Kurt Vonnegut’s Grandson
Here’s a fun story from my alma mater, Tufts University. But first a bit of backstory: Tufts has something really great called the Experimental College (Ex College) that allows students to take slightly off-the-beaten-path classes like “Investing, Psychology, and Human Behavior” or “Sorry, Not Sorry: The Apology Through the Social Justice Lens” (those are current course offerings). My minor — Communications & Media Studies — was under the umbrella of the Ex College and allowed me so many amazing opportunities, including internships. So there’s that.
Turns out that the Ex College has a “peer teaching” program, wherein Tufts undergrads can teach a course to other students. Mark Lannigan, set to graduate in 2023, decided to offer a course called “The Politics and Philosophy of Kurt Vonnegut.” And in a strange twist of fate, Vonnegut’s grandson, Oliver Vonnegut (a first-year student at Tufts), decided to enroll.
Learning about a literary icon with a family member in the class = bizarre, fascinating, and an incredible opportunity. Plus, Oliver — who had mostly steered clear of his grandfather’s work, except for Slaughterhouse Five, which he read in high school — gained a newfound appreciation for his work. The class didn’t avoid discussing any controversies around Vonnegut, and on the flip side, they got to learn about factoids via Oliver, such as the fact that the author hated his skinny legs and was jealous of his older brother Bernie, a scientist.
Basically, this was a fun story — no existential crisis involved.
originally published on instagram