The other day, I read an article in The Wall Street Journal about Marc Vonnegut, the son of Kurt Vonnegut. There were a couple of things interesting about this piece. First, the article appeared in the Journal's real estate section and focuses, not surprisingly, on Vonnegut's Milton, MA home. Far more interesting (to me, at least) than the article's description of how Vonnegut converted his 1740 carriage house into a livable home, is how it portrays it's obviously fascinating owner. Despite the fact that Marc Vonnegut has had a successful career as a Harvard-trained pediatrician (he was chosen one year by Boston Magazine as the #1 pediatrician in Boston) and an accomplished author in his own rite, Vonnegut will forever live in the shadow of his famous father (author of Slaughter House Five, Cat's Cradle and Breakfast of Champions). In addition to (and perhaps enhanced by) the burdens placed on him by his career and his pedigree, Vonnegut also suffers from bi-polar disorder. Mark Vonnegut has written a new memoir entitled Just Like Someone With Mental Illness Only More So. In it, he recounts his often rocky relationship with his father, but notes that his father left him a great legacy:

My father gave me the gifts of being able to pay attention to my inner narration no matter how tedious the damn thing could be at times and the knowledge that creating something, be it music or a painting or a poem or a short story, was a way out of wherever you were and a way to find out what the hell happens next and not just have it be the same old thing

A "way out of wherever you are" sounds like a path I want to take. It is my hope that the creative process of producing this blog will help me move in that direction.