August 17

KILGORE TROUT LIVES!!

A truly terrifying moment is when you realize that people you went to high school with are running the country.  ~  Kurt Vonnegut

Your planet’s immune system is trying to get rid of you.  ~  Kurt Vonnegut

Once there was a time when I inhaled books.  It’s not that I don’t like them now, but I generally fall asleep after 3 pages (as evidenced by my abbreviated style of what I laughingly refer to as writing).  But in my generally CRS state of mind, I seem to recall that I’ve probably read all of Vonnegut (maybe before 1980) – but it was all back in a previous century of high school and college.  He was cool.  Then I married into an Indiana family and discovered Vonnegut was from Indianapolis . . . 

[This was May 1, 2011, in front of the new Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in downtown Indianapolis with Jami and the Super.  I seem to recall we also visited the original museum.  And, as you can see, I was an early proponent of the hoodie . . . ]

The Kurt Vonnegut Booklist

01	Player Piano	1952	(1,6,A)
02	The Sirens of Titan	1959	(1,6)
03	Canary in a Cathouse	1961	(2,4,A)
04	Mother Night	1961	(1)
05	Cat’s Cradle	1963	(1,6,A)
06	God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater	1965	(1,7)
07	Welcome to the Monkey House	1968	(2,4,A)
08	Slaughterhouse – Five	1969	(1,6,7,A)
09	Happy Birthday, Wanda June	1971	(3)
10	Between Time and Timbuktu	1972	(3)
11	Breakfast of Champions	1973	(1,7,8,9)
12	Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons	1974	(2,5)
13	Slapstick	1976	(1)
14	Jailbird	1976	(1,7)
15	Palm Sunday	1981	(2,5)
16	Deadeye Dick	1982	(1,9)
17	Galapagos	1985	(1,6,7.9,A)
18	Bluebeard	1987	(1)
19	Hocus Pocus	1989	(1,7,8,9)
20	Fates Worse Than Death	1991	(2,5)
21	Timequake	1997	(1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8)
22	Bagombo Snuff Box	1999	(2, 4)
23	God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian	2000	(2, 3)
24	A Man Without A Country	2005	(2, 5, 7, 8)
25	Armageddon in Retrospect	2008	(2, 4, 5, 6, 8)
26	Look at the Birdie	2009	(2, 4, 6, 8)
27	While Mortals Sleep	2011	(2, 4, 8)
28	We Are What We Pretend To Be	2012	(2,4)
29	Letters	2012	(2,5,8)

[This, and all remaining photos, were taken inside the museum . . . ]

[Since the photos were taken in a museum, there was always a sidebar indicating what you were looking at.  Thus, I am mostly freed from such undertakings . . . ]

[3rd woman from left (I heard he was into crossdressing then . . . ]

[OK, likely the young suited man in the middle above . . . ]

[The last word in Slaughterhouse Five. The sound “Poo-tee-weet” is a stand-in, a nonsensical noise made by birds that represents the fact that there is nothing intelligible that can be said about war or massacres (enotes.com).]

[Certainly descriptive of the Callecod family . . . ]

[A personal favorite – may be used as an effective emoji where appropriate . . . ]

[Unless otherwise noted, the artwork is Vonnegut’s . . . ]

[Once a moment’s gone, it’s gone forever . . . ]

[Must be some kind of hippie . . . ]

[So it goes. (How do you think it compares with the more recent, it is what it is . . . ?]

[As a soldier in WWII, he was a POW during the fire bombing of Dresden . . . ]

[An avid promoter of human kindness . . . ]

[‘Mr. Rogers’ as novelist . . . ]

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes . . . 

[His writing desk was too short?  I left him that message accordingly . . . ]

Unusual travel plans are dancing lessons from God . . . 

We are what we pretend to be so we must be careful what we pretend to be . . . 

[Jami left him a note . . . ]

[The Super perused for book club opportunities . . . ]

[Danny also left him a note . . . ]

[I think we left the bottom three . . . ]

[Brief histories, in brief . . . ]

1920: Alcohol banned in America, but not in Canada . . . 

1929: The Great Depression begins.  1939: World War II begins . . . 

1944:  He is captured by the Germans in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge . . . 

May 8, 1945: The war in Europe is over . . . 

November 22, 1963:  JFK is shot . . . 

August 11, 1974:  President Richard Nixon resigns . . .

1981:  AIDS appears on the U.S. . . . 

1992:  Bill Clinton is elected . . .

December 9, 2000:  That Supreme Court . . . elects George W. Bush . . .

March 20, 2003:  President Bush invades Iraq . . . 

November 11, 2010:  The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library is opening in Indianapolis.

1 Billion Years A.D.:  The last tree on Earth dies . . . 

3.5 Billion Years A.D.: The sun . . . expands into a Red Giant and envelops the Earth . . . 

Poo-tee-weet!

[The basics, pretty sure I’ve read all of them . . . ]

[I think I did get a hat?]

[Now that would be fun . . . ]

1959:  Kurt Vonnegut publishes The Sirens of Titan . . .

PEACE!

Feb. 11, 1950:  KV’s career as a fiction writer is born . . . 

POO-TEE-WEET!

So it goes.  ~  Kurt Vonnegut

Up Next:  Back to the archives . . .