Be kind, Kurt said so.
The dedication placard outside of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis. | © 2023 Abril Warner
Early 2023, we visited the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was cold, rainy, and downright dreary. However, we were undaunted, this trip was originally planned for late 2022 to honor Kurt’s centennial birthday. We honored this artist’s one hundred and first.
Kurt Vonnegut has been a part of our lives longer than he hasn’t. Perspectives on select themes, characters, jokes, and lessons have amplified with time while others recede. Cliché or not Slaughterhouse-Five will remain the Vonnegut novel. The structure and artistry are uniquely Vonnegut and can be clearly recognized. Yet, the push and pull from cultural relativism to universal human rights found in his work reveal the complex nature of human beings. Kurt Vonnegut, a humanist, wrote stories that remind us we are people.
Third-floor view from elevator landing. | © 2023 Abril Warner
The KVML (the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library) is a small, well-curated series of spaces covering three floors. The third-floor is dedicated to the book Slaughterhouse-Five, and the history of veterans, primarily with regards to World War 2. Walls are covered with text and timelines concerning Vonnegut’s biography, career, and the War. One of the displays includes an old candy-box repurposed for storing Kurt’s rejection slips.
West’s fine candy box labeled “rejection slips”. | © 2023 Abril Warner
The second-floor included low seated chairs (not unlike the kind which Kurt sat hunched over at his typewriter) surrounded by bookcases encouraging visitors to pause, read, and reflect. There was a timeline considering the women in Vonnegut’s life, and a writing space designated as the “Youth Writing Center”. There were several framed articles and headlines along the Writing Center’s walls negatively criticizing Vonnegut’s writings, sardonic. Along the hallway were prints and original artwork by Kurt Vonnegut.
May I Have this Dance, a print by Kurt Vonnegut. | © 2023 Abril Warner
The first-floor houses exhibits on free speech and jazz, as well as a museum shop. We arrived at the KVML within two hours of closing time, but the staff did not rush us out. We were allowed to amble and ask questions. After selecting our purchases, shirts, books, decals, buttons…. We left promptly and did not overstay the welcome.
Beware, indeed. | © 2023 Abril Warner
What a legacy. Vonnegut’s works are controversial. His words are not, contemporaneously, politically correct. Kurt Vonnegut put forth the effort to struggle against the forlorn ruin of humanity. Struggle is not often recognized as beautiful growth. It is not nice to struggle. The visions he offered are complex, multidimensional, humanist offerings.
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.
~from the 1965 novel: God Bless you, Mr. Rosewater
Graffiti wall at the KVML parking lot. | © 2023 Abril Warner