RHYS BOWEN: I’m still in a state of shock after learning of the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I’ve been crying when I’m normally quite stoic. But I suppose this is fear and despair mixed with grief.
What a giant of influence this tiny woman was. I can’t think of anyone who embodies the word justice more completely. And yet she was not always stuffy, earnest and serious. She had a dry wit, as she confessed getting advice on her marriage that it is sometimes wise to be deaf, and she has continued this into her professional life. Also that she was allowed on stage, in costume in many DC operas as she is such a huge opera fan
I realize I’ve been writing IS not was, as if I can’t believe she’s gone All we can do is take up the fight for justice and decency in her honor.
LUCY BURDETTE: Totally agree Rhys, she was a whirling dervish--so dedicated to her fight against gender discrimination, and then for all Americans, once she was appointed to the supreme court. I fell in love with her after watching the documentary RBG. (ON THE BASIS OF SEX is another film about her life.) Who could not love a mid-eighties woman holding a plank for 60 seconds while on camera? She had astonishing work habits and a brilliant mind, and I simply can’t fathom working through 3 bouts of cancer as she did over the recent years. I can only imagine that she was heartbroken knowing her fight was over. I know that I am…
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Think of the lives she changed! With her brilliance, and authentic love of justice, and unstoppable humor, and genuine delight in who she’d become. Her laser logic. She understood power, and her power, and understood the power of right. And got to love how she was so incredibly confident. Her late-in-life attendance at law school.
And she not only changed women’s lives for the better, but men's, too, right? SInce it’s all dominoes.
(Not to mention the politics of it, which she deeply understood. Her last wish to her granddaughter, which will most certainly not be granted.)
She would have wanted us to persevere, too. Her death must inspire us not to give up.
HALLIE EPHRON: She was amazing. For her intellect. Her tenacity. Her convictions. She did it all and in her own way and in her own good time. Losing her, and losing her now makes me weep for her and her loved ones... and for us.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: She will be remembered as a giant of jurisprudence, not necessarily for her opinions, well-thought-out and well-written as they were, but for the example she set for women in the law and the inspiration she’s been to countless young women everywhere. Her work as an attorney helped ensure women and men equal opportunity under the law, without regard for gender or orientation.
Also, having read Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, by Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, I have to say she and her beloved Marty set an example of equality and mutual support that’s hard to find in many marriages today, let alone back in the 50’s and 60’s when she was going to law school and starting her career.
I think of that lovely phrase used when people die: May her name be a blessing. We don’t need to wish that for Ruth Bader Ginsburg; her name is already a blessing.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have to admit I've been putting off adding to this thread because I knew I couldn't do it without tears. Her name will be a blessing indeed, Julia, and a touchstone for future generations. What an amazing light in the world she was. Brave, honest, decent, compassionate, funny. And while we are all grieving for ourselves in OUR loss, I keep think how incredibly hard it must have been for her to let go, knowing the consequences. But I know she had faith that we would continue her legacy. RIP, RBG.
JENN MCKINLAY: There are so many things I admired about Justice Ginsburg and you've all covered it quite well. I don't want to be repetitive. I do, however, have a bookmark of Notorious RBG. I've had it for years. I think of our mighty warrior every night when I read, and she keeps my place for another day. It seems fitting. She kept our place at the table when no one else would. Now we need to keep hers.
RHYS: I must have been psychic because I bought my daughter this mask for her birthday, also one for me
I lIke to think of her shooting into the heavens like a giant rocket, exploding into a million stars that fall to Earth igniting a flame in all of us for justice and decency and equality
