A History Of Counterculture In The 1950s History Essay

A History Of Counterculture In The 1950s History Essay The Beat Writers were the pre-hippies, the rebellious teenagers, and the defiance of their generation. They had an explicit effect on the Eisenhowerian society, one of stay at home mothers who cooked and cleaned, one of intolerance and segregation. Their influential writings reflected a persona of a more modern generation, a tolerance not found anywhere else in their time. Their literature is rated as some of the best literature of the 20th century. The Beat Writers writings reflected their lives, even as much as being autobiographical. The effect they had on American society was extraordinary and they provided the basis for jumpstarting the civil rights and social reform movements. In this paper, Beat Writers, Beat Generation and the term beatnik will be used interchangeably. The Beat Writers of the 1950s redefine American culture and pushed the boundaries of the socially acceptable. Not many people have heard of the Beat Writers as their influence in America is hard to discern in the modern world. Their writings started around 60 years ago, originally in New York before moving to the San Francisco Bay area. The most famous Beat Writers were Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs, but many others such as Neal Cassady were part of the group. They all shared a common interest in drugs, more specifically psychedelic drugs and marijuana. The Beat Writers also had multiple bisexual or gay members; their writings reflected an extremely tolerant sexual attitude, on topics considered taboo at the time, such as interracial romance and group sex. Their interests included spiritual enlightenment and a rejection of materialistic ideas common in mainstream culture, as well as an interest in poetry. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama The social norm in the 1950s was a modernist traditional one; the women who were working during WWII now had to put on an apron when the GIs came home. The domestic society seemed to move backward instead of forward. Sexual topics or references were considered forbidden and taboo and most writers did not mention them. The Beat Generation was a new thing; Chester MacPhee was quoted as saying, The words and the sense of the writing is obscene à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ you wouldnt want your children to come across it. However, it seemed the American people were appreciative of something new. Brown vs. Board of Ed happened two years earlier; the time was one of change. The Beat Generation provided the subtle spark for this change. To rebel! That is the immediate objective of poets! We can not wait and will not be held backThe poetic marvelous and the unconscious are the true inspirers of rebels and poets.-Philip Lamantia When Allen Ginsbergs Howl was published in 1957, people such as M. L. Rosenthal, the founder of the Poetic Institute at NYU, responded to the poem as very simply, this is poetry of genuine suffering, but MacPhee, an employee of San Francisco Customs deemed the poem too obscene. This led to an obscenity trial in 1957, where the owner of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was put on trial for selling obscene materials. The American Civil Liberties Union sent forth the famous J.W. Elrich, a criminal defense lawyer, to defend Ferlinghetti. City Lights was made famous by the case; Judge Clayton Horn declared the work Howl and Other poems was not obscene and was of redeeming social importance. This ruling sparked attention to the poems author, Allen Ginsberg, selling 20,000 copies in the first year of publication. Howl has now sold over a million copies. In the same year, On the Road was published. It was an instant bestseller; the New York Times proclaimed it as the novel of the Beat Generation. On the Road was a transcription of Kerouacs friends and fellow Beats; in short, it was an autobiography of a few trips Kerouac made around North America. The names were changed from the actual people to pseudonyms for legal reasons. In 1957, when Howl was published, it generated a response that was not exactly favorable yet was acknowledged by critics as the landmark poem of the Beat Generation. The poem was ruled publishable after an obscenity trial, and the ruling set a precedent for the American public. Yet even in the modern world, there is still controversy about the poem being aired. The effect of the publication as summarized by Ginsberg included liberation of the world from censorship and spiritual liberation. The Beat Generation as a whole had more than a marginal effect on the American populace, however. The year is 1960. Beatnik culture has now turned into hippie culture. Allen Ginsberg is now considered a hippie and a part of the counterculture of the 1960s. The culture of America is a more tolerant one, especially after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which stated that discrimination is henceforth banned on the basis of race, color, religion, or national origin, as well as other laws and policies passed in Congress. These laws, including the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act were passed because of action taken by years of peaceful protests and sit-ins by protesters, including hippies and African-American activists. The 50s counterculture movements led to these movements in their inspirational writings as well as the