Johnny+-+SSC+-+FA09

Allen Ginsberg


 * Reform Groups:** Anti-Vietnam war, Pro drugs, Gay rights, free speech.

First off, Ginsberg was openly gay, his partner was his life long friend, and fellow poet Perter Orlovsky. He supported gay rights, and was pro-decision. Ginsberg was also pro drug use. It began in 1948 in an apartment in Harlem. Ginsberg had an auditory hallucination while reading the poetry of William Blake (later referred to as his "Blake vision"). At first Ginsberg claimed to have heard the voice of God, but later interpreted the voice as that of Blake himself reading. Ginsberg believed that he had witnessed the interconnectedness of the universe. He looked at lattice work on the fire escape and realized some hand had crafted that; he then looked at the sky and intuited that some hand had crafted that also, or rather that the sky was the hand that crafted itself. He explained that this hallucination was not inspired by drug use, but said he sought to recapture that feeling later with various drugs. He saw drug use as a gateway into deeper thought, and unlocking the full human potential. Ginsberg, was a poet, he typically wrote about things going on in his life, especially his phsyco mother, and homosexuality. In his poems, there was often quite a bit of vulgarity, and they were banned from stores. However, Ginsberg fought this, and his poems were allowed back onto the shelves. Another examplae of his pro speech movement was the Busker issue in New York City. Buskers, or common street performers were on the streets of NY to make some money during the early 30's. The mayor of NY banned the act of busking because fights lashed out over who got what spot, and overall competition in the streets. Ginsberg challenged this and took it to the courts, where the ban was found unconstitutional, and revoked. Finally, Ginsberg was Anti-Vietnam war. He played a key role in an anti-war ralley which took place at the Oakland-Berkeley city line and drew several thousand marchers. Originally, the ralley was to be stopped by the motorcycle gang Hell's Angels, who had crushed earlier marches, and planned to do so on this occasion.Ginsberg traveled to the leader of the Hells Angels, Sonny Barger's home in Oakland to talk the situation through. It is rumored that he offered Barger and other members of the Hell's Angels LSD. In the end, Barger and the other Hell's Angels that were present came away deeply impressed by the courage of Ginsberg. They vowed not to attack the protest march and furthermore deemed Ginsberg a man who was worth helping out.
 * Purpose:**

Like i said before, Ginsberg was a poet for a living. He had tons of famous poems including "Howl". He used drugs to try and recreate a hallucination he had. He had a crazy mother, who had an unidentified mental condition. He was openly gay, supported gay rights, and was anti-war. Suprisingly, he was anti-tobacco, but supported drugs such as marijuana and LSD.
 * Occupation and Background:**

-**Drugs are good -War is bad -Gay rights -Free speech
 * Arguments:

-Timothy Leary -Peter Olovsky -Bob Dylan -Adrian Mitchel -William Burroughs
 * Friends:**

-Mayor Fiorello La Guardia of NY
 * Foes:**

"Allen Ginsberg." //Http://www.pbs.org//. 16 June 2009. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. []. "Allen Ginsberg." //Kirjasto//. Ari Pesonen, 2008. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. . "Allen Ginsberg." //Wikipedia//. 14 Dec. 2009. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. . "Howl." //SprayBerry//. Web. 22 Dec. 2009. .
 * Bibliography**