RIP Kurt Vonnegut

April 12, 2007 | Filed Under Media 

Kurt Vonnegut

God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, “Sit up!”
“See all I’ve made,” said God, “the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars.”
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html

So it goes.

Tags: Media

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One Response to “RIP Kurt Vonnegut”

  1. InTheseTimes on April 13th, 2007 7:49 pm

    Vonnegut, who passed away April 11, 2007, was a Senior
    Editor and long-time contributor to In These Times.
    “Without In These Times, I would be a man without a
    country,” Vonnegut often said of the national monthly
    news magazine that has featured investigative
    reporting about corporate malfeasance and government
    wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and
    international affairs, and cultural criticism about
    events and ideas that matter. “Kurt was first and
    foremost my friend,” remembers In These Times editor,
    Joel Bleifuss. “But he also wasn’t afraid to speak
    out against man’s inhumanity to man. He never suffered
    fools lightly and was particularly concerned about the
    direction the U.S. is heading under the current
    administration.” Vonnegut and Bleifuss collaborated
    on articles for In These Times, many of which were
    compiled in Man Without a Country, Vonnegut’s last
    book. A collection of articles by Kurt Vonnegut can
    be accessed at
    http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/vonnegut/. Vonnegut
    also faxed word art to In These Times, often bemoaning
    the Bush administration and the overall state of
    affairs. “When we ponder various people going about
    their business, we assume they have nervous systems,”
    read one. “But George W. Bush doesn’t have one. What a
    time to be alive!” Vonnegut also briefly authored an
    advice column for In These Times called “Dear Mr.
    Vonnegut.” “I have not so much a comment or a
    question for you, but rather a request: Please tell me
    it will all be OK,” wrote one reader. Vonnegut’s
    response? “Welcome to Earth, young man. It’s hot in
    the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet
    and crowded. At the outside, Joe, you’ve got about a
    hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know
    of: Goddamn it, Joe, you’ve got to be kind!” “He was
    a great supporter of In These Times, and we benefited
    from both his sharp wit and the moral compass that
    guided his work,” says Bleifuss. “I will miss his
    unassailable political integrity and the wisdom that
    he brought to our pages.”

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