Allen Ginsburg (left) and Jack Kerouac were part of the Beat movement that helped lay the foundation for the postmodern “hipster” label. Was it all just spiritual self-indulgence, or did the Beats, crying from the depths, ever find God? On page 10, Mike Aquilina looks at the lives of Jack Kerouac and his fellow “Beats” and finds that the movement’s Catholic influences gave it an often not-so-subtle spiritual dimension. On page 26, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo professor Dr. Robert Inchausti offers his impressions on a book about one of the Beats’ most sympathetic readers: Trappist monk Thomas Merton.