lose touch again. He was just as funny on Sunday as he was the first time I saw him. My sister really enjoyed listening to him too, which was a surprise. She's even more fiction-centric than I am. And even my aunt, who didn't even know what channel C-Span was on her tv, thought he was pretty good.

After watching him, I flipped the channel over to ESPN and saw the news about Reggie White. I screamed so loud everyone thought something was wrong with me and came running back into the room. That is not the kind of shock I needed at ten on a Sunday morning! I have never been a Green Bay fan (obviously) but I have almost always been a Reggie White fan. Both when he was with the Eagles, and once he left GB, retired, pulled a Jordan and came back in the form of a Carolina Panther. It was just a shock. The day after Christmas. Its hard to get more horrible than that for his family. It seems like the world has lost a lot of good people this year. I know it happens every year, but it just seems particularly noticeable this year. Maybe that says more about me than the way of the world.