There have been countless reactions to writer and performer David Rakoff's death Thursday night, but few are as poignant as what Ira Glass posted on the This American Life website.

Writer, performer, and frequent NPR contributor David Rakoff has died following a three-year battle with cancer. Rakoff was born in Montreal, and lived, variously, in Toronto, London and Japan before settling in New York City, which he called "the great love of my life" and was the subject of much of his writing. Rakoff worked as an actor — usually playing, he later wrote, "Jewy McHebrew" or "Fudgy McPacker" — and in publishing before quitting to become a full-time writer, penning the interview column "The Way We Live Now" for The New York Times Magazine for several years in addition to his work as a freelance journalist and contributor of personal essays to This American Life.

Last week, Ira Glass, host of This American Life spoke with This American Life contributor David Rakoff at UC Berkeley. What a nice thing for the students! But the engagement was spoiled by New Yorker writer Cynthia Gorney, who can't moderate an event to save her ass. The Berkeley student paper wrote, "In addition to her excessive exaltation thinly disguised as interview questions and an inexplicable penchant for interrupting the witty banter between Ira and David, Gorney's determination to get Ira to elaborate on precisely how he decided to mix in one song over another was an utter failure." Her moderating was so uncomfortable that the school offered tickets to another show to make it up to the guests. After the jump, Berkeley's admission of Cynthia Gorney's failures.

Last week we noted some improvement in Voice Press Clips columnist Keach Hagey's third column. We've been waiting patiently since then to see what Week Four would bring. It just came in over the RSS wire, so let's take a look!