EXCERPT FROM 'This is the Beat Generation' BY JOHN CLENNON HOLMES

Any attempt to label an entire generation is unrewarding, and yet the generation which went through the last war [WWII], or at least could get a drink easily once it was over, seems to possess a uniform, general quality which demands an adjective ... The origins of the word 'beat' are obscure, but the meaning is only too clear to most Americans. More than mere weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and, ultimately, of soul; a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself. A man is beat whenever he goes for broke and wagers the sum of his resources on a single number; and the young generation has done that continually from early youth.

Friday, August 20, 2010

...every once in a while, you have a few days that are beatific and make it all worthwhile!

Over the past few days, I received a few pieces of good news which I would like to share with everyone.

To begin with, I received an email from the manager of the Service Canada office in Kitchener today officially offering me part-time work from September to December of this year, every Friday from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.  This is exactly what I was hoping for:  enough work to keep me afloat financially as I finish my final term at University of Waterloo but not so much as to distract from my studies.  Furthermore, this gets my foot in the door and could potentially lead to full-time employment in the future.

I also got emails from both my current and former undergraduate advisors, both of whom have told me they would be willing to write me letters of recommendation, one of the major hurdles for any graduate studies application.  It is fantastic to know that I have that option still open to me.

Finally, I got an email from the production editor at Spontaneous Generations telling me that the article I mentioned in my last post will officially be published on August 23.  The email came with a link leading to a very polished and professional-looking .pdf of my article, so it is actually going to happen - I will soon be able to claim I am a published author!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Rants, diatribes, jeremiads, romodomotads and any sort of passionate prose will be welcomed here.

Followers

annotationz from underground

My photo
chronicler of the bre@kBeat generation