April 17: Circulate Freely, Accomplishing Nothing, Trying to Stay Awake

If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own."

--Kurt Vonnegut

I do not have my copy of Slaughterhouse with me this evening.  I have been working hard all day and accomplishing absolutely nothing.  At least that's the way I feel things have been going.  I'm still tired from the Easter weekend marathon of church services, and I have been grading papers--S . . . L . . O . . .W . . . L . . . Y-- all day.  I will be happy if I make it home this evening without serious bodily injury.

So, I am teaching argument this evening in my composition class, and I try to do as Vonnegut advises:  create a community in my classroom where everybody feels comfortable expressing their thoughts.  In the last few weeks, we have talked about gun violence in the United States, universal health care, immigration, and student loans.  My students are probably getting tired of expressing themselves.

I think there hasn't been a whole lot of circulating ideas freely in American society recently.  Facts are called lies.  Lies are called alternative facts.  Reputable news agencies get in trouble for reporting the news responsibly, and, meanwhile, the United States is inching closer and closer to nuclear warfare.

I am not ranting.  I am simply trying to stay awake.

Tonight, Saint Marty is going to be thankful for his pajamas and pillow and blanket and bed and . . . zzzzzZZZZZZZZ.