Kurt Vonnegut RIP. God Bless You For The Inspiration!

The radio told me on Thursday morning, April 12, that my favorite author had passed away on Wednesday, April 11, 2007.  He had been suffering from brain injuries, a result from a fall he experienced several weeks ago.  My head was in a daze as I was getting ready for work that morning.  Tears were in my eyes.

 I met him once.  Back in October 1995, Kurt Vonnegut was the guest of honor at the First Annual Writers' Festival at the Boston Center for Adult Education.  He did a lecture about writing, of course.  I was still on the fence about being a serious writer at the time.  I just had to go see him and meet him at the reception.

 In fact, I got to shake his hand.  I can't remember what he said back to me, but I did enjoy his lecture and his books.  I even told him that I loved his cameo in the Rodney Dangerfield movie, "Back to School."  He loved that compliment.  The next day, he did a classroom lecture to a group of aspiring writers, and I just had to be there too.  I didn't have anything to submit for him to critique though.  Like I said earlier, I was still on the fence about being a writer.

My memory may be fuzzy about this, but I think I read his short story, Harrison Bergeron, while I was in junior high school.  That was my first exposure to his writing.  The first Vonnegut novel I was introduced to was Cat's Cradle when I was in high school in 1981.  That introduced me to something different.  Two years later, I found a copy of Breakfast of Champions in the basement of my parents' house in Chevy Chase, Maryland.  I had just finished my first year at Emerson College in Boston when I made that discovery.  The book had originally belonged to one of my older siblings.   Once I read that book, I found myself a favorite living author.  The only other author I enjoyed was Agatha Christie.  A couple years later during my junior year at Emerson, I read Harrison Bergeron for the second time and recalled that I had read it before.  It was nice to be exposed to his work during my teen-aged years because it did plant the seeds of my becoming a writer.

I read Breakfast of Champions at least three times, and I've enjoyed it everytime.  I went on to read most of his books.  There are a few haven't had the chance to pick up yet.  I did read Man Without a Country last summer twice.  That was brilliant.   Everytime I read Kurt Vonnegut's work, it always compelled me to write in my journal and, later on, my blog.

 One funny story regarding the time I was reading Dead-Eye Dick back in December 1985.  I was in the Barbados with my parents for my cousin Linda's wedding and Christmas.  I woke up one morning and found my father reading that book and he remarked that Kurt Vonnegut sounded like someone in my age group.  I didn't feel like telling him that Kurt Vonnegut's date of birth is November 11, 1922, while my father's is November 13, 1924.  My father wouldn't have believed me if I did tell him.

Not certain if I told Kurt Vonnegut that story when I met him.

So from now on I associate April 11 as the day Kurt Vonnegut, my favorite author, died as well as the day I learned about my having Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, back in 2002.  April 11 was also the day my first cat, Smokey, became very ill in 1993.  He had to be put to sleep on April 13.  In rock history, April 11 has been mentioned as the official day the world found out that the Beatles, my favorite band, broke up.

Right now, I struggle as a writer working on my book with a working title: Uncommon Bostonian: A Memoir of a Black Woman with Asperger's Syndrome Surviving Emotional Abuse.  The sub-title is always changing.  Having a day job, caring for two cats,  taking my car to repair shop every month and other difficult day-to-day situations are major distractions when you want to write a memoir all day. 

I regret that Kurt Vonnegut won't be able to read my memoir when I eventually finish it.

 God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut, for the Inspiration and Thanks!