am-i-vonnegut - The Monday Morning Memo

I Did Not Make It Up.

And you’re not really surprised.

When a newscaster makes a statement,
we call it “news” if we agree with it.
We call it “propaganda” if we do not.

“Doe is a skinny minnie with mouse-colored hair who tries so hard to be no trouble to anybody and stay out of everyone's way and make no demands whatsoever on anyone, and if you ask her what she'd like to eat for lunch, or what she wants to do after lunch, she only whispers, 'Whatever you have left over. Don't fix anything special for me. A piece of bread is more than good enough. Whatever you have extra of. Water is fine. If you want to go someplace after lunch, I can just sit here and look out the window. I'm happy. It's fine with me. Make it easy on yourself. I'm quite content to look at an old magazine and listen to the radio. I don't need anybody to entertain me. You go do whatever you like and just pretend I'm not here.' Her visits place a huge weight on our household. The weight of meekness. Aunt Doe is sort of the Billy the Kid of meekness, a professional meeker, she has out-meeked the best of them, she can meek you to death.”

- Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Summer 1956, p.29

More Information

Contact Us

Address