"The Charbor Chronicles": An Evening With Our Favorite Writers at the Connecticut Forum, Hartford, CT, February 4, 2006

One of my personal favorite authors is Kurt Vonnegut. I really got into him just after college, which is surprising, because my first exposure to Vonnegut maybe should have been in college. I can understand not reading him in high school, but often times, people do read Vonnegut in college. Somehow, that was not the case for me.

Yet, I did get into him, and there is a good reason for it. This was just after September 11th. The months immediately before and after that tragic event were not very good ones for me. For one, I was unemployed, and kept borrowing money from my credit cards just to be able to pay bills, as well as spend money more freely than I should have. In retrospect, it seems obvious that I was going through some form of depression. But there was also what was going on in the country and the world. The events of September 11th were tragic and depressing in their own right, of course. But so was the rightwing government of that time using that tragedy to takeover greater control. As Norman Mailer suggested, it is not likely that George W Bush and his administration were in on that tragedy, although the speed with which they used that tragedy and responded by increasing government power and surveillance on American citizens lent credibility to conspiracy theories that, in fact, the Bush administration was behind it all.

Indeed, it was a depressing time to be an American. Soon enough, we would squander the sympathy that the world felt for us following the 9/11 attacks by pursuing an unjustifiable and immoral war which was being fought, officially, over the immediate threat that Saddam's Iraq posed. Bush and Blair officials insisted that Saddam Hussein was building a huge arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's) and pursuing nuclear weapons, and that he had a 45-minute response time in using those weapons. Bush spoke of a mushroom cloud over American cities, and he used the words "Saddam" and "Iraq" in the same sentences as "terrorism" and "the 9/11 attacks." Before long, a majority of Americans believed that Saddam had played an active role in the terrorist attacks, according to polls at the time. Many felt that he was behind it, and that he would launch another attack. The fact that this never reflected the reality, and that the same officials who were propping Saddam up as some kind of immediate threat to world peace, and a tyrant on the level of Hitler or Stalin, were also simultaneously predicting an easy and quick victory for Americans in Iraq (Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld infamously predicted that the United States would win in six days or six weeks, but that it would not take as long as six months) never seemed to bother Americans much. And so, Americans launched a war that earned them condemnation around the world. It was a sign of what was to come, with much of the world increasingly viewing the United States with greater skepticism, and not trusting or liking American government. Bush was kind of a somewhat milder version of Trump before Trump entered the political arena.

It was just months after the September 11th attacks when I finally read Vonnegut's most famous book, "Slaughterhouse Five." So much did I enjoy it, that I began to pursue more of his books, and devoured these, too. Before long, I was trying to find anything that I could from this author, including online articles. At a time when I sometimes felt like Americans were collectively losing their minds and noticeably becoming more foolish, Vonnegut (and others, admittedly) were proving to be an exception.

Admittedly, I have a kind of obsessive trait, and yes, I became obsessed with Vonnegut's writings. I wanted to read and hear everything that this man had to say about what was going on. Before long, I really wanted to see him in person. There was a guy I knew who said that I had better hurry, because Vonnegut was not getting any younger, as if I was not already aware of that.

But see Vonnegut I did. He came to Lehigh University to deliver the commencement address in the spring of 2004. I took off from work and my then wife and I went to Lehigh, and saw him deliver his address. I was thrilled to finally have seen him in person.

The opportunity would arise yet again a few years later. Frankly, I am not sure how I even heard about this, although it must have been while I was specifically seeking out opportunities to see him. Yes, he was going to be making a rare public appearance at the Connecticut Forum in Hartford, with two other authors: Joyce Carol Oats and Jennifer Weiner. By now, it hardly needs to be stated that I got tickets.

The event took place the evening before Super Bowl XL between the Steelers and the Seahawks. I remember that not only because I have a particularly sharp memory when it comes to Super Bowls, but because it was mentioned at least once, and maybe twice, that evening. Vonnegut even asked at one point why people in Hartford would care about the Pittsburgh Steelers. Remember, this was right after the New England Patriots had established themselves as the new dynasty in the league, and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were already being viewed among the all-time greats.

But I digress. Seeing Vonnegut was a thrill, and seeing him a second time was almost more than I could ask. Especially given that he would be gone not too much later than this.

Still, these are pleasant memories. It was one of the events that I was very pleased to have gone to and seen. And today, on the 15th anniversary of that last time that I would see Kurt Vonnegut, it felt necessary to do something to remember him, and that evening, by.

So here is this blog entry dedicated to his memory, and to the event where I was, once again, blessed to see him again, and hear him share his thoughts on the world at that time. Here is a video of that memorable evening:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1468288415/kurt-vonnegut-unstuck-in-time

Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time documentary gets a Kickstarter by Will Robinson, February 10, 2015:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/10/kurt-vonnegut-unstuck-time-documentarys-kickstarter-launched

A Kurt Vonnegut documentary is a Kickstarter you might actually want to back By Jason Abbruzzese 2015-02-10:

http://mashable.com/2015/02/10/kurt-vonnegut-kickstarter/

NEW VIDEO: KURT VONNEGUT DISCOVERS TRALFAMADORE

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1468288415/kurt-vonnegut-unstuck-in-time/posts/1147508

Kurt Vonnegut graphed the world’s most popular stories By Ana Swanson February 9, 2015:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/09/kurt-vonnegut-graphed-the-worlds-most-popular-stories/

"The Charbor Chronicles"

Thursday, February 4, 2021

An Evening With Our Favorite Writers at the Connecticut Forum, Hartford, CT, February 4, 2006 - 15-Year Anniversary

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