Kurt Vonnegut in Indianapolis

Massachusetts Avenue in Indianapolis

A couple of nights ago Dave and I watched "Kurt Vonnegut's Indianapolis" on PBS.  As you may remember,  I'm from Indianapolis and Vonnegut was my very favorite writer when I was in my 20s.  His novels were weird and revolutionary and hysterically funny - in an extremely disrespectful way.

The PBS special reminds us that Indianapolis did not care for Kurt Vonnegut early on.  He left as a young man and never moved back.  But he loved his friends and family and loved his high school, Short Ridge.  (Short Ridge and my high school, Arsenal Tech, were arch rivals.)

Apparently, the folks in old Indianapolis just didn't "get" Vonnegut.  He came from a wealthy family of architects and hardware store owners.  Kurt Vonnegut did not follow the rules.

If you want to really hurt your parents, and you don't have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts.  I'm not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living.  They are a very human way of making life more bearable.  Practicing an art no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake.  

Vonnegut's quote above is one of things that helped me get into expressing myself through poetry.  But I'm sure these words weren't well received in some circles.

And how would you like him giving your kids this advice?  We have to constantly be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.

I'm happy to say that, over the decades, Indianapolis has become way more sophisticated and has wholly embraced this American icon.


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