An Ode To The Beat Generation (875 hits)
Category: Quotes & Stories -> PoetryRating: 1.94 on 34 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by someone (View user info) at 2004-11-09 18:06:58 EST
==This is an essay I wrote for a college I was accepted too for English/Journalism. I was later told after I declined the offer that the sole reason for my acceptance was this prose piece(and not my shitty grades) I wrote out of frustation for my pathetic writing skills. The English department told me it was well received in their office. Anyways, flash forward three years later, I am again writing yet another essay for acceptance for English at yet another school, and I dug this up out of my writings. It's a little rusty looking back at it now, but I decided to share it to ubersite. Enjoy.==
An Ode To The Beat Generation
Between gulping mouthfuls of a meat loaf sandwich smothered in mustard
I sat, writing furiously on an old Smith-Corona typewriter...trying, trying
To get out what I wanted to say before all was lost in the dark recesses
Of the Mind.
Lately I've been reading with the fervor of a madman. I've been reading
because I am looking for answers to my questions, and thus do I read.
Pouring through Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs, and the latter Ken Kasey, and for every question that is answered athousandmoretakeitsplace.
I want to be the next Neal Cassidy. I want to roar through streets made of
Tar, made of paint, letting go of all inhibitions...anxious thoughts...fear and
Live life not a day or a month or a year, but a single Moment at a time.
To do so I first need proper education. My grades are filth, there is no excusing that. Perhaps it was because I was unsure of who I was, and whom it was that I wanted to become.
Ahh, the problem with this America and the Democrats and the Republicans
That drive us is that we are being pushed. Pushed into becoming the next William Randolph Hearst. Then we can sit in our pleasure-palaces and hoard and smile with malice and say yes, Yes! This is the American Dream!
The irony of it all is that Hearst died alone, mumbling incoherently about a childhood sled and remnants of his past.
Hearst! The Beats! What common ground do they stand? Even Hearst, in all his fortune fame and fallacy, told his caretaker once this:
If I were to become anything, it would be everything You hate.
Men like Hearst, and perhaps even Hearst himself, drove the Beats. Their lives matched jazz like clockwork, slowly picking up steam and thrusting itself into a full blown frenzy, that cannot and would not and will never, never be ignored. They strove to become, and at the time were Alcohol and Acid..Conversationalists and Criminals..Homosexuality and Heroin.. Revolutionary
Everything that you hate.
User Reviews
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-10 11:52:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Inky- I love feedback, dont apologize. Thanks.
Submitted by InkyFingers (user info) at 2004-11-10 10:06:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
I wanted to give this a +2, and compared to typical uber posts it should probably have gotten a high rating. However, there is clear room for improvement in this piece. Slight rewording would have made it great, and there are some cliche descriptions of emotion which also kept it out of the +2 category. Finally, the most influential element of my decision: I can see in your writing that you had the capacity to write this piece in its +2 form, but you did not do so. Hense, I can't give +2.
Despite this, the piece was thoroughly enjoyable. I hope my feedback was useful, and I'm looking foreward to reading your other posts!!!
Submitted by Sideburns (user info) at 2004-11-10 09:59:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Smoothe (user info) at 2004-11-10 09:37:24 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Besides, which Lucille could never understand me because I like too many things and get all confused and hung up running from one falling star to the next. This is the night, what it does to you.
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 23:56:48 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
DanielH- Thanks alot man. I will definately check both authors out, and let you know what I think.
Submitted by DanielH (user info) at 2004-11-09 23:54:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like Beat gen. writers, they created the off-ramp America took into the 60s, but their predecessor and Godfather is may favorite writer, Henry Miller, whose book "Tropic of Cancer" (1934) was banned in the U.S. for 29 years. I think (if you haven't read him) you'd love all his books, esp. his "Rosy Crucifiction" trilogy: "Sexus, Nexus, and Plexus," "Under The Roofs of Paris," and "Tropic of Capricorn"--his follow-up to "Cancer." Anias Nin's books and journals were published at the same time, as they were lovers/friends. (Maybe you saw the movie "Henry And June"? That was based on the book by the same title by Anias. (There should be umlauts over the "i" in her name. That would make a great introduction, as Fred Ward does an incredible Henry and Uma Thurman brings June into focus with what I believe is her best acting to date.)
Great post.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-11-09 23:17:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I believe so. I've never really talked to her about it, but it happened!
And therefore, my father has vicariously slept with L.F. Woo?
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 23:00:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
LadyPlural-Very cool. I know of whom you are talking about. The book store helped get alot of the early Beat stuff published, if I am correct.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2004-11-09 22:52:39 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
*snaps fingers*
My stepmother dated Laurence Ferlingetti (I know I massacred that name- leave me the fuck alone about it. I can't spell)(one of the guys who was very influential in the beat movement, and who co-owns? City Lights bookstore, a Beat-like shop in San Fransisco) for a while. How cool is that?
Submitted by checkyourmail (user info) at 2004-11-09 21:18:53 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well I'm sorry but I'm not
interested in gold mines, oil wells, shipping or real estate
what would I liked to have been?
everything you hate
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 19:20:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
shitfuck- Thanks. When you write, I mean actually WRITE, you are amazing. That means alot.
