Honors History #3

Of all of the historical figures we have studied this year, including—but definitely not limited to—Presidents, philosophers, politicians, leaders, social movement-ers, and the many everyday people that have contributed to American history & culture, who would you most like to run into in college?

I would like to meet Kurt Vonnegut. We learned quite a bit about him this quarter, including about his life, and philosophies. I find him to be a very wise and interesting person, and also recently learned that he was a professor at the University of Iowa, which is one of the colleges I truly want to study in after I graduate. So, it's only logical that I would want Kurt Vonnegut as one of my professors as I study Creative Writing. In his book, Breakfast With Champions, he said: "New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become." I think it's safe to say that he values new thoughts, and this also tells me that he has some level of passion for teaching. I think he would definitely push me to appreciate what I truly learn from him, as well as the people around me.

Kurt Vonnegut said in his book Player Piano: "I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center." I feel like this can easily be connected to creative writing, and that Vonnegut would use it in one of his lectures. Getting close to the edge, but never falling. Getting as close to reality, or a completely different world as you can before you lose your mind--or at least your train of thought-- to create a story. We can all create our own excitement, so long as we are willing to push towards our minds limits, and getting out of the ordinary. Perhaps Kurt Vonnegut could help me get to these limits. He certainly had a lot of interesting ideas in Slaughterhouse 5 (For example: "The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist"), so it wouldn't be odd to think that he could pull some interesting thoughts out of me as well. That's one of the reasons I can't wait to enter college: so I can see how far I can push my mind. I chose Kurt Vonnegut precisely because I think he would be one of the greatest pushers my mind has ever had.