And so it goes...

Kurt Vonnegut is dead. Of course, not knowing him personally, I have only the word of newspapers and television to confirm this.

I am a great fan of Mr. Vonnegut’s work, and actually saw him speak at Syracuse University when I was a senior in the winter of 1998-1999.

I waited outside the building he spoke in for 2 hours in the freezing cold with my friends Karin and Oscar. I had purchased a copy of “Player Piano” earlier that day in hopes of having Kurt sign it. So it goes…

We waited in the snow, and were the first three in the auditorium. Our seats were right in front of the podium in the first row. For more than an hour, Kurt spoke and drew pictures on a large blackboard that had been wheeled on stage for him. He spoke about his books, and about Upstate New York.

“They say you have four seasons here, but you don’t. There are actually six. The year starts with winter, and then before the spring there is the “unlocking”. Then summer, fall and the “locking” before winter. The locking and unlocking are seasons unto themselves when the mystery of life is laid bare before and after sleeping for the winter.”

I paraphrase, but the idea of the extra seasons has stuck with me. As has his insistence that we humans are “Dancing creatures”.

When the talk was over, I jumped up and walked to the stage, hoping to get him to sign my book. He politely declined, and exited the stage.

As the few thousand fans milled about the auditorium reflecting on what we had just heard, I sprung up onto the stage, and took the piece of chalk that Kurt had been writing with off of the blackboard (actually it was green, but why split hairs?).

As I landed back in the audience, a young woman sighed and said she was about to do the same thing. I broke the chalk in half, and gave her a piece. My piece is in a tiny mason jar on my book shelf as a memento of my brush with my favorite writer.

I take comfort in the fact that Kurt (like Billy Pilgrim) may be dead in this moment, but through his books, he is alive and well in many other moments.