Thursday, March 8, 2007

Counterculture Embodied

What exactly is a "counterculture icon"? According to a press release from the English and Philosophy Department, it's a former anti-war activist with disheveled hair who once wrote award-winning poetry from jail on pieces of toilet paper. I think I want to be a counterculture icon, too.

Today at 7:30 p.m., author Ed Sanders will read his poetry in the Freed Curd Auditorium as a part the annual Jesse Stuart Writing Symposium. He has written books of poetry such as "Poems from Jail" and nine volumes of "America: A History in Verse." He also published a bestselling nonfiction book titled "The Family," which investigates the events involving the Manson Family that lead to the Tate murders. He obtained the information for this book by disguising himself as a "satanic maniac-guru and dope-trapped psychopath" to infiltrate Charles Manson's cult.

Those are just a few of his accomplishments. Sanders also started an avante garde journal called "F*** You: A Magazine for the Arts" (but his version didn't have stars,) and he formed a satirical band called The Fugs. He currently lives in Woodstock, NY. Go figure.

Anyway, Sanders will be in Murray tonight, reading poetry that he probably originally penned in a cell. He'll also be participating in a panel discussion called "The Writer and Social Activism" at 3:30 p.m. in the Freed Curd Auditorium. It's all free, so check him out.

~Casey

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