CHESTER, Vt. – The First Universalist Parish of Chester will be hosting speaker Rev. Steve Edington on Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 10 a.m. for “Why Jack Kerouac Still Matters.”
The year of 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jack Kerouac in Lowell, Mass. I’ve been a part of the Kerouac scene in Lowell for nearly 30 years, helping to produce annual festivals there in his name; and have been especially involved in putting on a series of events in Lowell in observance of the Kerouac Centennial.
What has impressed me in all this is how much his writings still resonate with such a wide range of readers and go well beyond the popularity of “On the Road.” To really dig into Kerouac’s life is to witness his life-long struggle with a dynamic we all deal with: Our need for both roots and wings. For Jack, it was his attachment to his French-Canadian, Catholic, working-class roots in Lowell, and his need to get beyond them to find what he could “on the road.”
Kerouac’s creativity in large measure came from this “roots vs. wings” tension. I’ll speak to that tension, not only in his life, but in how I see it present in the lives most of us lead.
Visit in person at 211 North St/Route 103 in the Stone Village or on Zoom at chestervtuu@gmail.com. We follow current Covid-19 State of Vermont Guidelines.
Written by Reverend Steve Edington, Minister Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua, N.H.