fact that several notable members of the Beat Generation joined these counterculture movements. Neal Cassady, the star character of Jack Kerouacs On the Road started off fresh with The Merry Prankster s, a group of pre-hippies who advocated for peace and understanding as well as the use of illicit drugs. The Grateful Dead, popularized by the hippie music movement, had even written a song about the group, entitled Thats It For The Other One. The hippie ideology is itself a mirror image of the beatniks; it was based on the use of illicit psychedelic drugs such as LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide), listening to counterculture rock music like the Grateful Dead and The Beatles, and an explicit embrace of the sexual revolution. All of these ideals tie into each other and form a certain fundamental understanding that inspired the Beat Writers and hippies alike. In fact, the iconic groups of the hippie counterculture took direct inspiration from the beatniks. The name of the Beatles comes from the phrase Beatnik, according to Jack Kerouac, who spelled the name with an a apparently because of the Beat influence. Allen Ginsberg sums up the effect of the Beat Generation in his summary, A Definition of the Beat Generation, in which he states that the there are a couple different outputs into culture and ideals. Most of those outputs were directly from Beat ideals; others such as the evolution of rhythm and blues into a higher art form and respect for the land and indigenous people and animals were indirect. His understanding of the extent of the Beat influence let him make more accurate conclusions than most people. However, his conclusions are those of an insider; a individual who has a comprehensive viewpoint into the world of Beat. Other Beats had ideas about the environment; the supposed notion of a Fresh Planet, which later provided the basis for the hippie ideal of caring for the environment. In particular, this idea of deep ecology, the philosophy of environmental ethics and earthen spirituality resulted from the ideas in the Beat generation. The Beats also left behind them a musical legacy; not one of their own music but an inspiration to others music. Bob Dylan, a Grammy and Golden Globe winning musician, was good friends with Allen Ginsberg, and Dylan states that Kerouac and Ginsberg were major influences in his work. Rollingstone magazine ranked him as number 2 in their all-time best artists list. His music reflected social unrest and counterculture; it was very popular with the counterculture movement in the 1960s. The Merry Pranksters, as mentioned earlier, contained future members of the Grateful Dead, a extremely popular music group among fans of psychedelia and hippies. The Grateful Dead had massive followings of fans and had a three decade career in the music industry. William Burroughs was also friends and influences of Mick Jagger and Bono of U2, both extremely popular musicians. Many bands and artists leave tribute to the Beat Generation; most of these groups are representative of similar ideals, but with a more modern outlook. For instance, the group They Might Be Giants, an alternative rock group, writes songs that utilize counterculture lyrics and experimental instrumentation. They mention in their song I Should Be Allowed to Think the first two lines of Howl; I saw the best minds of my generation, destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical and then proceeds with the rest of the song. Yet even their indirect musical contributions remain part of a bigger picture of their cultural effect. I am going to marry my novels and have little short stories for children. -Jack Kerouac Probably the most obvious and important contribution to culture and society was the Beats literature. Howl, Naked Lunch, and On the Road each represented a different opinion on the same genre of ideals. Notable writers such as Thomas Pynchon, the author of Gravitys Rainbow, cites the Beat Generation as a major influence. Experts compare his work to William S. Burroughs. Pychon himself explains, At the simplest level, it had to do with language. We were encouraged from many directionsKerouac and the Beat writers, the diction of Saul Bellow in The Adventures of Augie March, emerging voices like those of Herbert Gold and Philip Rothto see how at least two very distinct kinds of English could be allowed in fiction to coexist. Allowed! It was actually OK to write like this! Who knew? The effect was exciting, liberating, strongly positive. Other writers, including Amiri Baraka, who published several Beat writers such as Kerouac and Ginsberg, turned their viewpoints into other genres of counterculture activists. Amri Baraka became a black nationalist in the 1960s after separating from the white Beat Generation. His poems and writings have become famous; he has also taught at Rutgers University. The overall effect of the Beat Generation was a positive countercultural one, an effect where the explicit was allowed, illicit psychedelic drugs were not generally allowed but used anyway, spiritual enlightenment became popular; especially among hippies and activists; and the society and culture of the Western hemisphere became a more understanding and open-minded society. The so-called Beat Generation was a whole bunch of people, of all different nationalities, who came to the conclusion that society sucked, as stated by Amiri Baraka; and they did something about society.

