Ginsberg's "Howl"

As we are marking anniversaries, today is the 50th of Allen Ginsberg's landmark epic “Howl,” and the obscenity trial defending the poem's right to be published and read on the radio. A big deal upholding our first amendment, this court decision continues as a debate in the wake of Janet Jackson's “wardrobe malfunction” and other scandals distracting us from the real obscenities, like poverty, genocide, war, etc. In the face of people massacred in Darfur, does it really matter whether the “f” word or any other such language strategically suited to a poem about individuality, and the right we enjoy as Americans to “howl,” is printed or performed? Will the poem's language sully our children's minds? Not if “Howl” is understood as the art it is. In April of 1997, when Ginsberg died, he was waging this war for freedom of speech, because even after the momentous decision, these rights have been whittled down. First, an annual reading of “Howl” on Pacifica radio (WBAI) was restricted to non prime time hours, and later prohibitive altogether because of the huge fines now applied for each word of “obscenity” aired. And so, the anniversary also marks a continued battle for first amendment rights.
           Allen Ginsberg remains as relevant today as he was in the '50's and beyond as seminal Beat Generation author along with Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. In one story line in Todd Haynes' new movie, “I'm Not There,” featured in the New York Film Festival this week, about Bob Dylan's life and music, a fictive Allen Ginsberg and his companion Peter Orlovsky ask Dylan (a tour de force performance by Cate Blanchett) whether or not he has “sold out?” This satiric scene is a clever evocation of those heady times, as Dylan kept reinventing himself, defying easy categorizations as folk, rock, country artist. Even his fans didn't get it. In America, freedom to grow and express oneself, so much at the heart of our constitution, remains a challenge, perhaps THE challenge. In the land of the free and the brave, it's hard to be free and brave.

                                                                                     Regina Weinreich

Comments

[listener]

About HOWL and WBAI, WBAI is bankrupt. Dan Siegel of the Pacifica National Board is corrupt. He has been temporarily placed on the national board to sabatoge the Local Station Board elections and allow the wbai and Justice and Unity corruption to continue.

[supra shoes]

Was well written

[Air Jordans]

yes you are right!

[IL'JAZuev33]

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[thomas charms]

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[Steroids]

First, an annual reading of “Howl” on Pacifica radio (WBAI) was restricted to non prime time hours, and later prohibitive altogether because of the huge fines now applied for each word of “obscenity” aired.

[Anavar]

In April of 1997, when Ginsberg died, he was waging this war for freedom of speech, because even after the momentous decision, these rights have been whittled down.