Sam Kashner's "When I Was Cool" (2003)

New York City: HarperCollins Publishing (book, memoir, biography), 2003.
9.25" x 6.25" x 1.125", 320 pages, hardcover with dust-jacket, ISBN 0-06-000566-1.

When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School, a Memoir by Sam Kashner, as published in hardcover by HarperCollins Publishing (New York City) in 2003. This is a history by the first certificate student at the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute (Boulder, Colorado, US), recalling his time learning as well as befriending and supporting the teaching staff (which included Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and others) during his time there. This book is unindexed, to note.

Kashner's memoir is filled with anecdotes about Burroughs (Sr. and Jr.) and others, which serve to color the histories of their time at Naropa. 

There are a couple of photos of Burroughs by Gordon Ball in the center image section.

This copy was acquired from Between the Covers (Gloucester City, New Jersey, US).

Not in Shoaf.

Contents: 

• "Caveat Emptor" (introduction)
• "When I Was Cool":
• "Prologue: Naked Brunch"
• "1. A Postcard from Allen"
• "2. Allen Can't Find His Poems"
• "3. Psychic Surgeon"
• "4. Billy the Kid"
• "5. Notorious"
• "6. Ginsberg Saves His Beard"
• "7. A Shady Character"
• "8. William Burroughs Was Crying"
• "9. Fortunato's Son"
• "10. Antler Wants a Drink of Water"
• "11. Fast Talking Woman"
• "12. The Wyrde Sister"
• "13. Last Gasp &/Or Gasm Sock Hop"
• "14. Rolling Thunder"
• "15. Gilgamesh in Boulder"
• "16. Kerouac's Grave"
• "17. Last Words"
• "18. The Lineages"
• "19. Junkie's Gift"
• "20. 'Who's Minerva?'"
• "21. Shopping with Corso"
• "22. Beat Faculty Meeting"
• "23. Heroin Doesn't Make You Immortal"
• "24. Diane di Prima Loved Food"
• "25. Billy and Tangier"
• "26. Burroughs and the Box"
• "27. Gregory's Time Piece"
• "28. Saint Petersburg"
• "29. Menstrual Pudding"
• "30. Human Beings Need Meat"
• "31. A Spy in the House of Love"
• "32. The Six Realms"
• "33. 'The Death of General Wolfe'" 
• "34. Father Death"
• "35. Going to Bed with Carla"
• "36. Death Is a Friend"
• "37. 'First Thought, Best Thought'?"
• images
• "38. Billy at the Boulderado"
• "39. Dream Lunch"
• "40. A Bathing Suit in the Hot Tub"
• "41. Kidnapped by Poetry"
• "42. Jailhouse Fear"
• "43. Back to New York"
• "44. Anne's Party"
• "45. Birdbrain"
• "46. Allen's Secret"
• "47. A Woman with No Heart"
• "48. King of the Cats"
• "49. 'Consulting I Ching Smoking Pot Listening to the Fugs Sing Blake'"
• "50. Plutonium Blues"
• "51. Carla Redux"
• "52. Graduation and Beyond"
• "Coda"
• Author's Note
• Acknowledgments