A Note on the Beginning of Like a Hurricane

In the mid-1960's, everyone was fighting back; African Americans were fighting for civil rights, the a majority of the public was trying to subvert the Vietnam War, and women were fighting for their liberation. Indians were fighting, too, though it's a fight too few have documented, and even fewer remember.

Paul Smith and Robert Warrior, both came out with a bang when they started the book. The Indians, on boat, sneaking onto Alcatraz from all parts of the San Francisco bay. Indians from Sausalito landed on the east side while other coming from San Francisco landed on the other and so forth. It is interesting to see that the Indians did this in the middle of the night when no one could see them. It was if they were doing something illegal, which was not made clear if it was. They were going to the island on their own and I do not understand why they had to do it in the middle of the night.

It is interesting that all these Indians, wanted this land back, this small piece of land, literally in the middle of the bay. I understand that it was a place where the Indians used to live, and it was called Pelican Island, but it was still in the middle of the bay. It is also interesting how a lot of the Indians who came over, were college students and how they wanted to take action. There were 40 Indians that claimed the island on March 8, 1964. It did not take long after the closing of the prison for the Indians to try and claim it for themselves. What was the city thinking about using the island for after the prison closed? Unlike most other books written about American Indians, this book does not look to persuade readers that government polices were cruel and misguided.

Like a Hurricane was a gripping account of how for a brief, but brilliant, season Indians strategized to change the course and tone of American Indian-U.S. government interaction. Unwaveringly honest, it analyzes not only the period's successes but also its failures.

~J.B.

A Note on William Carlos William's Introduction to "Howl"

The introduction to the “Howl” poem by William Carlos Williams sets the overall mood of what is to come. At first, Williams introduces Allen Ginsberg by giving the reader a brief overview of his past. The background that is provided is more personal since it was written by someone who knew Ginsberg. The description is somewhat shocking since the writer himself claims to be surprised by the achievements of Ginsberg. It is said that he was mentally disturbed, with a difficult life and had basically been through hell. Now, with all of these setbacks, it is astonishing for Williams and the audience alike that such a troubled man could have overcome life’s difficulties and succeeded in poetry.

In his roughest years Allen Ginsberg met Carl Solomon, a man with whom he developed a strong bond and came to love. Williams stresses the importance of Solomon in Ginsberg’s life through passionate and emotionally loaded words. He says that it is amazing that even though he has lived through some of the most devastating experiences that life can offer, Ginsberg has used love to persevere. Furthermore, this love is the topic of his poems.

Once again referring to Ginsberg’s life, Williams mentions that Ginsberg described it as a “howl of defeat”(7), but that in reality it was not defeat because he went through it as if it were any other common thing. A very penetrating statement from the introduction is “Everyone in this life is defeated but a man, if he be a man, is not defeated.“(7). I interpret this as saying that everyone in life has difficulties; however, if they use their strengths and everything at their disposal to overcome these challenges, then they are free and will not break under life’s hardships.

In the final paragraph there is a focus on poetry and what it means to write and be a poet. Williams says that poetry has accompanied Ginsberg in his Golgotha (a reference to the biblical place where Jesus was crucified); again emphasizing that this poet has been through the worse. He has been miserable in a place that the readers call home(the US). According to Williams people are blind, but poets are cursed because they see it all. In this paragraph Williams portrays the poet as somewhat of a modern prophet informing the people of the horrible truths of life.

Overall, the introduction gives the readers some background on Ginsberg to better understand the content of the poems. In addition, words such as “disturbed,” “hell,” “horrifying,” and “blindness” set the mood of the poem as perturbing and gruesome.

~M.G.