Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Jack Kerouac in The Observer

Jack Kerouac's ex-girlfriend lifts lid on beat novelist's rise and fall


Jack Kerouac speaks


“My whole wretched life swam before my weary eyes, and I realized no matter 

what you do it's bound to be a waste of time in the end so you might as well go mad.”

― Jack Kerouac, On the Road: The Original Scroll

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

THE AWAKENER, a book review


"The Awakener" is a beautifully written memoir that takes the reader to personal and heartfelt places of great joy and bittersweet memories.

Helen Weaver talks about her relationship with Jack Kerouac, and the book is so richly developed and defined that I felt the scenes were unfolding like a well-directed independent film. I was very caught up in the story.

I also had the feeling that I was becoming part of a wonderful time gone by... and I was motivated to visit several of the addresses mentioned in this book to put a visual to the text as the pages unfolded. 

Helen Weaver also discusses her other relationships from long ago... and she writes with honestly, clarity, and sincerity in terms of the direction of those relationships as the decades passed.

 Jack Kerouac, in "Desolation Angels," wrote: "So I actually felt like marrying Ruth Heaper and moving to a country home in Connecticut."

 If you are nostalgic for a time gone by and you want to hear "Ruth Heaper" tell her story, this book is a must!

"I'D LIKE TO APOLOGIZE TO EVERY TEACHER I EVER HAD"


Tonight I attended Tony Danza's presentation and book signing at Barnes & Noble on Broadway and 82nd Street in Manhattan.

 I had the opportunity to stand and state my own personal opinion and I addressed the new direction in education where teachers are expected to "engage" the students. I told him learning is hard work and success in school is a result of attentiveness in class and serious study.

 I believe the teacher is not the entertainer and learning does not always have to be fun. He was very receptive and I think he got it. He said he does believe students need to understand that it is their responsibility to learn.