[Archive]

Posted By: barrysloate

I met Ginsberg a couple of times and he was not particularly friendly. My friend and I were walking with him and Peter Orlovsky when we were in college and Peter asked my friend for a cigarette; when he complied Peter took the cigarette, ripped it up, threw it on the ground, then asked for another. He was making his statement on the evils of tobacco. But seeing him at Naropa must have been pretty cool. I think he was most instrumental in getting that school off the ground.
I once drove Abby Hoffman from Long island to Manhattan because he lectured at the college where I taught and he needed a lift to the city. He was surly and rude, and when I dropped him off he ran out of the car without even thanking me for the ride. What a jerk.