Smurfs- I've read only Survivor out of those books. In fact, I've read all his books. Fight Club, Survivor, and Choke kick ass, his other books stick to closely to his formula and offer only a mediocre story. Still better then 99% of the crap written however.
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 19:07:43 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:58:35 (#)
Ranking: 0
Smurfs- What is your current major? Also, what are your current favorite books?
------------------
Graduated with Dual Major: Religious Studies and Medieval Studies;
Minors in: Philosophy, Peace & Justice, English and Theology
My computer died hard sophomore year and I lost everything I'd ever written. So I stopped writing, until recently.
Umm, some favorite books recently (diverse):
Survivor - Chuck Palhanick
Secret History - Donna Tartt
The Fuck Up - Arthur Nersesian
Glamorama - Brett Easton Ellis
Some humor by David Sedaris and Augustine Burroughs
I have no clue, I devour books on my commute
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2004-11-09 19:04:05 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm all about the beat.
Solid writing by the way. Awesome.
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 19:00:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Electric- No worries, its only a state university with a focus on engineering and business. I should breeze into their English school. I would like to apply to some better schools, but I am a poor, poor man.
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:58:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Smurfs- What is your current major? Also, what are your current favorite books? I'm almost finished with Crime and Punishment, then have two short books to read(Notes From The Underground and Confessions of An English Opium-Eater) then I am finished. Anything you(or anyone rather) suggests?
By the way, Fyodor Dostoevsky is a literary god.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:58:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
What school you're applying to should dictate what you send in. This is good, but I don't know if I would consider it ambitious enough for an entrance essay. Of course, I wouldn't know, I never so much as applied to a University.
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:54:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:47:28 (#)
Ranking: 0
Smurfs- Its hard to catch certain things when written. My fault.
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You still get hugs. Honestly, I haven't read much. My favorite form tehm all is Burroughs, and sme Ginsberg.
I prefer modern fatalists.
I was originally a English Major, Minors in Creative Writing and Poetry
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:53:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
electric- When I saw your post, it's true it reminded me of this. Thanks :) By the way, I mentioned it was prose, I simply submitted it under the essay section of the application. In fact, I'm thinking about rewriting it a bit and sending it to the college I will soon by applying at.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:48:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Oh, come on! Tell me I was the reason you posted this! It will validate my existence to know that I exerted some measure of influence over the impenetrable world around me.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/50765
BTW...this is not an essay. It's freeverse poetry. But I don't blame you for not calling it such around these parts. They'll lynch you for that sort of thing. ;)
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:47:28 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Smurfs- Its hard to catch certain things when written. My fault.
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:43:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:37:20 (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:32:02 (#)
Ranking: 0
nice, the flow sounds like some of my stuff... maybe I should check out these 'beats.' ;)
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If you are an aspiring writer, I cannot NOT suggest reading the Beats. Especially Kerouac, but also Ginsberg for his amazing poetry. The others are amazing as well, but cannot hold a candle to these two. I was so influenced by the Beats that I stopped studying business(I was quite good at it too, may I humbly add) and start school again almost at scratch because I realized my passion was, and really always had been, English
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I was kidding...
Submitted by Death_Metal_Dude (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:41:33 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
*into which I was accepted
Submitted by mikethescottish (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:40:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Ginsberg's 'Howl' is one of my favourite poems. For every pretentious fuckwit in that movement, there was an underrated genius.
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:40:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
hate to keep rating, but should of read accepted "into" not "too". Nice catch haha.
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:38:59 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Nerf- HAHAHAHAHAHA. I added that line in haste, perhaps proofreading would've made me seem a bit less moronic. Good catch at making me look like a fool. :)
Submitted by DamienX (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:38:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Groovy
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:37:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:32:02 (#)
Ranking: 0
nice, the flow sounds like some of my stuff... maybe I should check out these 'beats.' ;)
--------
If you are an aspiring writer, I cannot NOT suggest reading the Beats. Especially Kerouac, but also Ginsberg for his amazing poetry. The others are amazing as well, but cannot hold a candle to these two. I was so influenced by the Beats that I stopped studying business(I was quite good at it too, may I humbly add) and start school again almost at scratch because I realized my passion was, and really always had been, English.
Submitted by NerfHerder (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:35:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"I was accepted too for English"
I'm not sure if I've ever laughed harder at an opening line.
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:32:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
oops
Submitted by Smurfs (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:32:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
nice, the flow sounds like some of my stuff... maybe I should check out these 'beats.' ;)
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:26:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:10:15 (#)
Ranking: 2
*snap* *snap* *snap
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I was hoping someone would pick up that. By the way, the reason the formating fucked up was due to the fact I put that stupid explanation on the top of it, I'm sure of it now. I should've posted and then put the explanation down as a rating. Ahh well.....
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:24:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Very cool
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:10:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
*snap* *snap* *snap*
Submitted by someone (user info) at 2004-11-09 18:08:30 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Great. The whole flow of this is ruined by formating problems.
-2 ESAD.