I Blame Kurt Vonnegut

I started writing when I was a young girl. In elementary school I wrote poems and stories and some of them were even published locally. I had a wild imagination, but in my heart I wanted to be a reporter some day.

I blame Kurt Vonnegut.

When I was about 15 I read my first Vonnegut book, Slaughterhouse-Five. And it's wild and brilliant and insane and we all know it's a classic. But the thing I remember most was what Uncle Kurt said about the female reporters during WWII. He said they were the best. Relentless. That they worked way harder than the men and were way better.

That's what I wanted to be. I wanted to go to NYU and study journalism. I wanted to be Christiane Amanpour, Barbara Walters, Lois Lane! I wanted to know all the things before anyone else knew. I wanted a sign-off on the nightly news like Walter Cronkite......"and that's the way it is."

Well......needless to say......all that did not happen.

My parents didn't want me to go all the way to NYU. I settled for a small college in my home state and soon learned I didn't like newspaper work. You had to fight your way in. You had to be loud. Annoying. You had to bug people. You had to be nosey. I know this might come as a shock to people who know me personally, but I didn't like all that.

I also didn't like the creativity you had to give up as a writer. As a reporter, you were looking for the 5 W's....just the facts. As a creative writer or fiction writer, your mind had no limits.

Over the years, I've still contributed non-fiction pieces here and there to local papers and online magazines. I've written record reviews and covered local events. And while I still feel like my heart is in my creative fiction, I have never given up the fun and enjoyment I have of research. I love doggedly following the trail and getting the straight dope on a person, a rumor, an idea. The internet almost makes it too easy. Sometimes I miss pulling at all that microfiche!

Coworkers and friends do still sometimes come to me to help them get to the bottom of local gossip, find the underground music news, and put the pieces together. I kinda like being known for that. I guess a curious woman never sleeps.

I still think about Uncle Kurt all the time though. I wonder what he would think of how journalism has changed, blogging, reality shows, Substack, online publishing and the like. I wonder what he would think of our state of the world, of our politics and our American decline.

Then again, I think I know exactly what he would think and say. Everyone say it with me, once again with harmony: so it goes........

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