Live by the foma that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.
– Book of Bokonon 1:5 (Cat’s Cradle)

Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’
– God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut, for a treasure trove of books that made us think, laugh and question. You will be missed.

And so it goes.

Update: Kat (my wife, for those folks who don’t know) was a publicist for Showtime when the channel made Harrison Bergeron into a TV movie. As such, she got to spend a ton of time with Kurt Vonnegut. From Kat… he was a wonderful, kind man, capable of being a curmugeon when he had to go in front of the camera, but he was incredibly lovable. He spoke in aphorisms, he was brilliant, and everyone hung on his every word. When he walked out of a press conference, even though there was another press conference right after his, all the reporters followed him out of the room to keep listening to what he said.

My wife — who has worked on amazing projects with many, many incredible people — considers working with him to be the highlight of her career. And she — who I have never seen star-struck or even star-impressed — loves and values the picture she has of the two of them together.