Kurt Vonnegut - The Man and His Work :: Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut – The Man and His Work One of the best, most valuable aspects of reading multiple works by the same author is getting to know the author as a person. People don't identify with Gregor Samsa; they identify with Kafka. Witness the love exhibited by the many fans of Hemingway, a love for both the texts and the drama of the man. It's like that for me with Kurt Vonnegut, but it strikes me that he pulls it off in an entirely different way. Kafka's work is a reaction to his mental anguish, which is kind of like Vonnegut, who has dealt with the bulk of his personal hardships throughout his career, but those hardships are not his sole motivation. And, while he's lead an interesting life, it doesn't seem nearly as dramatic or romantic as Hemingway's. Plus, Vonnegut is much more overt than either of the two about his authorial involvement in his work. But what really forces Vonnegut to impose his presence on the text is his complete inability to remove himself at all from the act of communication at the core of any work of literature. He revels in that involvement. He has mentioned his desire, what he implies is a universal need of all human beings, for some "soul-deep fun." He uses this term as a synonym for greatness. And this has lead to some nasty comments in fiction workshops about stories that I've written: complaints of flat characters, cartoonish plotlines, non-directed criticism, overall pessimism and over-sentimentality for all things lowbrow. Needless to say, sometimes I feel, to varying degrees of pretension, like Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born on November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana to Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. and Edith Lieber Vonnegut. He had an older brother named Bernard and an older sister named Alice. Kurt, Sr. was a well-known architect in the city and Edith was the daughter of a wealthy local family. The Vonneguts had been in Indianapolis for several generations, and were well-off, respected members of the community. Unlike the characters in most of his books, Vonnegut's early childhood was extremely privileged. It wasn't until the stock market crash of 1929 that he experienced the type of life that he would go on to write about in the future: the middle Middle Class. This was devastating to his family. According to Understanding Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. the depression moved in and made itself at home in the Vonnegut household.

Online Behaviors And Impression Management Essay

Introduction With the rapid development of technology, the Internet has become an effective mechanism for social networking. People can not deny the fact that a successful social networking is more possible to lead a successful life. A personal impression serves as an important role in establishing new networks and managing old ones. It was proved that people have more opportunities presenting themselves in the computer-coordinated communication settings than face-to-face environments. Therefore, regardless of generations, the ways how people interact with one another have been greatly changed by online social sites. The purpose of this study is to understand how people utilize online social sites to manage their personal impression and how they behave on social media; also, people utilize social media in order to gratify their social needs such as their friendship maintenance. The thesis of this paper is that social media influences personal behaviors as well as their impression management and i t also has positive impacts on people friendships performance. Personal Behavior on Social Media Individual behaviors may be restrained because of their awareness that their behaviors might possibly be seen by other people, and the fact that people tempt to look more appealing in any social occasions is obvious (Jeong, 2011). Since social media is served as a platform which is opened to public, people tend to pay more attention to how they appear and behave online. An experiment from Denton (2012) indicates that participants within heterogeneous networks such as Facebook have more desire to shift their impressions to others. A heterogeneous network is a network which is established for people without same interests, religions or common interests; in other words, people are able to speak or act freely on those websites. This experiment explains further that people manage or even shift their image based on others views and attitudes. According to Cummings (2012), the setting of profiles provides an opportunity for ones’ social life; people put effort into presenting a better image which aims at influencing others within the network. Jeong (2012) also declares that the process in which individuals attempt to control their impression with others is called â€Å"impression management†. Impression management can be used interchangeably with the term â€Å"self-presentation†, and its goal is to elevate people’s public image by performing behaviors based on how others evaluate them. Jeong also states that impression management usually occurs together with social desirability. Social desirability is defined as an individual’s tendency to describe themselves and behave in a manner in which they believe they will be viewed favorably in a situation. Moreover, Jeong also points out three main characteristics of self-presentation in online media platforms. They are asynchronous, malleable and selective. Asynchronous means that people can edit and update self-presentational