Sherry L. (mermaidwoman) reviewed When I Was Cool : My Life at the Jack Kerouac School on + 4 more book reviews
In the 1970s, Sam Kashner got his parents permission to attend (as the first student) the "Jack Kerouc School of Disembodied Poets" in Denver Colorado. He worshipped the 'beat' poets: Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs Neal Cassady, Peter Orlovsky. Though the school was as yet unacredited, his parents paid his way to attend, and their starts his coming of age among his idols. This story is about how he viewed them, at first as almost god-like, then gradually realizing that they were just humans with foibles like the rest of us. He was their apprentice, and learned alot by being around them. He met some pretty interesting characters, some you will remember, some you might not. He also met Chungpa Rinpoche (sp?) and gives an account of his interactions with him.
