Kurt Vonnegut (1922 - 2007)

“All of the true things that I am about to tell you are shameless lies.” — Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle.

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First off, you should know Kurt Vonnegut NEVER gave that MIT commencement speech [“Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of 1997:  Wear Sunscreen”] that floated all over the Internet. He didn’t WRITE it either. However, his wife thought it was so  hilarious (because it sounded so much like him), she forwarded it to all their friends.

Because his voice was that distinctive. He was the 20th century equivalent of Mark Twain.

As a novelist, he’s been described as absurdist, irreverent, and a master of sci-fi, satire and black comedy.  He didn’t like religion. He didn’t like technology. He REALLY didn’t like George W. Bush [OR John Kerry]. He was an atheist yet referenced the Beatitudes as informing his own outlook as a humanist.  He was anti-war yet publicly said he’s proud he was a soldier in WWII. He was popular yet controversial, successful yet “counter-culture,” opinionated yet never preachy. He straddled fences, crossed boundaries, ruffled feathers and never compromised.

Above it all, however, Kurt Vonnegut was just a frickin’ awesome storyteller.

I’m just gonna say it: IMHO, Kurt Vonnegut was one probably one of the coolest humans to ever walk this Earth.

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