cues deliberately over time. Malleable means people can simply manipulate those cues. Denton (2012) explains further by stating that people behave differently in different situations or interact with different people with whom they have specific relationships. For example, a lazy and incompetent employee may spend his evening as a passionate and assiduous worker volunteer or he behaves as a hard-working worker only under supervision; in this case, employers might misunderstand that he is truly a diligent worker. Thirdly, selective means people can improve their impression by choosing specific cues. Jeong explains this term by giving an example that individuals are more likely to donate or show their supports for charity campaigns as long as they realize that their participation would be noticeable to other people. Besides, there are some companies tend to elevate their images by sponsoring nonprofit organizations. To conclude, in general, people tend to behave favorably and try to create a positive impression to others on social media. Impression Management on Social Media Social media has been a new and easy platform for people managing their impression. Sameer (2007) states that document preparation programs make it relatively easy to manipulate the appearance of profiles; also, programmability helps people keep track of contents to the audience, and browser application provide an easy way to distribute the original or modified profiles. Therefore, Krisanic (2008) concludes from her research that impression management has been commonly carried out by those who involved in social networking activities. Jeong (2011) also states that online media platforms are expected to provide people with a greater opportunity for impression management, and because of its â€Å"public display† which enables participants to articulate and make their social networks more manifest; furthermore, Ellison (2008) declares that this kind of â€Å"public display of connection† serves as important signal that helps people navigate their networked social world. Cummings (2012) supports his idea. He points out that social network sites provide people a channel to present themselves digitally, and also gives them another way to provide details about themselves and establish or maintain their relationships in their own social network. Also, profile owners are not the only ones who are able to provide information on their own pages. Most sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn allow those who are involved in the connection to create additional information, and the use of wall posts and the recommendation are the examples (Cummings, 2012). All in all, the main characteristics of social network sites include the capability to make connection between people and share personal information; on top of that, it offers an easy way for people to manage their personal impressions. Friendships Performance on Social Media The articulation of friendship connections is another facet of impression management; it might possibly be viewed from others as an identity marker to profile owners (boyd & Ellison, 2008). Although boyd and Ellison argue that online audiences’ comments may dominate user behaviors, Vallor (2012) thinks that those interactions are part of the reciprocity which serves a prime function maintaining friendships. Reciprocity is an original biological stimulus that operates as the core of human sociology and is the mutual characteristic of different types of friendships (Vallor, 2012). Take Facebook as an example, reciprocity emerge with diverse forms; it begins with the friend requests and accepting invitations correspondingly, responding to friends’ status by pressing â€Å"like† button, sharing photos and videos online, comments on friends’ status, and â€Å"tag† friends on pictures or posts. Therefore, a study from Vallor (2012) shows that instead of d iminishing people’s interactions in their real lives, online social sites actually extend chances for such interaction. Vallor (2012) also declares that social media can support friendships. Many social network sites allow additional information, and which encourage people to list hobbies, post photos, and interact with other individuals within the network (Cummings, 2012). Furthermore, social network sites help individuals to manage contacts beyond traditional software like outlook, and they also help incorporate visual information such as pictures of contacts (Cummings, 2012); hence, the online social media offers a precious function of recombining efficiently with friends in the past (Vallor, 2012). To conclude, it is true that these sites help participants perceiving more sense of social value and connection; also, social network sites help reinforce participant’s desire to maintain their friendships (Vallor, 2012). Conclusion As online social networking sites as a new media technology comes out in our society, individuals have more opportunity than ever before to present themselves in public by using them. These sites allow users to make self-presentation by creating their own profile pictures, personal information, photos, videos, and their activities. Impression management is related to social networking sites use because individuals tend to develop different self-presentation depending on the audiences online. From those studies we were discussed, people tend to behave favorable to their audiences. However, the authenticity of profile information comes into concern since everything that shows on people’s profiles may dominate their images to others; whether this fact leads to negative problem of social networking sites may still need to be further investigated and researched. From another aspect, we can conclude that social networking sites have a positive impact on friendship performance. Although some studies argue that the online social networking sites may damage the traditional meaning of friendship, it serves as a valuable tool maintaining the friendship in people real lives. All in all, social network sites if manage properly; they can of course offer very concrete benefits to people social networking lives. References boyd, D. & Ellison, N. (2008). