dwd, thanks for a wonderful, if brief, recitation, What a priveleged accident that was, being his neighbor!! I would be gratified to hear of other memories of his life if any come to mind.

Vonnegut was as much of a role model as I ever had among writers. I loved his whackiness, but I loved more his growling insistence on making human thought worthwhile, on popping the granfaloons of life, his sharp nose for the authentic. I loved that he built wild, out-of-bounds, alien fiction that somehow always came home at the end to deeply human issues. I loved that he would put his heart down in the first paragraph.

A