This is a long-running project under Florida State University's English Department! Our goal is to highlight and celebrate non-academic, non-professional writing. Be kind to the interns.
Hello! My name is Vicky and I am an intern with the Museum of Everyday Writing this semester! I will be running the Tumblr account, and as my introduction post I wanted to include a piece of everyday writing that is near and dear to my heart. The definition of "everyday writing" can be different for everyone, but I consider it to be anything ranging from street sign graffiti to thrift store book annotations. Basically, writing outside the academic context and showing glimpses of simple human existence and interaction. This letter from Kurt Vonnegut, for example, strips him of his esteemed author title and reveals him at his most human as he provides his wisdom to students in the least academic way possible.
I love the idea of dead gods. Not in the sense of “hey i killed something supernaturally strong” but in the sense of “i killed it and it’s still a god.” It is still worshipped. prayers are still answered. miracles are performed in its name, even as it lies pierced by a thousand swords and burning with chemical fire. even as it drifts through vacuum, decapitated and bleeding molten rock. in cosmic spite of being shot through each eye and hurled into a plasma reactor, it still radiates the power of the divine in a way that primitive death cannot smother. the nature of godhood is not so simple as to be tied to the mortality, or immortality, of any living being.