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship. (pp. 219-220). Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 13(2008) 210-230. Cummings, J. (2012). Virtual First Impression Matter: The effect of social networking sites on Impression formation in virtual teams. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses 2012 pg. n/a Ellison, A. S. W. (2012). Impression Formation in a Social Network Context. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses 2012 pg. n/a Jeong, H. J. (2011). The Effectiveness of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Campaigns on Consumer Responses to Brand in Social Media: Impression Management Perspectives. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses 2011 pg. n/a Krisanic, K. (2008). Motivation and Impression Management: Predictors of social networking site use and users behaviors. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses 2008 pg. n/a Sameer, B. (2008). First Impression formation in electronic profiles. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses 2008 pg. n/a Vallor, S. (2011). Fl ourishing on Facebook: virtue friendship & new social media. Springer Science and Business Media B.V. 2011

Myra Hindley essays

Myra Hindley essays Should Myra Hindley Have Been allowed out of jail to die? Myra Hindley was Britain's longest-serving female prisoner, and died on the week beginning 25th November 2002 may I add in jail. She was sentenced to life in 1966 for her part in the notorious child killings known as the Moors murders; in Suffolk, England. Jailed along with lover and accomplice Ian Brady, she was convicted of murdering two of the five children they had abducted, tortured and sexually abused before burying their bodies on Saddleworth Moor near Manchester. Hindley had made a number of legal bids for freedom but a succession of Home Secretaries had ruled against her release. We all knew Hindley was going to die soon, so should she have been allowed a few hours of freedom before she died? Or did she deserve to die unhappy? We all know Myra did wrong, but we all forget she wasnt the only one, her partner in crime is in a mental institute. The easy way out of jail said my most people. I do not know what it is like to be in jail or what jail is like but from what I can imagine it wouldnt be a very nice place. I think I would rather be looked after in a mental institute than to fight my own way through jail what do you think? Myra committed murder which is probably the worst crime there is, and she was given life imprisonment, she was an ill woman, should she have been alllowed out for even the last two weeks of her life. Or would it have been even worse for her, as people feel very strongly on what she did to them children and also the children that she killed familys wont really allow her to live the last few days of her life in peace they would rather kill her themselves. Maybe the govenrment did right for once and let her stay in jail what is the famous saying You have to be cruel to be kind ...

How Genes Effect Our Appearance essays

How Genes Effect Our Appearance essays In 1865, an Augustinian monk named Gregor Mendel discovered that individual traits are determined by discrete "factors," later known as "genes," which are inherited by the parents. While researching his new discovery, he found that genes come in pairs, and each gene has a trait with two alternate forms, such as the pea plant with it's green or yellow seeds. By analyzing the results of various crosses, Mendel concluded that each alternative form of a trait is specified by alternative forms of a gene. To follow the inheritance from parent to child, Mendel first needed to be sure which genes each parent carried. Since pea plants are naturally self-fertilizing, "pure-bred" strains were available. Upon closer look, Mendel discovered that each strain contained only one form of the gene that determined a trait. From the results of further experiments, Mendel theorized that pure-bred plants must have two copies of the same gene for each trait. In general, offspring appear to be a mixture of parental characteristics. However, Mendel found that this is not true for the pea plant traits that he chose to study. Pure-bred pea plants when crossed did not produce offspring with blended traits. For example, one might expect that when a pure-bred green-seeded and a pure-bred yellow-seeded pea plant were crossed their offspring would produce seeds with a green-yellow color. That, however, was not true for everytime only one color was produced: yellow. There were no blends present, and the green color disappeared. Mendel proposed that although both gene alternates are present, there is no blending of color because the gene alternate for yellow is dominant over the gene alternate for green. The dominant trait is seen only when a single copy of it's gene is inherited. When he crossed the hybrid offspring, green seeds reappeared in the next generation. Mendel theorized that the recessive green trait is shown onl ...

