Allen Young (writer)
Encyclopedia
Allen Young is an American journalist, author and editor who is also a social, political and environmental activist.
. He was a red diaper baby
. He graduated from a Fallsburgh Central High School and received an undergraduate degree in 1962 from Columbia College, Columbia University. Following a Masters of Arts degree in 1963 from Stanford University
in Hispanic American and Luso-Brazilian Studies, he earned a Masters of Science degree in 1964 from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
. After receiving a Fulbright Award
in 1964, Young spent three years in Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries, contributing numerous articles to the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and other periodicals. In Chile, he was supported by a grant from the Inter American Press Association. He taught English at the Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro (EARJ).
. Young, Marshall Bloom
, Ray Mungo
and others worked in the office at 3 Thomas Circle
producing the news packets that were sent to the hundreds of underground newspapers bi-weekly or tri-weekly. A member of the Students for a Democratic Society
he was part of the Columbia University protests of 1968
and was among more than 700 arrested. When the Liberation News Service split in two in August 1968 Young became a recognized leader of the New York office. In February and March 1969 Young went to Cuba, where he was instrumental in the organization of the Venceremos Brigade
. Young became disillusioned with the Castro regime after observing the lack of civil liberties and other freedoms, and especially the government's anti-gay policies. After the Mariel Boatlift
he wrote Gays Under the Cuban Revolution, breaking with those New Leftists who continued to defend the Cuban Revolution.
in New York City, Young became involved in the Gay Liberation Front
. Late in 1970 he lived in the Seventeenth Street collective with Carl Miller, Jim Fouratt
, Bob Bland, Punit Auerbacher, Giles Kotcher where he was involved in producing Gay flames. Young wrote frequently for the gay press, including The Advocate
, Come out!,, Fag Rag and Gay Community News
among others. His 1972 interview with Allen Ginsberg
, which first appeared in Gay Sunshine is often reprinted and translated.
Young has edited four books with Karla Jay
including the ground breaking anthology Out of the Closets.
. He was a reporter and assistant editor for the Athol Daily News from 1979-1989, and Director of Community Relations for the Athol, Massachusetts
Memorial Hospital, 1989-99. He joined the Montague Nuclear Power Plant
protests shortly after Sam Lovejoy's toppling of the weather tower in 1974. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust
, and in 2004 received the Writing and Society Award from the University of Massachusetts
English Department "honoring a distinguished career of commitment to the work of writing in the world." Since 2009, he has been writing a weekly column, entitled Inside/Outside, for the Athol Daily News.
Early life
Allen Young, born in Liberty, N.Y., on June 30, 1941, to Rae (Goldfarb) Young and Louis Young. His parents, both secular Jews, spent their youth in New York City, then relocated to the hamlet of Glen Wild (estimated pop. 100) in Sullivan County, in the foothills of the Catskills, and started a poultry farm, also providing accommodations for summer tourists in this region known as the Borscht BeltBorscht Belt
Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties in upstate New York that were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s.-Name:The name comes from...
. He was a red diaper baby
Red diaper baby
Red diaper baby describes a child of parents who were members of the United States Communist Party or were close to the party or sympathetic to its aims.-History:...
. He graduated from a Fallsburgh Central High School and received an undergraduate degree in 1962 from Columbia College, Columbia University. Following a Masters of Arts degree in 1963 from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in Hispanic American and Luso-Brazilian Studies, he earned a Masters of Science degree in 1964 from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is one of Columbia's graduate and professional schools. It offers three degree programs: Master of Science in journalism , Master of Arts in journalism and a Ph.D. in communications...
. After receiving a Fulbright Award
Fulbright Award
The Fulbright Award is a scholarship awarded as part of the Fulbright Program to foster international research and collaboration. The program also awards a fellowship to Ph.D.'s to lecture and teach in foreign universities...
in 1964, Young spent three years in Brazil, Chile and other Latin American countries, contributing numerous articles to the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor and other periodicals. In Chile, he was supported by a grant from the Inter American Press Association. He taught English at the Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro (EARJ).
Liberation News Service and SDS
Young returned to the United States in January 1967 and worked briefly for the Washington Post, resigning in the fall of that year to become a full-time Anti-Vietnam War movement activist and staff member of the Liberation News ServiceLiberation News Service
Liberation News Service was a New Left, Underground press news service which published news bulletins from 1967 to 1981.-History:The Liberation News Service was co-founded in the summer of 1967 by Ray Mungo and Marshall Bloom after the two of them were separated from the United States Student...
. Young, Marshall Bloom
Marshall Bloom
Marshall Bloom is best known as the co-founder of the Liberation News Service with Ray Mungo in 1967.-Early life and university studies:...
