Update on Today's TFTD - Wasn't Kurt Vonnegut Afterall

[Dan Galvin <dan-galvin@TAMU.EDU>]

TFTD has received several messages concerning today's TFTD.  Here is
the one with the most explanation.  I hope the explanation is valid.
tftd regrets the error.  -tftd
(The URLs just came in.  tftd has not read them yet.)

here's the orginal column:
http://www.chicago.tribune.com/news/current/schmich0601.htm

and here's the follow-up, if you look today:
http://www.chicago.tribune.com/news/current/schmich.htm


From: sandor weisz <ferris@merle.acns.nwu.edu>
From: "rebecca l. eisenberg" <mars@bossanova.com>
Subject: yet another fraud
>From: Neil Rest <NeilRest@tezcat.com>
>Subject: hoax retraction  [BURNED!!]
>
>>A fast note to let you know the Vonnegut commencement address is a
>>phony.
>>A good phony, but a phony.  And it's getting sprayed all across the
>>net.
>>
>>Yes, I'm positive.
>>
>>Bob Weide, Vonnegut's friend and the author & co-producer of the
>>movie
>>rendition of "Mother Night", wrote:
>
>>:Yesterday I confirmed for the Vonnegut Newsgroup that the MIT
>>address
>>:attributed to Kurt, and spread all over the Web, was a hoax. It
>>was not
>>:written nor delivered by Kurt at MIT or anywhere. Copies of this
>>thing were
>>:E-mailed to me from all corners -- even received one from Scotland.
>>:
>>:Well, it seems as though my response spread through the Internet
>>almost as
>>:thoroughly as the speech itself. Today (8/1), my E-mailbox was
>>full of
>>:letters from strangers, responding to my post. In any event, I can
>>now
>>:clear up part of this mystery:
>>:
>>:There is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune named Mary Schmich.
>>The words
>>:were hers, in her column from the June 1 issue of the Trib. She
>>never
>>:passed it off as Vonnegut s, nor was his name ever evoked in the
>>column. In
>>:fact, her column contained a prologue, missing on the Internet
>>version,
>>:which I will reprint here...
>>:
>>:*********************************************************************
>>*******
>>:
>>:ADVICE, LIKE YOUTH, PROBABLY JUST WASTED ON THE YOUNG
>>:
>>:"Inside every adult lurks a graduation speaker dying to get out,
>>some
>>:world-weary pundit eager to pontificate on life to young people
>>who'd
>>:rather be Rollerblading. Most of us, alas, will never be invited
>>to sow
>>:our words of wisdom among an audience of caps and gowns, but
>>there's no
>>:reason we can't entertain ourselves by composing a Guide to Life for
>>:Graduates.
>>:
>>:"I encourage anyone over 26 to try this and thank you for
>>indulging my
>>:attempt.
>>:
>>:"Ladies and gentlemen of the Class of 97..."
>>:
>>:*********************************************************************
>>*****
>>:
>>:The missing piece of this puzzle is: Who is "Culprit Zero?" That
>>is, who
>>:originally placed it on the Internet, crediting it to Kurt? Mary
>>Schmich,
>>:whom I spoke with today (a very nice woman, by the way), was
>>horrified at
>>:the idea that anyone would think the deed was hers, or that she
>>was trying
>>:to "rip Kurt off." She told me she had read "Cat's Cradle" back in
>>college,
>>:but that was about it. She's never heard him speak and couldn't
>>consciously
>>:duplicate his style if she wanted to. She even tracked Kurt down
>>on the
>>:phone today to explain what had happened and confirm her lack of
>>:culpability. Kurt was, of course, good natured about it. (Frankly,
>>my fear
>>:is that this will be the new "Venus on the Halfshell" and that
>>Kurt will be
>>:hounded over the next few years by people asking him about his MIT
>>address.)
>>:
>>:One last point:  Mary said that when her article originally
>>appeared in the
>>:Tribune, she certainly received a favorable reaction and some nice
>>phone
>>:calls, but that was all. Suddenly, the  same words are credited to a
>>:well-known author, and it's being quoted and E-mailed all over the
>>world
>>:within hours. Talk about the power of name recognition. Also,
>>another
>>:lesson in individual responsibility, or lack thereof, in the
>>computer age.
>>:
>>:I beleive Mary is now working on a column about all this for the
>>weekend
>>:Tribune.


Pat Bartoshesky            Saint Edmond's Academy (Gr.4-8, boys only)
Librarian                  2120 Veale Rd.  Wilmington DE 19810-4199
<pbarto@udel.edu>          VOICE: 302-4765-5370  FAX: 302-475-2256

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