"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive ..."

On Kurt Vonnegut:

- I remember at one point in high school, my favorite English teacher, Mr. Dessants, spoke about the next book on our class reading list with a glimmer in his eye. I don't remember much about our class' studying of Cat's Cradle, but I do have this vague memory of Mr. Dessants giving me a look in class (by that point he knew me pretty well), and saying "Danny B, you're going to like this one." What I do remember very clearly though is the sheer feeling of enthusiasm that came over me while reading my first work of Vonnegut. "Finally," I thought, "a guy who really gets it." In high schools across America, this same thing was probably happening to thousands of impressionable and increasingly cynical teens. In fact, the same thing had been happening for decades and decades. Reading Vonnegut for the first time was akin to that first dose of Salinger or Twain - a shock, a revelation. Except Vonnegut is still, even now, 100% relevant, 100% modernist, 100% applicable. Reading Cat's Cradle, I was predisposed to like it because of its science fiction overtones. But as I read it, my whole concept of literature was turned on its head. This was brilliant writing, yet composed of short sentances, quick phrases, and profound statements that cut right to the point. This was smartass scifi, with a deep, dark sense of humor that brutally skewed society. Everyone should read Vonnegut to get a healthy dose of cynicism, a healthy skepticism about the world we live in. Who else but Vonnegut could at once instill a total sense of wonder with the scope of his ideas, yet at the same time make you wonder if every character in his stories wasn't a raving lunatic?

Not to mention, Vonnegut's works are some of the most quotable of all time, as was the man himself.

I don't know if Billy Pilgrim was really unstuck in time or just insane. But I'd like to think that Vonnegut is simply floating around in the ether, reliving the various signifigant moments in his life with a curmudgeonly smile, thinking "Ha! I was right all along!" But unstuck in time or not, America has lost one of its true geniuses, one of its true canonical writers. We can all only aspire to change people with our ideas like Vonnegut has.

Perhaps even more importantly, however, a whole generation - from Jon Stewart on down - has learned a valuable lesson from Vonneget: when the chips are down, when things look bleak, when it seems like humanity has let you down ... well, change may best be perpetuated by staring straight into that void of liars, sinners, and hypocrites and being an unabashed, unrepentant smartass.

So it goes.

"I remembered The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon, which I had read in it's entirety the night before. The Fourteenth Book is entitled, "What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the Experience of the Past Million Years?" It doesn't take long to read The Fourteenth Book. It consists of one word and a period.
This is it: "Nothing." "

"No damn cat, and no damn cradle."

"Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt."



RIP Kurt Vonnegut