Kurt Vonnegut

I have been in an other-worldly state since hearing the news of his passing. Someone at work described me has having an unusual aura of calm on an otherwise hectic day. I guess that is my way of mourning this great man, who so affected my life. I'm not quite sure how the world will get by without him.

A Dutch friend lent me his copy of The Sirens of Titan to help me cope with my disorientation in trying to fit in at an IBM sales school in 1976.
Seeing the film adaptation of Slaughterhouse Five forever changed the way I look at films, and eventually led me to teaching how films portray law and society.
I had the unbelievable privilege to play Elliot Rosewater in a community theater production of God Bless You Mr. Rosewater in 1988. During the run, my sister met Kurt Vonnegut and he autographed a copy of the program for the show.
I love Galapagos because of Vonnegut’s cautionary interpretation of the work of my other patron saint, Charles Darwin, with whose father I share my name.
Finally, Vonnegut rightly complained that the greatest malady affecting U.S. society was the loss of the extended family. I see his concern everyday in my job as a lawyer representing children in foster care.
He will be missed...

PS. It is of no small consequence that on the day after the world learned of Vonnegut's passing, a shift in world politics was noted. An unnamed senior foreign official attending a meeting of the World Bank observed, “There is a sense that we’re finally at a moment when Bush needs the world more than the world needs Bush.” It would appear that Vonnegut's departure was the catalyst for a sort of a reverse ice-nine effect. The shock woke people up!