The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Isabella Rose Estes https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1 en-us 2018-11-16 14:48:05 UTC 2018-12-15 03:55:38 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Planets.png Personal Biography 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/305277155 Based on the only knowledge ive ever had, I have always thought of the 60s as a time of weed, love and good music. When I went to choose a non fiction peice, ilooked for a book set in he 60s. I was hoping to find out more about what really was going on in the wporld that my parents grew up in. What I came to find was that their was much more then weed loving hippies. There was a certain kind of hippie known as "Heads" who chose LSD as their morning vitamin. I have only heard about LSD from my teachers or random mentionings in movies. The perspective always ive heard, only being from people who seen it only as a gateway phsychodelic drug. I chose this book in order to seek an alternative perspective. I found it interesting that the book was about man who spent is life driving around taking LSD with as many heads as he could. And the peice written by a man who never took LSD. ]]> 2018-11-16 14:55:58 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/305277155 Reading Schedule 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/305279848 Week #1: Read To Page 213
Week #2: Read To Page 304
Week #3: Read To Page 411 (End)]]> 2018-11-16 14:59:57 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/305279848 WEEK #1: A Miracle In 7 Days 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/305281601 2018-11-16 15:02:55 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/305281601 "They now know the whole scene, even the clothes, the jesuschrist strung-out hair, Indian beads, Indian headband, temple bells, amulets, unicirn horns, - but they still don't know about the shoes. The heads have a thing about shoes. The worst are the shiny black shoes with shoelaces in them. The hierarchy ascends from there on up to the boots the heads like, light, fanciful boots, enlgish boots of the mod variety"(3). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307557441 From the beginnning of the peice Wolfe builds a defining contrast bewteen the hippies and the rest of the people. Seen in this passage Wolfe creates this difference by describing the different appearance of the two kinds of people. He describes the hippies clothing as a more spirital, rundown kind of look. Then goes on by describing the shoes of a non hippie, black and shiny. Wolfe has this small fashion insight not only to give readers an inital understanding of the contrast bewteen the heads and other people, but to also show the mistrust the heads hold towards the convential world. ]]> 2018-11-25 20:09:21 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307557441 "the first thing he knew about it was a squirrel dropped an acorn from a tree outside, only it was tremendously loud and sounded like it was not outside but right in the room with him and not actually a sound, either, but a great suffusing presence, visual almost tactile, a great impacting of.......blue....... all around him and suddenly he was in a realm of consciousness he had never dreamed of before and it was not a dream or a delirium but part of his awarness"(40). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307560480 Throughout the book there has been a consistent mentioning of drugs. Wolfe has talked about the culture based around Lsd, but up until this passage, had never mentioned the actual experience the drug gives the mind and body. This passage was used to put the audience into the minds of the people Wolfe is writing about.He starts with a very clear and straightforward scene of a squirrel dropping an acorn, then he shows the brain exaggerating a simple act. This immediately gives the audience the impression that the drugged mind is different then the day to day reality. Wolfe then continues with the "......blue......" to show the brains jump to a completely different consciousness. The pauses around blue give the scene a more spacey feel. By letting the audience briefly see into the mind of someone on a psychedelic drug, they are able to make connections with the characters in the text throughout the rest of the book.]]> 2018-11-25 20:30:35 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307560480 ""If somebody is an ass-kicker, then that's what he's going to do on this trip, kick asses. He's going to do it right out front and nobody is going to have anything to get pissed off about. He can just say i'm sorry i kicked you in the ass, but i'm not sorry i'm an ass kicker. That's what I do, I kick people in the ass. Everybody is going to be what they are, and whatever they are, there's not going to be anything to apologize about. What we are, we're going to wail with on this whole trip"(76). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307560562 As the pranksters, the band of hippies, begins their journey across the country, Wolfe begins to dive deeper in the kind of movement these people are trying to be a part of. This quote shows the group's views of how people should treat one another. This quote caused question towards Kesey's moral. If even an ass-kicker can be fully unjudged and accepted, does that mean other rude or possibly immoral acts should be accepted? This quote also shows some irony. The speaker is expressing the importance of being whoever you want to be and doing your own thing while accepting others, yet the the speaker himself is very controlling. 

]]> 2018-11-25 20:31:11 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307560562 "Pranksters gathered at a fountain and all cutting up in sunspots, and a kid-they have tootled his song, and he likes it, and he runs for the bus and they all pile on and pull out, just ahead of him, and he keeps running for the bus, and Kesey keeps slowing down and then pulling out just out of his reach, six or eight blocks this way and then they speed up for good, and they can still see him floating away in the background, his legs still running like a preview----"(113). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307807048 Wolfe uses this passage as an allegory for the 60s life. The bus represents a new culture, maybe even a religious uprising. The use of "kid" to describe the boy chasing the bus emphasizes the youth. This young boy represents the next generation, who are chasing a dream the Pranksters have created. As they pull away, Kesey slows the bus down just enough for the boy to almot taste the lifestyle he's running after. In the 60s there was a high demand for the Californian life. People chasing a dream just out of reach.]]> 2018-11-26 15:00:16 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/307807048 Esoteric (Adjective) understood by only a small number of people who have a special knowledge 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/308622945 "Penny Lane was their home, and embedded within was their esoteric way of life"(36)

She looked at him with a love so pure and when his eyes met hers, their hearts flowed into a esoteric dance.

