And now for the reason I wanted to talk about Good News today: Kurt Vonnegut died last night. Anyone who’s ever wanted to be an American writer has likely come across Vonnegut in one form or another, and while he was no spring chicken, it is still a bummer. He is responsible for some of my favorite lines ever, like
Any reviewer who expresses rage and loathing for a novel is preposterous. He or she is like a person who has put on full armor and attacked a hot fudge sundae.
or even
And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, “If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is.”
and definitely
The two real political parties in America are the Winners and the Losers. The people don’t acknowledge this. They claim membership in two imaginary parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, instead.
But I remembered this last night when I heard about it, and reproduce it here, believing that it still talks about Good News:
If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSICBlues For America — 07 January, 2006