PERSONAL NOTE: Last week's hospital stay was a surprise that left me with no good way to post stories. This next hospital visit is planned.

As I explained on Monday, an internal blood leak resulting from my Whipple surgery last year needs repair and that is now scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday.

It may or may not be necessary for me to remain in the hospital overnight but no one knows that until the procedure tomorrow. With the various preparations, I've not had time to write a Friday post or the Saturday Interesting Stuff.

But do stay tuned for Sunday's Elder Music column from Peter Tibbles - this week will be songs about forgetting.

I'll see you back here again on Monday.

Meanwhile...

There are hardly any admirable people working in high profile positions in the Washington, D.C. federal government these days so today, I want to speak a little of one who is: Notorious RGB, the estimable Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who turned age 85 in March.

A TGB reader, Kathleen Noble, mentioned in a comment on Monday's post that she has seen the new documentary about Justice Ginsburg titled RBG which will be released in theaters on 4 May 2018.

Here is the trailer:

I may not be first in line when the film opens, but I won't be far behind. I have been a fan of Justice Ginsburg for years and years and years. She is my hero. A guiding light. I still want to grow up to be just like her.

She was also part of my inspiration when I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last year as she survived that disease (in addition to colon cancer) a long while before I did.

The new film, according to Access Hollywood,

”...focuses on Ginsburg’s role in defining gender-discrimination law and systematically releasing women from second-class status, she argued six pivotal gender-bias cases in the 1970s before an all-male Supreme Court blind to sexism.”

Here is some more information about RBG from the production company press release:

”The film is told through the voices of Ginsburg’s family and friends, former clients and colleagues, her close friend and NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg, and historic figures whose paths she has crossed, including the son of her close friend and Supreme Court colleague, the late Antonin Scalia.

“Throughout, interviews with Justice Ginsburg herself add poignant layers to the images and never-before-seen personal home movies that reveal a mostly unknown life of personal challenges, incredible discipline, and a touching, decades-long romance with her husband, the late Martin Ginsburg...

“While vérité scenes and archival news footage illustrate Ginsburg’s career and personal highlights, expert editing weaves Ginsburg’s speeches, writings, and Supreme Court arguments to round out her historic impact on American life.

“What emerges is the definitive documentary portrait of Ginsburg: a complex jurist, scholar, opera lover, wife, mother, daughter, and fierce citizen.”

Okay, okay, I know that's flak from the production company but with a life like Justice Ginsburg's and the extraordinary person she has proved again and again to be, I don't think they are far wrong.

I am certainly not the only Justice Ginsburg fan. In recent years, she has become an icon, especially among young women. Take a look at this short piece about her when the book, Notorious RBG, was published in 2015, that includes a short clip of Kate McKinnon's impression of RBG on Saturday Night Live:

If you have time to spare (more than an hour) here is a February 2018 interview with Justice Ginsburg at Columbia University Alumni Association conducted by CNN's Poppy Harlow:

While I was flailing around trying to sum up Ginsburg for this post, I ran across a YouTube video of five law professors who had been asked to describe her.

Each of the five once served as RBG's law clerk and know her in ways that are impossible for me. I just admire her from a distance but what these five former colleagues tell us rings absolutely true.