Roger Reminded Me

I happened upon Roger Ebert's blog a while ago and have been blown away ever since.  I'll always remember him as Roger of Siskel & Ebert, he the round one with a kind serious voice.  He's gone through a lot since those days.  A lot.

Well, "about 9 hours ago via web" he tweeted news of his own TwitterPage in the Chicago Sun-Times {+}.  I clicked and was surprised to see a fun little reminder of Philadelphia.  I needed to see this this morning.  This footage is of an amusing traffic officer who frequently worked the corner of 36th & Walnut, right at the heart of Penn's campus at a busy intersection in front of the campus bookstore.  Every morning he'd make direct eye contact with each pedestrian, smile, and boom out a "Morning!" or a "Let's go, darlin'!" without missing a beat of his little jig.  You could be having the worst morning of the week and he would still crack a smile on your face.

I hadn't seen him in a while during my last days on campus, but this video makes me miss Officer Johnson.  He had that special touch.  You know, the one that not everyone's lucky to have, the one where you can't help but admire for knowing that he does what he does because he enjoys it, and does so with quirk and finesse and oomph that leaves a little, yet unforgettable, imprint in the community.  Officer Johnson, I miss your being part of my life!