Thursday, April 12, 2007

Gagarin and Vonnegut

Am working at the children's hospital in Russia. Two events of notice: the anniversary of Gagarin's flight into space and the death of Kurt Vonnegut, fellow Cornellian.

April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin is the first human in space. Headlines around the world.

Such is the power of propaganda that I was an adult before I realized John Glenn wasn’t the first to orbit the earth.

Man rises, man falls. Kurt Vonnegut finds a new existence somewhere in the universe. I hope he's having a cool time joking around with Mark Twain.

Consider this: the same university produced Vonnegut, Olbermann, and egregious.

I won’t believe Vonnegut’s dead until he comes and tells me personally.

Speaking of life and death, today we saved the life of a premie who is 2 days old and weighs 4 pounds. Tiny changes create enormous life and death consequences. Political analogy = blog issue du jour. Personally I'm in for the USA's scandal x93.

We were just talking about him yesterday wrt a Vonnegutian moment: once I signed for my own international Fedex package. Sent the package from the U.S., left for Russia a couple days later, went to the hospital, and opened the office door to see the Fedex guy with: my package.

My Russian colleagues had been permitted to read Vonnegut under Soviet times. Why? I asked, he is so subversive. Yes they explained, but he was viewed as anti-American. Somebody slipped that one by the censors.

And so it goes.

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5 comments:

Susan McIntosh Lewis said...

Do you ever meet yourself walking in the front door?

Nate said...

Hi egregious... I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch like I should. I'm burning the candle at both ends and trying to keep it from torching my goatee. The good news is that the site I've been working on, (while not working at my McJob) should go live this weekend. I'm not going to promote it until I've got some good content on it and most of the bugs worked out but it should work out pretty well. I'm not sure if I sent you the mockup but if you want to see it, let me know.

How are you doing? Russia sounds beautiful right now. Is the spring time good for your soul as it is mine? I can't tell you how happy I am to see the ass end of winter. I guess I'm still too much of an island boy to appreciate the finer points of cold wind and endless rain. I much prefer sunshine and breezes.

Nate said...

I went back to chat with you on last night's Late Nite FDL but the whole thread has vanished. Did FDL yank it for some reason?

Anonymous said...

egr. thought I would leave this over here. my blog is at TiredFed. one of the photos is of my youngest daughter wearing the "pirate" boots she bought in London. Hope you have a nice restful layover. London is my second favorite city in the world, 2nd only to Rome. my email is mkjcm3101@msn.com

Anonymous said...

Hello egregious. I have been on vacation and just had to check back in here. It must fill your heart with joy to save a life, even if for a day, a week... whatever. I always wanted to volunteer at a crisis nursery because I get along better with babies than with adults and so many children in this world need hugging and holding.

I came back to find my house sold and have to get out by next Friday. I am rummaging through the junk drawers and the space beneath the sinks in the wee hours of the morning trying to get everything packed. The big stuff goes fast. It is those small places where 'stuff' piles up that are torturous to pack.

And, sadly, my older boy (well, he is 38) is drinking again. This is the one who lost his wife in a car accident and my grandson was seriously injured. My grandson is fine now, but my son is not. My daughter has had to kick him out of her home because of the drinking. I fear that he will not handle this well.

And so my struggle with packing and depression worrying about my son continue. The only thing I have going for me now is experience in dealing with my depression and some fairly good, if not immediate, ways of dealing with myself. For I, sometimes, am the biggest problem.

Just venting this a.m. as I am surrounding by boxes with everything sitting in the middle of the kitchen. What to do next???