umanist. Socialist. Liberal. These words have been used to describe author and critic Kurt Vonnegut many times. But when Union Board hosted "An Evening with Kurt Vonnegut" March 1 at the H Auditorium, students weren't exactl y sure what to expect. "I expected Vonnegut to be a sensationalist. He was definitely thought-provoking, but his arguments weren't just sensational — he backed them up," freshman Elizabeth Skomp said. Vonnegut, the honorary president of the American Humanist Association, originally
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Alter meeting with honors students for discussion at the Lilly Library, Kurt Vonnegut greets guests at the door. Vonnegut spoke later that day, at 7 p.m., March 1 in the Auditorium.
(opposite page) Author and critic Kurt Vonnegut answers questions from about 50 honors students and Wells Scholars before his public lecture in the Auditorium. Vonnegut focused the discussion and lecture around societal values.
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came to the University to give his speech, "How to Get a Job Like Mine." But he admitted the topic turned into a speech on some random thoughts and ideas of his. Vonnegut is responsible for writing "Slaughterhouse Five," "Cat's Cradle" and "The Sirens of Titan." He told the audience his books are about "ordinar y people trying to behave decentl y in an indecent society." Vonnegut continued to say his books are written intuitively and reflectively, but because he is now in his 70s, he admitted he no longer has as much time to reflect. Instead, he spends most of his time lecturing,. But sophomore Alix Miczulski, a fan of his books, appreciated the insight of Vonnegut's speaking and writing skills. He said, "He is someone I knew I should see. His works and his tone are extremely funny and satirical." The native Hoosier had much
to say about family values. He particularly concentrated on his theory of the "extended family support system." Vonnegut said he believes most divorces stem from a nuclear famil y . With a small number of people in these types of families, Vonnegut believes there may not be enough available members to offer advice. He said members usually have to seek the advice of outsiders. This may pull apart an y closeness the family shares, and so, it is the large extended famil y that is a constant reinforcement for its members and keeps itself together. Skomp appreciated Vonneg,ut's perspective. "I really liked his proposal about children being raised by the communit y . With this type of 'extended' family and a more unified society , it seems that we could eliminate some of today's societal problems." The audience whooped and cheered throughout most of the speech. "\Voo!'s" and "Yeah's!" followed almost every point Vonnegut made. Also, Vonnegut said "everyone in America should have a puberty ceremon y ." Vonnegut said that no one will accept his or her own responsibilities anymore. If boys and girls around the ages of 12, 13 and 14 were given a special puberty ceremon y , the y would have the official rights to adulthood. Vonnegut said they would be told to use their adulthood to "join us in making this society work." He also said, "The only way to receive full credit as an adult these days is to commit a felony." A veteran of World War II, Vonnegut had firsthand knowledge of the perils of war. He felt war is popularized in this generation and made to look like fun. He said,"War is terrible ... killin g is fun onl y from an airplane." From up in the sky, the death and destruction on the ground cannot be seen. Overall, Vonnegut regarded himself as a skeptic. He said he always questions, "What's the good news? What's the bad news?" To demonstrate this idea, Vonnegut used a chalkboard on the stage and a graph of his own
invention, to plot certain high and low points that represented the good news or bad news in various examples of literature. He concentrated on Shakespeare's "Macbeth." He said it produced a flatline because he could not decide which parts of the play constituted the good news or the bad news for the characters. He continued to explain that this is why "Macbeth" is the best literary work: it shows a strange likeness to reality. Real life is not knowing what is the good or bad news. At the end of his speech, he further reached the audience by