]]> 2018-11-28 03:47:28 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/308622945 The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test By Tom Wolfe 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/308624767 2018-11-28 04:03:20 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/308624767 "As if by radar, Kesey materializes at the crtical moment, in the cabin, out front, in the back house, up in the woods. The crisis may be somebody's personal thing or some group thing- suddenly Kesey pops up delivers a line usually something cryptic, allegorical, or merely descriptive, never a pronouncment or a judgment"(160). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/308635916 This passage adds to the idea that The pranksters are creatign a religion. Kesey is there god. In many ways he shows aspects of a god like fiigure. Kesey is always just showing up. Usually dressed in a white shirt and white jeans. When others appraoch him he usually responds with a simple nod. Yet when he finally speaks, his wpords are always some sort of elemental truth.]]> 2018-11-28 05:48:28 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/308635916 ""They're just beginning to open the doors in their minds...But once you've been through that door, you can't just keep going through it over and over again"(213). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/309252759 Wolfe uses this quote to symbolzie what keseys movement is as a whole. It is importamnt to lead not just ot ve labeled a leader buyt to do something monumetual. It seems that this is Kesey's life motto, to be revolutionary. Although Ken was most likely talking about the drug experience and going to a sort of higher level, this message could be used for any situation with a leader. He has the belief that we must always be pushing to new levels and to be testing the boundaries. He simply means that we have to continue to move on to bigger and better things in life. it is important to learn from your past an not walk through the same doors.

]]> 2018-11-29 13:15:35 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/309252759 WEEK #2: The Fugitive 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/309648474 2018-11-30 06:01:08 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/309648474 "The Grateful Dead did not play in sets; no eight number to a set, then a twentyfive minute break, and so on, four or five sets and then the close-out. The Dead might play one number for four or five minutes or thirty minutes. Who kept time? Who could keep time, with history cut up in slices. The Dead could get just as stoned"(245). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/311510515 Part of the culture that Wolfe is writing about was the music. many bands were built around this movment. Which is part of the reason Wolfe argues it was a religion. The Grateful was a band that based its music around taking LSD. Wolfe uses this passage to intruduce the relationship between the music and the people during this time. The dead created music that was fluid with the drug the audience was taking. ]]> 2018-12-05 18:13:15 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/311510515 Temerity (Noun) An excessive amount of confidence or boldnes 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/311525823 "Kesey always had temerity, but it began to bother the group"(278).

No one had the temerity to question his ideas.]]> 2018-12-05 18:39:26 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/311525823 "What do you mean, blindly? That baby is a very sentient creature… That baby sees the world with a completeness that you and I will never know again. His doors of perception have not yet been closed. He still experiences the moment he lives in”(284). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/311530499 In this passage lsd is finally put into a bad light. This character sandy take unauthorized acid and has an awful trip. WHat happened to many hippies in the 60s was Sandy's exact situation. people would take unauthorized lsd overlooking the dangers, have an awful trip, and and upo in an infinite prison. One second you feel back to normal and the immediately you're realiving the ba dhigh. They're called flashback. I think it was important for Wolfe to give the audience a morerealsiotic look at what the drug life is and what the dangers of the prankster fun was. It could cost you your mental sanity.


]]> 2018-12-05 18:47:03 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/311530499 WEEK 3: The Graduation 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314119953 2018-12-13 03:53:45 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314119953 "They told him you can't trust a man who hasn't done time, and Kesey was on the way to doing time, in any case. Kesey said later that the marijuana bust impressed them but they couldn't care less that he was a novelist. But they knew about that, too, and here was a big name who was a friendly and interested in them, even though he wasn't as queer or a reporter or any of those other creep suck-ups who were coming around"(323). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314120138 As tom wolf introduces characters from the hells angels motorcycle group there is an immediate change in tone. Throughout the book Wolfe has always spoken with light, fun and judgment free words to match the pranksters vibe. When the Hells Angels group is introduced Wolfe starts using harsher words such as creep, suck-up and queer. This creates a darker more judgmental tone. This change in tone forms a parallel with the character shift. From talking about light hearted hippies to well known Hells Angels group members.]]> 2018-12-13 03:55:09 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314120138 Satori (Noun) Sudden Enlightenment 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314120315 "He told me I had found satori, it was an indescribable feeling. I knew and very few others did too"(367).

The road led them to satori, and their journey will continue forever]]> 2018-12-13 03:56:48 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314120315 "Everybody, everybody everywhere, has his own movie going, his own scenario, and everybody is acting his movie out like mad, only most people don’t know that is what they’re trapped by, their little script”(358). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314120924 Wolfe alludes to the idea that humans lives are movies, but we're all trapped by the script that we've created for ourselves. This passage further emphasizes the ideas that The pranksters built their culture around. They knew that regular people were stuck in their movie with the same old script so they used drugs to break the script. They took lsd to try an escape what they had made for themselves.]]> 2018-12-13 04:02:39 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314120924 "What they all saw in ... a flash.... was the solution to the basic predicament of being human, the personal I, Me, trapped, mortal and helpless, in a vast impersonal It, the world around me. Sud- denly!-All-in-one!-flowing together, I into It, and It into Me, and in that flow I perceive a power, so near and so clear, that the whole world is blind to"(397). 20estesi https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314121037 As the pranksters continue taking lsd Wolfe adds in a very personal description of somebodies trip. Wolfe himself never took any drugs so the trip had to be, Kesey's or one of the other pranksters. Wolfe specifically waits to give with is insight until the end of the book so that the reader gets a final personal view on one of their last trips. This quote also is used at the end help Wolfe in his final stages of arguing that the pranksters were starting a religion. This quote talks about a personal having a realization with powers and energies alluding to the idea that while a person was tripping they became in touch with some sort of higher power. As wolf wraps up the book the audience gets a personal insight into the mind of someone tripping and gives his final evidence on why he thinks the pranksters began and practiced religiously.]]> 2018-12-13 04:03:30 UTC https://padlet.com/20estesi/TomWolfe1/wish/314121037