The Mad Ones: A Brief History of the Beat Generation

Krystal Cannon (PersonTV) made this short documentary about the Beat Generation in which she not only narrates as Queen Elizabeth, but also plays various roles including Allen Ginsberg, Joan Vollmer, Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, John Lennon, Edie Sedgwick and Abbie Hoffman. She gives a clear account of the Beat movement then moves into the general social reaction. She also makes some very interesting points about how women were sidelined even though many of them made great contributions to Beat culture. I think that what the Beats were working on is in very fine hands indeed with Ms. Cannon at work.

Thanks to Marc Campbell at Dangerous Minds.

5-Year Old Collects Cans, Feeds 18,000 People

A 5-year-old girl named Phoebe decided she wanted to collect cans in order to raise money from the 5-cent per can deposits.  With the help of her day care center in San Francisco, she raised $3,736.30 from cans and cash donations.  That translated into 17,800 people being fed via local food banks.  If a 5-year-old can do that, imagine what wealthy Americans and corporations could do.