, Ray Mungo
Ray Mungo
Raymond Mungo is the author, co-author, or editor of more than a dozen books. He writes about business, economics, and financial matters as well as cultural issues...
and others worked in the office at 3 Thomas Circle
Thomas Circle
Thomas Circle is a traffic circle in Northwest Washington, D.C., United States at the junction of Massachusetts Avenue, Vermont Avenue, 14th Street, and M Street, N.W.The through lanes of Massachusetts Avenue pass under Thomas Circle...
producing the news packets that were sent to the hundreds of underground newspapers bi-weekly or tri-weekly. A member of the Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
he was part of the Columbia University protests of 1968
Columbia University protests of 1968
The Columbia University protests of 1968 were among the many student demonstrations that occurred around the world in that year. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United...
and was among more than 700 arrested. When the Liberation News Service split in two in August 1968 Young became a recognized leader of the New York office. In February and March 1969 Young went to Cuba, where he was instrumental in the organization of the Venceremos Brigade
Venceremos Brigade
The Venceremos Brigade is a politically motivated international organization founded in 1969 by members of the Students for a Democratic Society and officials of the Republic of Cuba...
. Young became disillusioned with the Castro regime after observing the lack of civil liberties and other freedoms, and especially the government's anti-gay policies. After the Mariel Boatlift
Mariel boatlift
The Mariel boatlift was a mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980....
he wrote Gays Under the Cuban Revolution, breaking with those New Leftists who continued to defend the Cuban Revolution.
Gay Liberation
After the Stonewall RiotsStonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
in New York City, Young became involved in the Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
. Late in 1970 he lived in the Seventeenth Street collective with Carl Miller, Jim Fouratt
Jim Fouratt
-Life and works:Jim Fouratt was an early member of the Gay Liberation Front and a participant in the Stonewall riots. Fouratt lived with Carl Miller, Allen Young, Giles Kotcher, Bob Bland and Punit Auerbacher in the Seventeenth Street commune...
, Bob Bland, Punit Auerbacher, Giles Kotcher where he was involved in producing Gay flames. Young wrote frequently for the gay press, including The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, Come out!,, Fag Rag and Gay Community News
Gay Community News (Boston)
Gay Community News was a weekly journal published in Boston from 1973 to 1992 by the Bromfield Street Educational Foundation. It was an important resource for the LGBT community...
among others. His 1972 interview with Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
, which first appeared in Gay Sunshine is often reprinted and translated.
Young has edited four books with Karla Jay
Karla Jay
Karla Jay is a professor of English and the director of the Women's and Gender Studies program at Pace University. A pioneer in the field of lesbian and gay studies, she is widely published....
including the ground breaking anthology Out of the Closets.
North Quabbin
Young moved to rural Massachusetts in 1973 to an 'intentional community'. Carrying a sign which read Royalston, Mass. population 973 he attended the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay RightsNational March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
The National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights was a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on October 14, 1979. The first such march on Washington, it drew between 75,000 and 125,000 gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people and straight allies to demand...
. He was a reporter and assistant editor for the Athol Daily News from 1979-1989, and Director of Community Relations for the Athol, Massachusetts
Athol, Massachusetts
Athol is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 11,584 at the 2010 census.-History:Originally called Pequoiag, the area was first settled by five families in September 1735. When the township was incorporated in 1762, the name was changed to Athol...
Memorial Hospital, 1989-99. He joined the Montague Nuclear Power Plant
Montague Nuclear Power Plant
The Montague Nuclear Power Plant was to consist of two 1,150-megawatt nuclear reactors to be located in Montague, Massachusetts. The project was proposed in 1973 and canceled in 1980, after $29 million was spent on the project....
protests shortly after Sam Lovejoy's toppling of the weather tower in 1974. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust
Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, incorporated in 1986, is a non-profit organization whose mission is the conservation of woodland and agricultural land in north central and western Massachusetts. Based out of Athol, Massachusetts, the MGLCT is named after Mount Grace, a neaby monadnock...
, and in 2004 received the Writing and Society Award from the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
English Department "honoring a distinguished career of commitment to the work of writing in the world." Since 2009, he has been writing a weekly column, entitled Inside/Outside, for the Athol Daily News.
External links
- History of Liberation News Service
- Land protection
- Review of The gay report
- Gay Sunshine interview with Allen Ginsberg
- Pride 2008 Gay Spirit Radio broadcast
- Allen Young papers
- http://theragblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/jonah-raskin-interviewing-journalist.htmlJune 30 2011 interview with Jonah RaskinJonah RaskinJonah Raskin is an American writer who left an East Coast university teaching position to participate in the 1970s radical counterculture as a free-lance journalist, then returned to the academy in California in the 1980s to write probing studies of Abbie Hoffman and Allen Ginsberg and reviews of...
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