A few days ago a dear friend of ours sent me this letter that Kurt Vonnegut, one of my favorite all-time authors, wrote to Xavier High School students, in 2006.
Anyway I absolutely love his letter I want to share it with y'all if you have never read it. And please note I checked it out and Vonnegut absolutely did write this famous letter. So enjoy his words of wisdom!
- 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:
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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 any more 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 whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK?
- Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash recepticals. 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.
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God bless you all! -
Kurt Vonnegut
3 comments:
Nancy, I am stealing this to forward to everyone on my email list because........I MUST. Too good not to share! Thank you for posting it.
I'm off to sing now - but first I have to put some distance between me and my computer screen, lest I crack the glass!
Hi Mari— Steal Away!
LOVE IT. I've read and loved all of Kurt Vonnegut's books at least twice, SO funny and he gives great advice too. Thanks for sharing, Nancy!
Hope you have a great rest of the week.
Tail wags,
Fay
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