What has branches and leaves but has no bark?

  this riddles' answer is library.

  the "leaves" are a reference to the books' pages that the library contains; the branches are a network of libraries that connect multiple libraries' collections, resources, and items in a system of a common database, integrating them; the branches' organization are a useful management tool for coordinating the multiple collections many libraries have.

- "he is a very real person and his intent isn't to influence us vonnegut addresses this towards the end of the letter when he says, if we choose to curse, that is by our own individual means."