Goodbye William F. Buckley, Jr.

I was a kid when I first started watching Firing Line on Sundays after dinner at my grandparent’s house. We would all gather in front of the TV in their sumptuous living room in the big house on Third Avenue. I remember having to ask often what a word meant and so began to accumulate a serious vocabulary. I watched him interview his guest and when my attention wandered from the wonderful words, I watched his scalp. Even when he had hair, you could see it shift back and forward on his skull as if the very act of thinking moved his scalp absent his volition or knowledge. Over many years of this ritual I learned to think. I could actually follow the argument. I knew most of the words. I cut my political teeth on the ideas of William F. Buckley, Jr.. I almost always disagreed with him, but I watched him until the show went off the air. Thanks Mr. Buckley. You were quite a guy