I knew a few students there years ago, and picked this up in hopes of hearing the sordid backstory. But Kashner’s When I Was Cool starts too early for that. The Beats were facing their twilight years when he became the very first student at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.
Some, like Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, had achieved international fame, while others, like Gregory Corso, had not, and were coming to the realization that they might never receive the recognition they desired. In his new role as student, secretary, and de-facto psychiatrist, Kashner was caught in the crossfire of old arguments, finding himself in hot tubs with Ginsberg and on field trips to the marijuana ranch cultivated by Burroughs and his troubled son, Billy.
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