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Summary - Essay Example Of these, advertisers have more or less concentrated on appealing to the fifteen basic human needs as defined and agreed by several theorists. These include need for sex, affiliation, nurture, guidance, to aggress, to achieve, as well as physical needs such as food and drink, among others. Due to the primitiveness of these factors, ad men see â€Å"emotional appeal† as an effective move to increase marketability of the products endorsed by triggering the inner urges and motives of its consumers. In a way, this, too, affect the second aspect mentioned above. However, aside from emotional appeals, advertisers have also employed the concepts of humor, and other unique styles of presentation, and even utilized models in the image of a celebrity to leave an impression upon the viewers, readers or listeners, that will get them to buy a certain product or use a certain service. Although there are many ways to advertise a product, whether in television, print, and even in radio, it is believed that visual advertisements, such as those seen on televisions before or after a favorite show, have been found to be more effective than the rest.

Islam in New York City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Islam in New York City - Essay Example Knowing these objectives in advance, I recognized the willingness of the Center to provide a comprehensive and immersive experience for the pursuit of truth for its own sake. Since the Center is devoted to enlightening the public, I knew they would be open to providing instruction and first-hand experience. In addition, I gained much from not only visiting the mosque itself, but also touring the other parts of the Center, which are an asset to Muslims living in Manhattan. These experiences represented an opportunity to apply what I have learned about the history, doctrine, and practices of Islam in the classroom. Before visiting the Center, I phoned the front desk to inform them that I would like to visit the Center, its mosque and other parts. They quickly agreed after realizing that my visit was for the purpose of education. I came on a Sunday, which is a day that the Center offers classes for children and adults. I did not know that these classes are open to non-Muslims as well. I was impressed by the inclusiveness of the mosque, especially in the fact that every student (regardless of their religious affiliation) learned Qur’anic Arabic, prayers, and general Islamic teachings touching upon different aspects of life. If I had more time and had planned to take one of these courses ahead of time, I would have. I learned that the Center is in the final stages of building a full-time Islamic school by seeing the final touch-up work on the building. Before coming to the mosque, I knew to respect the thought that a Muslim should wear clean, loose-fitting clothes that cover ankles and wrists. Respectful of this tradition, I approached the mosque in the morning. The doors leading up to the mosque were very large and constructed from a hard material. I noticed immediately that the mosque itself was very large and stood apart from the rest of the building. I understood why this might be because, throughout history and still today, mosques serve as both social a nd political centers for Muslims. The integration of religious and political life means that the same building serves two very essential functions, which was even more reason to be respectful when visiting the site. When I entered the mosque portion of the Center, I immediately noticed the shoe racks against the wall to my left and my right. I thought this was logical, given the need for worshippers to put away their shoes or slippers to pray. I am still unsure why specifically Muslims remove their shoes when they enter a mosque: whether it is because of hygienic reasons to protect the rugs in the prayer chamber or because it is holy ground and a sign of admiration for the surroundings Regardless, I removed my shoes and continued into the reception area of the mosque. I noticed also very classical vases and pottery that was symbolic of Islamic history. In some of these pots and vases were plants that seem to have come straight from the Middle East. I saw this as an acknowledgement o f Islam’s long and storied history in the arts, which I recognized as overall very important the Center as far as it is concerned with promoting knowledge and awareness of Islamic history. Also in the reception area was the Lillah box, which collects charity given voluntarily. The Lillah represents more giving than the Zakah, which is obligatory giving. The proceeds from the Lillah