throw another bear in the canoe

My daughter just came in to say how sad she was; she binged on most of Vonnegut in 8th grade or so. He will be remembered.

Le sigh...

I remember Welcome to the Monkeyhouse. Slaughterhouse five may be his best-known work, but Welcome to the Monkeyhouse showed me just what you could do.

And, this needs to be said, so it goes.

A period of quiet reflection throughout the world while all 6 billion of us read his books seems in order.

The first time I saw or heard of him, he was giving an interview on PBS. He talked about the poem he wrote on the crucified planet earth. He said that the planet's epitaph would be that people did not like it here, and... ((Googles quote)) "We don't. And I think most people have an awful time here. And, I have said on behalf of all animals, is life is no way to treat an animal. It hurts too much."

Then he talked about noticing when you're happy. He said, "I had a good uncle and a bad uncle. The bad uncle was Dan. But the good uncle was Alex. And what he found objectionable about human beings was they never noticed it when they were really happy.

So, whenever he was really happy, you know he could be sitting around in the shade in the summertime in the shade of an apple tree, and drinking lemonade and talking. Just sort of this back-and-forth buzzing like honey bees. And Uncle Alex would all of a sudden say; If this isn't nice what is? And then we'd realize how happy we were and we might have missed it.

And the bad Uncle Dan was when I came home from the war which I was quite painful. He clapped me on the back and said; You're a man now. I wanted to kill kill 'em."

By the midpoint of the interview, I was crying. I didn't know why. I felt like he'd got at the heart of something I hadn't been able to reach before. He seemed so humane, funny, appreciative -- grieved at the world and loving it and laughing at it.

I don't know how to explain it.

I'm glad he was here. I'm glad he isn't hurting anymore. And I'm thankful that he left a legacy of books that I can reach out for.

He seemed so humane, funny, appreciative -- grieved at the world and loving it and laughing at it.

Yes. That's it exactly. He seems to have loved hard, and gotten hurt by it, but it never made him mean.

I'll miss him.

And so it goes...

I remember being shocked, surprised, and angry when I read Pournelle and Niven's Inferno, and they had Vonnegut prominently featured in their Hell. I couldn't fathom, at the time, just why they hated him so much to include him, still living, in it.

Over the years, reading and listening to Mr. Vonnegut's works and his philosophy, I understand better.

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut. You helped get me through adolescence more intact than maybe otherwise.

I'm scared. All i had was Sirens of Titan when I was a kid. You guys are pretty tough. I know a guy that inlays Tralfamadorians in his banjo necks..

Pournelle is a right wing ass, but something about that neon sign buzzing in the catacombs of Hell stays with me.. And Vonnegut's Wrecks and Reeks..

Not all of the "Greatest Generation" followed the party line, in any case..

Indeed. A Tralfamadorian-necked banjo would be pretty cool.

Agh, so it goes.

Absolutely.