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One of my favorite social media accounts to follow lately was James Van Der Beek's. His insight into life at less than two minutes and twenty seconds at a time was always interesting, and this was before he announced he was battling cancer. That made his reflections all the more poignant. Sadly, "The Dawson" lost his battle with colorectal cancer at the way too young age of 48, leaving behind a wife and six kids.

Side note to dudes over the age of 45: Get. Your. Colonoscopy. You take a nap. You wake up. You don't worry about it again for another 3-5 years.

Wednesday was a sh*tty, f*ck cancer day to begin with, because we also lost John Ekdahl. A lot of you followed him on Twitter. I only had the pleasure of meeting him once or twice over the past decade or so, but he had come up with us as we all discovered what a conservative blogosphere was.

Most people know Van Der Beek from either Varisty Blues, or as the lead on Dawson's Creek. It's funny, because I can't look at him without thinking "Dawson." And I know whenever we bring up a celebrity, there are people lined up to cry "libtard" or "bread and circuses." But James always seemed like a down-to-earth, solid dude. I read someone say on X-Twitter that while Dawson wanted Hollywood, James moved far from Hollywood and just wanted his family.

When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never really all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, and that was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate. I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land that we're so lucky to live on. And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition to the question, 'Who am I?' 'What am I?'

Though while he'll most be known as Dawson or Mox, his most brilliant roles were when he took the piss out of himself and played "James Van Der Beek." James "starred" in the Jay and Silent Bob movie opposite Jason Biggs. And it was refreshing yesterday to learn I was not the only one who remembered "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23."

Godspeed, James Van Der Beek. Rest in Peace.

That said, I'm still happy Joey chose Pacey.

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Brodigan is Grand Poobah of this here website and when he isn't writing words about things enjoys day drinking, pro-wrestling, and country music. You can find him on the Twitter too.

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