When I posted my first edition of Nerd Lust, Sarah and I spent extensive time talking about our various nerd lovahs. Our husbands have a good deal of difficulty identifying who can qualify as a nerd lovah, and I guess I can understand that. While there are many men in the media who are pretty nerdy (and not really, really, ridicuolously good-looking), there are VERY few women who fit the bill. We mostly told them that there options were women politicians (though not all of them). Sarah and I waxed back and forth about who our newscaster nerd lovahs were. When it comes to funny men pundits, we disagreed. She's a Stewart, I'm a Colbert. (I think they both are probably too pretty to qualify as nerd lovahs - although Sarah's original choice for news nerd lovah, Anderson Cooper, is so pretty I couldn't believe she would even consider it.) When it came to the straight news though, we found that we were participating in a nerd lust triangle. We both only had eyes for Tim Russert.

In high school, I couldn't have cared less about politics. When I got to undergrad, I realized that my deep concern about justice for the poor was perhaps not best exercised in the political field, but that learning about politicians, voting responsibly and communicating with my representatives were certainly on the list of ways to make small changes that I believed were important. Watching Meet the Press informed my understanding of the political world, perhaps more than any single influence should. I'm not a fan of television news in general. I get most of my news from the Internet. But I trusted Tim Russert. Meet the Press was the first show that I put on my DVR. In the days before it, I would be lying if I said that I didn't occasionally miss church because I was so involved with Tim's interview.

I was devastated when I learned of Russert's passing. I watched Meet the Press late last night with a box of Kleenex. It was a lovely tribute to Russert. I will miss his moderation of Meet the Press deeply. I want to believe that Russert's legacy will be the number of people in my generation who became politically active because of his consistent, reliable work in political journalism. He will be missed, but his life certainly falls into the category of short but full.

I wish I had sent a fan letter, though that seems like a kind of crazy thing to do. Instead, I will have to simply think a "thank you" to him, for my increased knowledge and passion because of his work.