On Earth to Fart Around
Kurt Vonnegut's "Stardust Memory"
On a cold, cloudy night, the lines threaded all the way around the Ohio State campus. News that Kurt Vonnegut was speaking at the Ohio Union prompted these “apathetic” heartland college students to start lining up in the early afternoon...
"We are here on Earth to fart around," he explains, and then embarks on a soliloquy about the joys of going to the store to buy an envelope. One talks to the people there, comments on the "silly-looking dog," finds all sorts of adventures along the way.
"Live one day at a time. Say ‘if this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is!"
Comments
A Vonnegut quote that has stuck in my head for a very long time:
I love that man.
I love him, too. Thank you for putting this up. I love the quote in the comment above and also saying "if this isn't nice, I don't know what is." Unbelieveable what's going on but this somehow makes you feel sane - for a moment.
I saw Vonnegut a few years ago at the U of Iowa.... He was amazing and yes, the room, the giant ballroom of the student union, was jam packed too. They had to set up television monitors in an adjacent room because of the overflow crowd. There's something about him to connects to everyone...He taught writing at the U of Iowa Writer's Workshop in the 60's, something we're very proud of.
I find it interesting Vonnegut is somewhat of a creationist. He also believes Pat Robertson knows we evolved, he is just representing a "tribe" of people. Listen to his interview on NPR: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5165342
And an interesting commentary at HellsHandmaiden: http://www.hells-handmaiden.com/?p=690
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