Kerouac liked to explain that he coined the word "beat" after "beatific," his description of the people who re jected materialism.
Among his varied experience were education at Lowell (Mass.) H. S. and Columbia University and a hifch in the U.S. Merchant Marine. He was living with his wife and paralyzed mother when he died.
His novels included On the Road and The Town and the City. He also wrote books of poetry and philosophy. and three record albums of prose and poetry.
Power Girls
AMHERST-Girls are more likely to be student-power advocates than boys, a University of Massachusetts study reports.
Analyzing the February, 1969 campus protest against the Dow Chemical Co., the report says, "Since girls do not find outlets for their energies in varsity sports or conventional club groupings, they may be inclined to turn to student power as one of the few areas of student life in which they can take a leading and exciting part."
The report also said that students attracted to the protest movement are rarely churchgoers. "Jews. Unitarians and those belonging to no organized religion are most student-power oriented. while Protestants and Catholics tend to be more conservative."
Crafty Clerk
BOSTON-A court clerk in Somerville forged judges' names to cases the Masachusetts Bar Association (MBA) charged yesterday.
In a petition to the state Supreme Court, the MBA called for the removal of Joseph E. Marino, clerk of the Somerville District Court, a former candldate for mayor of Somerville.
The petition claimed that Marino disregarded the orders of judges and signed their names to cases without their consent. indicating that the cases were disposed of. The cases included nine criminal complaints and a small claims dispute.
Marino, an unsuccessful candidate in the Somerville mayorality primary this spring. also "repeatedly used his judicial oflice as the basis for solicitations of political and financial support," the petition charged.
Justice Ammi R. Cutter of the Supreme Judicial Court set Nov. 3 for a hearing date on the petition.
The Weight
CAPE KENNEDY. Fla.- Rccent findings by space scientists indicate that prolonged weightlessness may harm astronants, souces at Cape Kennedy said yesterday. Plans for manned flights to the planets may be hindered as a result.
The findings stem from the spaceflight of a pigtail monkey named Bonny, who was launched on June 28 and brought back to earth after only eight of an intended thirty days of orbit. He died 12 hours after the recovery of his space capsule.
Space scientists will release their findings in a news conference today and it is predicted that the experimenters will attribute the monkey's death largely to weightlessness. Such a report will probably step up pressuire to develop space capsules with artificial gravity for planned interplanetary flights.