A lesson for high schoolers from Kurt Vonnegut
Feb 7, 2023 11:06:48 #
slatten49
Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas
I came across this, and thought it worth sharing...
Posted by Richard Strachan on January 30th:
In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write a famous author and ask for advice. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to respond - and his response is magnificent:
“Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:
I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances anymore because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.
What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood and give it to her. Dance home after school and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.
Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six-line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or wh**ever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
God bless you all!"
Kurt Vonnegut
Posted by Richard Strachan on January 30th:
In 2006 a high school English teacher asked students to write a famous author and ask for advice. Kurt Vonnegut was the only one to respond - and his response is magnificent:
“Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta:
I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don’t make public appearances anymore because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana.
What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood and give it to her. Dance home after school and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you’re Count Dracula.
Here’s an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don’t do it: Write a six-line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don’t tell anybody what you’re doing. Don’t show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or wh**ever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces and discard them into widely separated trash receptacles. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
God bless you all!"
Kurt Vonnegut
Feb 7, 2023 12:09:05 #
RandyBrian
Loc: Texas
slatten49 wrote:
I came across this, and thought it worth sharing..... (show quote)
How very neat! What a kind and thoughtful man he was, to have sent such a great message to kids. It should be posted in every classroom in America.
Thanks for posting that, Slatten.
Feb 7, 2023 14:04:16 #
Feb 7, 2023 14:38:43 #
slatten49 wrote:
I came across this, and thought it worth sharing..... (show quote)
Love it! What a thoughtful letter. Great post!
Feb 8, 2023 16:23:20 #
Feb 9, 2023 15:47:31 #
LostAggie66
Loc: Corpus Christi, TX (Shire of Seawinds)
RandyBrian wrote:
How very neat! What a kind and thoughtful man he was, to have sent such a great message to kids. It should be posted in every classroom in America.
Thanks for posting that, Slatten.
Thanks for posting that, Slatten.
I agree. I would have posted that in my Classroom also. Vonnegut is still one of my favorite novelists.
Feb 9, 2023 17:53:10 #
slatten49 wrote:
I came across this, and thought it worth sharing..... (show quote)
Very nice I like ur non political posts
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