Vonnegut In The News

Something to keep an eye on:

Las Vegas Mercury | November 20, 2003
Quick and Dirty: A notebook of news and politics
http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/2003/MERC-Nov-20-Thu-2003/22576333.html

Quote:
The Humanists are holding their 63rd annual conference
in Las Vegas next May. Speakers might include honorary
president Kurt Vonnegut.



Kurt Vonnegut helps on a project for the kids:

Daily Hampshire Gazette | November 21, 2003
Doctored calendars to support skate park
By Ryan Davis, Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - Kurt Vonnegut, Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and
city councilor Bill Dwight have all taken up skateboarding to
support the efforts of a group working to build at skate park in
Northampton.

Well, not quite, but it sure looks that way from the images in a
calendar being sold by Skate Park in Northampton (SPIN) Saturday at
"Bag Day," a promotion designed to bring shoppers downtown.

The group doctored the photos on the calendar to make it appear as
though Dwight is soaring high over the city on his board, Vonnegut
is cruising the surface of the moon, and Eric Carle is gliding down
Main Street accompanied by the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

"Not everyone knows they're digitally enhanced," said Jeanne Hoose,
a Northampton parent advocating the park. "It's kind of surprising."

Though none of the people in the pictures were actually
skateboarding, they all agreed to be photographed for the calendar,
and some of the photos have previously appeared on T-shirts the
group sold. (One can presume that were Monroe and Einstein still
living, they would support the city's skate park.)

The calendar also includes a drawing by Vonnegut's daughter Nanny of
Botticelli's Venus skating past City Hall and a map of all the
places in the city were skateboarding is forbidden.

Hoose said that she and the teenagers working to get the park built
will be at Bag Day this weekend for the third consecutive year. This
is the first year for the calendar sale, but in past years, SPIN
members have held tag sales.

With organizational help by the Hampshire Regional YMCA, the group
has already raised $60,000 through various grants and fundraisers.
It hopes to raise a few thousand more with the calendar, which will
be sold for $15.

The skate park already has a design, by a company called New England
Skate Parks, and a location, the newly redesigned Veteran's Field
park. Hoose said groundbreaking for the park could happen before the
end of this year.

"We're hoping to have it built by the beginning of the summer,"
Hoose said. "The kids should be able to use it next year."

On the Web at: http://www.gazettenet.com/story.cfm?id_no=11210154

--
obscura RemoveThis @null.net ¤ "New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on
Earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become."
-- Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Breakfast of Champions