Guest Author - Alicia Soueid

As of April 11, 2007, the official website of Kurt Vonnegut features an image of an open birdcage with a hat atop it and the words �Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. / 1922-2007� written beneath it. The imagery inspires thoughts both of freedom from the prison of an aging body as well as of the emptiness left behind by Vonnegut�s passing. There is no dove ascending from the cage, and thus no implication of a soul that survives, which is fitting considering Vonnegut�s views on life and on death. The non-clickable image leads to nowhere; it is not an entry page, but an exit � the final page of the final chapter of the story of Kurt Vonnegut�s life.

Famous for novels such as Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat�s Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, Slapstick, and Player Piano, that were sometimes humorous, sometimes darkly disturbing, he is only slightly less known for his environmental activism and his vociferous criticism of the American political system. Vonnegut criticized both political parties, but reserved his harshest criticism for the Bush Administration.

A recurrent theme in Vonnegut�s novels is that of technological progress as a threat both to humans and to the planet. His novel Slaughterhouse-Five was inspired in part by the controversial Allied bombing of Dresden, which he personally experienced as a POW during World War II. Vonnegut and his fellow prisoners survived the attack by hiding out in a slaughterhouse. In his novel Cat�s Cradle, Vonnegut imagined a substance known as �ice-nine� that could result in the destruction of life on Earth by freezing all water upon contact. Vonnegut portrayed the inventor of this substance as a technocrat with no concern for humanity.

Vonnegut, a Unitarian Universalist and an atheist, was critical of religious faith and of Christianity in particular. In Cat�s Cradle, he envisioned a fictional religious system known as "Bokononism," which the local dictator uses both to console and to control its adherents.

When discussing the specific tenets of his own belief system, humanism, Vonnegut was hard to pin down. In 1996, upon accepting the American Humanist of the Year award, he questioned the definition of �humanism," suggesting that his dog might be more of a humanist than he, but ultimately dismissing this due to the dog�s minimal intelligence. He concluded the speech by criticizing science as a tool that was too easily bent to evil ends.

In spite of his cynicism about progress and the fate of the planet, Vonnegut remained hopeful about the expansion of human rights. He is survived by his wife, Jill Krementz, and seven children -- three from a previous marriage, and four adopted.