Beatnik

Throughout history, society has shaped the lives of individuals by assigning individuals a specific way to be a part of society while deviation is most likely viewed as unacceptable and censured. Betty Friedan in chapter 1 of her novel “The Feminine Mystique” describes society’s assigned role for women and how women sacrificed their desires to fulfil this role and assimilate into society. E.J Graff in his essay “The M/F Boxes” describes how transgendered and intersex individuals suffer…

Allen Ginsberg, along with a few of his close friends, founded the movement that we know today as the Beat Generation. Ginsberg wrote about many topics, including gay rights, the decriminalization of drugs, free speech, and the general perversion of America’s political system. He wrote directly from his experience of being a homosexual man living in a time of challenging the traditional authorities and rules that once governed our lives. Ginsberg never wondered if what he wrote was too raw or…

Created in 1968 and running until 2016, Zap Comix was a ground-breaking and defying comic book that defied convention and societal law (Comic Code) it became a model for the Comix movement. A comic that has evolved with the ages taking a progressive and often regressive stance on ‘hot topics’ of the time. In Zap Comix Issue 1 Crumb describes himself as a ‘raving lunatic’ through the use of self-caricatures in this case; Flakey Foont and Mr. Natural. Showing from the get-go Crumb wasn’t one to…

As a satellite orbits through the peaceful space it contrasts with a heavy thunderstorm on Earth. In the middle of the sea a fisherman is confronted by a giant shadow with two eyes. The Iron Giant by Warner Brothers is first introduced with a computer generated satellite animation. Then as it moves away the Earth is shown drawn in a traditional animation. It is different from the satellite because the clouds move in a way that does not seem mechanical.Like the introduction, the 2D and 3D…

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of the night.”(Ginsberg, Allen: Howl). ‘Beats’ are characterized as individuals who desire to instigate change and deeply believe in their convictions. After World War 2 ideas of nationalism and the fabrication of the American…

Enter Lenny, his protégé who, according to the book, will take over the bookstore and get The Pinch published. It appears that Lenny has gotten by through life by making very little effort and is working in the bookstore to bide his time until he is drafted. He is practically a squatter, and deals drugs on the side; otherwise he would have no social life to mention. Lenny appears throughout the book at the wrong place at the wrong time. He manages to find himself, during an errand, in the…

"My conscious won 't let me go shoot … some poor, hungry people in the mud for big powerful America. And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger; they never lynched me.” Antagonistic, yet honest words from World Boxing Champion Muhammed Ali at his refusal to be enlisted in the U.S Army in 1967. Unlike the previous World Wars that were unquestioned as to America’s involvement; the Vietnam war, even from its onset is one that has held a contentious point of division among many in America…

Three hours later The mood in the Pi Tau house was a mixture of eager anticipation and uncertainty. The seven pledges stood patiently in line in the basement waiting for Michael McCarter to give them their directive. Hanson's demeanor was guarded; he felt less than ready to face whatever barbaric ritual the pledge master had in mind. Although he had taken a couple of Advil before leaving the dorm, the dull throbbing in his ribs was a testament to the extent of his injury. But he was…

The year is 1924 the roaring twenties were still in swing, prohibition is still intact and a young Gwendolyn Brooks has found a love for poetry.To her poetry is a fun hobby to do in her free time. Little does she know this fun hobby of hers will lead her to become an iconic American figure. Gwendolyn Brooks was and still is a passionate inspirational writer to people across the world. She constantly thinks outside the box to not only inspire other people but inspire herself as well easily making…

Although not an inmate himself, he had breakfast first, in the "normal" world and then goes to work. The doctor is the one who takes control, who has a viewpoint, who is composed, sane, and in disciplined. The speaker, on the other hand, is portrayed by differences with Doctor Martin. The speaker is not given a name. "Her motion is ‘speeds' a word that connects, by means of internal rhyme with ‘queen' in line six and ‘bee' in line seven, to suggest the brittle meaninglessness of her position…