Wednesday, April 11, 2007
KURT VONNEGUT DIES
So it goes.
Sorry, I had to do that. Even though I bet that's popping up on blogs all over the place.
When I was in high school in Wisconsin, Vonnegut was REQUIRED READING in the English classes. I became a huge fan. There are events in Vonnegut's first book, "Mother Night," that still ring in my head whenever the name "Vonnegut" is mentioned to me.
And "Slaughterhouse Five!" Oh my god.
Then I moved to Arizona, went to the high school library looking for Vonnegut and was told that the library didn't carry smut.
I thought the librarian was joking. I told her that he was required reading in the school I moved from and she said, "You must have gone to a stupid school."
The other book that most of the English teachers had on their syllabus in Wisconsin was Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha." You couldn't find that one in the library here, either.
Hard to say which Vonnegut book is my favorite but it was probably "Cat's Cradle." Or maybe "Breakfast of Champions" or Slaughterhouse Five. Gonna have to read them all again...
------
"Sex Scenes" was fun! For those of you who missed my missives, I participated in what I described at "readers theatre" but was more "blocking while reading from scripts." The stories were written by Polly Frost, who was there to watch our one-time-rehearsed performances at the Paper Heart Gallery. Performed by five women and two guys (me and another fella), my story was about a Frustrated husband of a porn producer, who can't get his wife's mind off of her business long enough to have sex. It was pretty good and I had a lot of fun reading and half-acting with my 'co-reader,' Jane Fendelman, who in her real life is a family counselor and sex therapist.
The cast met at her house last night to rehearse. We went over it twice and then once more at the Paper Heart this evening before everything got started. We had fun! People clapped!
TT
So it goes.
Sorry, I had to do that. Even though I bet that's popping up on blogs all over the place.
When I was in high school in Wisconsin, Vonnegut was REQUIRED READING in the English classes. I became a huge fan. There are events in Vonnegut's first book, "Mother Night," that still ring in my head whenever the name "Vonnegut" is mentioned to me.
And "Slaughterhouse Five!" Oh my god.
Then I moved to Arizona, went to the high school library looking for Vonnegut and was told that the library didn't carry smut.
I thought the librarian was joking. I told her that he was required reading in the school I moved from and she said, "You must have gone to a stupid school."
The other book that most of the English teachers had on their syllabus in Wisconsin was Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha." You couldn't find that one in the library here, either.
Hard to say which Vonnegut book is my favorite but it was probably "Cat's Cradle." Or maybe "Breakfast of Champions" or Slaughterhouse Five. Gonna have to read them all again...
------
"Sex Scenes" was fun! For those of you who missed my missives, I participated in what I described at "readers theatre" but was more "blocking while reading from scripts." The stories were written by Polly Frost, who was there to watch our one-time-rehearsed performances at the Paper Heart Gallery. Performed by five women and two guys (me and another fella), my story was about a Frustrated husband of a porn producer, who can't get his wife's mind off of her business long enough to have sex. It was pretty good and I had a lot of fun reading and half-acting with my 'co-reader,' Jane Fendelman, who in her real life is a family counselor and sex therapist.
The cast met at her house last night to rehearse. We went over it twice and then once more at the Paper Heart this evening before everything got started. We had fun! People clapped!
TT
Comments:
Sissy Phoenix High Schools. In MY high school, on the south side of Tucson no less! OUR class did Hermann Hesse's "Siddhartha. We had the option of Vonnegut, some read "Slaughterhouse five".
# posted by 
: 7:57 PM
: 7:57 PM
We did read "Harrison Bergeron" in school (I think it was eighth grade), but that's about all the Vonnegut that poor old Phoenix School system could stand... :(
Post a Comment
# posted by : 10:30 PM
: 10:30 PM