ULA Howl Protest at Columbia University 4/17/06

On April 17, the ULA
invaded Columbia
University and Howled in
the Academy's face!

Spontaneous street readings! Jelly
Boy the Clown steals the show! King
Wenclas booted out then escorted
back in! Frank Walsh out of control!

Read all about it on this page!
Reports will be posted below, as they
arrive across the ULA newswire...

*Click here to listen to an Associated Press
ASAP podcast on the ULA's protest!

*King Wenclas offers a full report of the
crashing inside Miller Theatre!

*Check out the Howl protest info page!

*Click here to see some protest photos!

*Listen to a WNYC interview with the ULA's
Frank Walsh!

To contact the ULA about the protest, please
email: howl@literaryrevolution.com

Writers report on the protest:

"A good time was had by all. Even the Columbia security guys
looked appreciative."

--Richard Kostelanetz
website: www.richardkostelanetz.com

--------------------------------

"What ensued was probably the most rowdy literary event I've
ever been to...

For the rest of the presentations, there were disruptions that
culminated, immediately after intermission, with ClownFace
GuerrillaWriter going up on stage, reciting the first lines of
"Howl", and springing a mousetrap on his tongue, claiming he
and his group were being "silenced".

Yes, just another sedate evening devoted to Literature..."

--KD of Ginsberg's House blog

------------------------------

"So when I heard about the celebration of the publication of
Howl at Columbia University, by establishment luminaries, I
couldn’t wait to self-publish several pamphlets and go up to
New York City at my own expense to give them away, free, and
post them at my web site, The Daily Bulletin.

I mean, since they were online, free, I didn’t really need to go,
but I wanted to see old friends, meet new people, and hiss the
bad guys.

I wanted to be a part of something.

I wanted to have a temper tantrum, show my ass, embarrass the
family, back in Panama City, where we moved after I got
downsized, outsourced, workforce-rebalanced, continuously.
Spend money I didn’t have...

I would remember.

I would write about it.

It gave me something to write about besides office politics,
consumerism, chick-lit, toney shopping-and-fucking novels,
adventure-travel books, the Eddie Bauer decal package, what the
hell, when I got home I could live on dried beans and brown rice
and a hoecake made out of water-ground cornmeal, borscht, a
beet poet would make do."

--Jack Saunders, ULA member and author of Bukowski Never
Did This: A Year in the Life of An Underground Writer & His Family.

-------------------------------

"In the final speech of the evening, Columbia professor Ann
Douglas said that Ginsberg would have been pleased to watch
the reading unfold; it had taken on a volume and pitch not
normally achieved at literary events. (Someone in the back
yelled, “True!”) The audience, now giddy, seemed almost
disappointed that the disruptions were over..."

--Rachel Aviv, Poetry Foundation dot org article

Stay tuned for more...