[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 146 (Tuesday, November 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        IN HONOR OF RAY BRADBURY

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 14, 2000

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate author Ray 
Bradbury, as he receives a lifetime achievement award to be presented 
by the National Book Foundation. A novelist, lecturer, social critic, 
screenwriter, playwright, poet and visionary, Ray Bradbury is a 
national treasure.
  Born in 1920, the young Bradbury was an imaginative child prone to 
nightmares and frightening fantasies. He began writing at the age of 
twelve, and has not looked back. Operas, poetry, essays, plays, more 
than 500 short stories and 30 books later, Ray Bradbury has left a vast 
collection of thoughts and ideas which will assuredly withstand the 
test of time.
  A man well grounded in reality, he has an amazingly distinct hold on 
the creative process that alludes most. He has said, ``We are cups, 
constantly and quietly being filled. The trick is knowing how to tip 
ourselves over and let the beautiful stuff out.'' Indeed, Ray Bradbury 
has found the path to letting the ``beautiful stuff out,'' for nearly 
65 years. His works are well known by most, including his more popular 
The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Fahrenheit 
451. Ray Bradbury's ideas are intertwined with our shared American 
culture, as nearly every high school student has at some point read one 
of his novels for a high school literature class. Fahrenheit 451, in 
which an autocratic society's government denies its people access to 
books, and thus creative thought and actions, is a classic example of 
Ray Bradbury's unique incorporation of fantasy, reality, and 
forewarning vision. It serves not only as a warning against censorship, 
but was firmly rooted in the American culture of the time, as it was 
written and published during the reign of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
  Truly a modern creative genius, Ray Bradbury has won numerous awards 
for his writing, and was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame 
in 1970. After what has indeed been a lifetime of achievement, Mr. 
Bradbury is showing no signs of slowing down, as even now, at 80, he 
continues to write and lecture.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring Ray 
Bradbury, a man who's vision and artistic creativity has challenged our 
collective memories, ideals and beliefs; and who has served as an 
inspiration to each of us and our future.

                          ____________________