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Dance!
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Dance! I saw this on the face page and felt compelled to share. This is so very important! In 2006, a group of students at Xavier High School in New York City were given an assignment by their English teacher, Ms. Lockwood, that was to test their persuasive writing skills: they were asked to write to their favourite<b> author </font></b>and ask him or her to visit the school. It’s a measure of his ongoing influence that five of those pupils chose Kurt Vonnegut, the novelist responsible for, amongst other highly-respected books, Slaughterhouse-Five; sadly, however, he never made that trip. Instead, he wrote a wonderful letter. He was the only<b> author </font></b>to reply. (Huge thanks to Michael LiVigni, headmaster of Xavier High School, for his help and permission to feature this letter. Thanks, also, to the Estate of Kurt Vonnegut. This letter can also be found in the More Letters of Note book, which can now be found on the shelves of all respectable, well-stocked bookshops. November 5, 2006 Dear Xavier High School, and Ms. Lockwood, and Messrs Perin, McFeely, Batten, Maurer and Congiusta: I thank you for your friendly letters. You sure know how to cheer up a really old geezer (84) in his sunset years. I don't make public appearances any more because I now resemble nothing so much as an iguana. What I had to say to you, moreover, would not take long, to wit: Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow. Seriously! I mean starting right now, do art and do it for the rest of your lives. Draw a funny or nice picture of Ms. Lockwood, and give it to her. Dance home after school, and sing in the shower and on and on. Make a face in your mashed potatoes. Pretend you're Count Dracula. Here's an assignment for tonight, and I hope Ms. Lockwood will flunk you if you don't do it: Write a six line poem, about anything, but rhymed. No fair tennis without a net. Make it as good as you possibly can. But don't tell anybody what you're doing. Don't show it or recite it to anybody, not even your girlfriend or parents or whatever, or Ms. Lockwood. OK? Tear it up into teeny-weeny pieces, and discard them into widely separated trash recepticals. You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what's inside you, and you have made your soul grow. God bless you all! Kurt Vonnegut Read RESPECT WE all NEED to do Better and Re Petition to Stop Transsexuals from Using Female Profiles |
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required first post Read RESPECT WE all NEED to do Better and Re Petition to Stop Transsexuals from Using Female Profiles
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First of all, may I pimp this post? This is such good advice. Prior to meeting my ex-husband in 1993, I was attempting to write my first book. It was daunting. It was scary, It was impossible! So I gave up. 8 years later, I started blogging because someone noticed that I had good communication skills. I did that for 5 years and then I participated in National Novel Writing Month (the goal is to write 50,000 in 30 days and no where near a novel's length of words) which is November. That was in 2011. I started blogging here in 2014. Participating in an art, helped develop that part of my brain. Thank you, kitkat The observant make the best lovers, I may not do right, but I do write, I have bliss, joy, and happiness in my life, Kitkat Come check out my blog KItkat1415 check out this post by me Adventures In Body Grooming #39 April Topic Link: What Lies Beneath If April Showers Oh Bloody Hell What Kind Of Weather Turns Me On Bloggers Symposium 40
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Wise words and with the likely attack on public schools and the probability that art type classes will suffer with the Trump administration it is a timely post.  Vive La Difference
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I love Kurt Vonnegut. He had a child's way of seeing the world, which is entirely appropriate. Become a member now and get a free tote bag.
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12/27/2016 5:38 pm |
Thanks for pointing me this way..you were so right the words just fit so perfectly right now.
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That was a very wise man... 
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12/28/2016 2:02 pm |
Kurt Vonnegut , was a weird and gifted writer.. loved his stuff.. well still do.. What a great guy to write that to a class.. shows that strange isn't always bad.. LOL face piles of trials with smiles.. MOODY BLUES please feel free to visit my blog happy blogging
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Loved Kurt! What a Great Response! COOL!!
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