Jack Kerouac, Walt Whitman, and Levi's

Perhaps you're familiar with the excellent PBS series, Connections, narrated by James Burke. It's a unique look at history by making unusual connections between events and people. I am always fascinated by connections - I think most people are - and today in SouthCoastToday.com is an article that connects Levi's jeans, Walt Whitman, and Jack Kerouac. You can read the article here.

Now, go read some Whitman. He was a big influence on Kerouac, you know.

March 15: On Connections

Today's Kerouaction
Jack made connections in his writing. Literary. Spiritual. Sociological. Philosophical. Psychological.

He often dropped references to other authors, their works, their concepts.

Making connections is a beat thing to do. Sometimes you get somewhere you never expected. And it's the process that's important, not the outcome.

For example, I was trying to make a connection between Jack Kerouac and the Ides of March, which today is (you know, the day Caesar was assassinated). Right away, Googling brings up this article: Did you say Ides of March?. But it's a sketchy connection.

However, a little more research reveals that American author Thornton Wilder (famous for his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Bridge of San Luis Rey) wrote a novel called Ides of March. Wilder wrote a play titled "The Skin of Our Teeth" that Joseph Campbell and Robert Morton Robinson claimed was a result of unacknowledge borrowing from James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

I can't establish a direct Kerouac-Wilder link, but Kerouac named Joyce as one of his most important influences. Also, Wilder hung out with Hemingway, a Kerouac idol. Finally, it's generally acknowledged that Wilder was gay, another possible Kerouac connection.

Kerouac and Wilder were contemporaries. I suspect they were aware of each other and of each others' works. They may even have met, but I'm not sure.

Make some connections - it's fun and it's definitely a Kerouaction, plus you'll likely learn something along the way!

Everything is connected

-Today is U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's birthday
-Philosopher Immanuel Kant died on this date
-Today is actor Lorne Greene's birthday
-Penney's founder James Cash Penney died on this date
-Today is actor Forrest Tucker's birthday
-Actor Sal Mineo died on this date
-Today is keyboardist Ray Manzarek's birthday
-Actor Victor Jory died on this date
-Today is actor Joe Don Baker's birthday
-The state of Georgia was founded on this date
-Today is author Judy Blume's birthday
-Al Spalding opened his sporting goods shop on this date
-Today is actress Maud Adams' birthday
-The NAACP was founded on this date
-Today is actress Christina Ricci's birthday
-Eisenhower sent the first advisors to Vietnam on this date

And all of the above have something to do with Jack Kerouac.

Everything is connected. Everything.