*

So, I taught Ginsberg’s poem Howl the other day. Out of 36 students in two classes, only one knew who he was. So, I was glad to talk a bit about Ginsberg and the Beat Generation, and my experience with him in Buffalo, NY, in 1975 (I tried to get him on my campus radio show Idea Exchange, to no avail).

So, we read the first stanza of the poem – which is over three pages – discussed it, and then I asked students to “Howl.” There were only tepid Howls. I then let out a Howl, that any wolf would be proud of.

I told them that Ginsberg’s Howl is a loud cry against the things that were going on in 1950s America, the conformity, the concept of the American dream, etc. So, I wanted them to write their own Howl poem. I wanted them to write about things that pissed them off, that made them Howl.

Before I started the exercise, I used a short clip from the movie Network in which a deranged anchorman screams to the screen, “I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore.” He then goes into a litany of ills in society, and interestingly, they haven’t much changed from today, even though the film is several decades old.

The students did write about a number of things that indeed got them as mad as hell. Hell, they Howled.