Vonnegut's comments to the class of 1997.

Robert S. Thau (rst@ai.mit.edu)
Fri, 8 Aug 1997 15:24:19 -0400 (EDT)

I. Find Karma writes:
> This is what Kurt Vonnegut had to say to the graduating class at MIT.
> Rohit: you've been very good in following this advice even though you
> didn't know Vonnegut had given them.

Cripes... hasn't this nonsense been FoRKed once already? Take it from
someone who was there, the 1997 MIT commencement speaker was not Kurt
Vonnegut. It was U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan. Vonnegut didn't
write the text you posted either --- it was a Chicago Tribune
columnist named Mary Schmich, and she wasn't even trying to do a
Vonnegut pastiche. Salon has a writeup of the whole fracas in its
weekly "Let's Get This Straight" at:

http://www.salonmagazine.com/aug97/21st/straight.html

and Schmich's own bemused take on the matter can be found on the
Trib's website at:

http://www.chicago.tribune.com/news/current/schmich.htm

(a URL which presumably has a limited shelf-life).

That's not to say that Schmich gives bad advice, but really...

rst