In Memoriam

Today we lost a great writer, a great thinker, and a famously eccentric oddball: Kurt Vonnegut. He has been my favorite writer for as long as I can remember; my first experience with Vonnegut was when I read 'Cats Cradle' at age 14. I have adored him ever since. I consider his writing to be a key part of my adolescence. From age 14 to age 18 I read every book he ever wrote. At the moment, I have his last book "A Man Without A Country" sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read. I have been saving it for just the right moment.
He has always felt like a friend. Perhaps that makes me sound crazy, but his writing has the ability to make you feel connected to him. As a young teenager, there was nothing more beautiful than reading a man who spoke to his audience with affection and respect.
I once saw him read at the Barnes and Noble on Union Square in New York. The reading was packed and it was hard to see or hear him. After the reading, I chose to stand up on a chair and behave somewhat like a complete lunatic, shouting, "MR VONNEGUT!!" hoping he would look up and see me. He didn't seem to notice. Or perhaps he did and his publicist was standing next to him whispering, "Whatever you do, don't look up. There's a crazy lady shouting your name."
Yes, I suppose I have always been a bit of a Vonnegut groupy...
So, to my beloved Mr. Vonnegut- we will never forget you.
"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."