My SF Renaissance Glog is complete. I'm not including a link, because I really didn't have much time to spend on it, and I had a hell of a time downloading my video footage to Glogster. I had a cool interview with Karouac defending the beats against accusations of violence and drug use, and tried to download it numerous times, but it just didn't work.

If I were creating an assignment for students, I think what I would do instead is make a movie, providing a preview of some of the poets reading their works, and some basic background on the movement. I would then assign a few poems from Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, and Kerouac to start, shorter poems that we did not cover in 790. As I plan to teach freshman and sophmore-level classes, I don't think I would give them all of "Howl," maybe just the first few pages.

I really think that this movement in particular is so dynamic, that it lends itself to tremendous possibility for teaching. Some of the things I'm thinking of are having the students look into censorship and what happened with Ginsberg and "Howl." Or, they could write their own "beat" poetry, and give an in-class performance. I'm thinking of culminating assignment type thing. Or maybe I could convince some musician friends of mine to come in and play some jazz, while someone read "Howl." While I want students to get a feel for the freedom the artists were aiming for, I also want them to recognize how and why the beats have commanded such popularity and respect over the years. I also like the idea of such a diverse group of individuals coming together to form a movement.