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By Christopher Murphy

I was a senior at Georgetown University, enrolled in ROTC (following my older, career-Army-officer brother into the Air Defense Artillery) and reading as many Kurt Vonnegut books as I could find – one right after the other. I absolutely loved Vonnegut’s books, in particular, Slaughterhouse-Five, from the Tralfamadorian and Billy Pilgrim points of view. I guess I felt a lot like Billy Pilgrim, only stuck in my time.

I realized that I could not possibly serve as a leader in a war I believed was a moral atrocity, and I couldn’t figure out how to end war. I became very depressed. Kent State had just happened in May 1970, so I wrote to Mr. Vonnegut and told him I was going to start “not reading his books anymore.” 

He wrote me back! He said “I’m sorry I depressed you. It really isn’t as bad a picture as my books paint. Continue to resist the draft.”

So I got out of ROTC and filed for conscientious objector-status through my local draft board in NYC. I didn’t get it, but the appeals process went into its third year, and the Selective Service Act expired in ’72, an election year.

The Selective Service offered us unresolved first lottery folks a deal. The Quakers advised me to take it, and I moved to Venice Beach, CA. in September ’72,  then up here in Sonoma County, CA. where in 1980, I became an actor/set builder, something I still am active in.

 Y’all should know Kurt Vonnegut did this for me.  It really, really made a BIG difference in my whole life.

Kathi Badertscher, PhD

Director of Graduate Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
Kathi Badertscher, PhD, is Director of Graduate Programs at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Dr. Badertscher teaches a variety of BA, MA, and doctoral courses, including Applying Ethics in Philanthropy and History of Philanthropy. She has participated in several Teaching Vonnegut workshops and is a member of the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. Dr. Badertscher has been a guest speaker on ethics in philanthropy, including at the National Association of Charitable Gift Planners – Indianapolis Council; Association of Fundraising Professionals – Indiana Chapter; and Zhou Enlai School of Government, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. In 2019 she received IUPUI Office for Women, Women’s Leadership Award for Newcomer Faculty. In 2019 and 2020 she received the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Graduate Teaching Award.
Dr. Badertscher’s publications include “Fundraising for Advocacy and Social Change,” co-authored with Shariq Siddiqui in Achieving Excellence in Fundraising, 5th ed., 2022; “Insulin at 100: Indianapolis, Toronto, Woods Hole, and the ‘Insulin Road,’ co-authored with Christopher Rutty, Pharmacy in History (2020); and three articles in the Indiana Magazine of History: “A New Wishard Is on the Way,” “Evaline Holliday and the Work of Community Service,” and “Social Networks in Indianapolis during the Progressive Era.” Her chapters on social welfare history will appear in three upcoming edited volumes on the history of philanthropy, including “The Legacy of Edna Henry and Her Contributions to the IU School of Social Work,” Women at Indiana University: Views of the Past and the Future, edited by Andrea Walton, Indiana University Press, 2022 (forthcoming). Dr. Badertscher is also the Philanthropy and Nonprofits Consulting Editor for the forthcoming Digital Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, edited by David J. Bodenhamer and Elizabeth Van Allen, Indiana University Press, 2021. Dr. Badertscher is an active volunteer in the Indianapolis community. At present, she is a Coburn Place Safe Haven Board Member and a Children’s Bureau/Families First Brand and Marketing Advisor. Dr. Badertscher holds the MA in History from Indiana University and the MA and PhD in philanthropic studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

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