Kurt Vonnegut

I was saddened to read that a childhood companion of mine, Kurt Vonnegut, has died at the age of 84, presumably of brain injuries suffered during a fall. I say a childhood friend because I remember reading "Player Piano" the first time just about the time I entered high school. Afterward, I read everything I could get my hands on written by Vonnegut. Vonnegut pushed the envelope ...

"He was a man who combined a wicked sense of humor and sort of steady moral compass, who was always sort of looking at the big picture of the things that were most important," said Joel Bleifuss, editor of In These Times, a liberal magazine based in Chicago that featured Vonnegut articles.

Some of Vonnegut's books were banned and burned for alleged obscenity. He took on censorship as an active member of the PEN writers' aid group and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The American Humanist Association, which promotes individual freedom, rational thought and scientific skepticism, made him its honorary president.

I hope in my life I can look back and know I rocked the boat just a bit and caused just a little uncomfortableness like Vonnegut did.


I really wonder what gives us the right to wreck this poor planet of ours. -- Kurt Vonnegut