Ken Kesey, the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, was a revolutionary American figure that was at the forefront of the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960s. He wanted to change the world, and he thought this could be done through LSD. He and his friends, known as the Merry Pranksters, aimed to turn on the world to a new consciousness. They hosted Acid Tests and traveled the country in hopes of spreading their message. You can read about their adventures in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Choose any section you wish and dive in. I think you will find the writing and the subject matter intriguing.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was inspired by Kesey's time in a veteran's mental hospital where he was given LSD as an experiment by the US government. Below you will find a video in which Kesey describes his first "trip" on acid.
Over the next two days, you will comment twice- once in response to the video and once in response to what you have read in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
The video of Ken Kesey's experience was very interesting. I liked how it was based on his time at the veteran's mental hospital where he was given the experiment and how the video showed what he felt during the experiment. I cannot wait to read the book!
ReplyDeleteThe chapter that I read of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test was very descriptive and the words really gave a feel of what he really experienced. It also talked a lot more about him than the video did. So, I got a better understanding of what his feelings were in the hospital and how he felt with his family. This book interested me a lot and I am very excited to read the book.
DeleteThe video of Ken Kesey was very intriguing. It was interesting because you could see his point of view on how the experience went and what his thoughts were and what he was interested in. It had a lot of detail about his experience with LSD and being an intern in the veterans mental hospital.
ReplyDeleteI am also eager to see what he will bring to the book. He seems to have different perspective on a lot of things, which will hopefully make the story more interesting and see how the background information plays into the story.
DeleteI found it very odd how Kesey was simply let out of CIA confines while under the influence of LSD. It seems he and his friends got very high and tried to make their LSD experience as insane as possible. If the CIA tested LSD on Kesey, how did they not make it illegal due to its remarkable affects on the user? I very much enjoyed the free spirit of Kesey, and I would love to know someone like that.
ReplyDeleteI think that the video about Kesey's experience with LSD was very interesting. As he says "I feel more exited than I do anxious," it intrigued me to keep watching to see how he explains the drug. In the beginning of the video, Kesey explains that he never smoked or did drugs or drank alcohol, and I thought it was interesting how he explained the sensation of the drug to be that of the feeling of being drunk.
ReplyDeleteIn the video, Kesey says that he expected to be testing a type of drug the relieves depression, or changes your mood to a better one. When Kesey tested LSD, he experienced that it was nothing like he had thought it would be. I find this intriguing because although Kesey was used as an experiment, not many people knew what the affects the drug would have on people would be. I also recall the video saying that the only preparation that Kesey had was an article from TIME about LSD being used on cats. When the cats took the drugs, they became afraid of mice. In this situation, reading this out of an article would frighten me about the affects the drug has. Although Kesey read the article, he still wanted to go through with the experiment. I find this very interesting because a majority of people would not want to be an experiment for a drug that has unknown outcomes such as the one Kesey took.
DeleteI was surprised by how easy it was for the Standford Hospital to conduct these LCD experiments so openly and freely on their students. It was fascinating to see how open Kesey was to the tests as well. I enjoyed seeing the perspective of Ken Kesey, a man from the 1960s, as he explained the effects of a drug that is seen as harmful and not to mention, illegal, today. The attempted advancement in medicine with the use of LCD as seen in this particular video is extremely interesting to witness through the eyes of a test subject.
ReplyDeleteI am also intrigued to see how this plays a role in the book we are about to read. Typically, books that are read in school do not have such a dark topic at hand, and I am eager to see how the background information that I have learned will be involved in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.
DeleteI find it ironic that when the video starts, Ken Kesey, is talking about how he never did drugs or drank and later on when he is put in the cell, he describes being drunk and high. It seemed to me that the LSD experiment wouldn't help insane people because when Kesey was under the drug, he began to talk about random, strange things like the tape recorder being a toad or the microphone being a razor.
ReplyDeleteThe chapter I read of The Electric Kool-Aid Acid test, Kesey has just been let out of jail and seems to be in a sullen mood until he is reunited with his wife and kids. I could see he really loved his family, but when he was with his friends, he was a completely different person. Kesey has a morbid look on life and often fazes out into memories and dreams. The style of writing is unique than what I've seen before and I think the book could be an interesting read.
DeleteI find this video very strange. I enjoyed learning about how this author spent his time, which gives me insight to his thinking style. It was very interesting how they saw such a strange effect, but still did not make it against the law.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this video. I found it to be very funny how in the beginning Ken tells the viewers that he never drank or did drugs in his lifetime. Then, later in the video you see Ken doing just that. You picture him as being a very put-together, sophisticated and bright person from his description of himself, which greatly contrasts to the stupid, confused and crazy person that he became when he was under the influence of LSD. This video shows the true effects of LSD. After watching this video, it seems as though LSD definitely would not help people because Ken acts strange and looney after taking the drug.
ReplyDeleteLSD is a drug that creates hallucinations and makes you "trip balls" It was funny seeing such a critically acclaimed author "trip balls". LSD is illegal (but still heavily used) today, and its interesting how the government itself was the one that introduced the drug.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the introduction to the blog post I thought LSD was a typo. It was funny in the video how he kept comparing everything to a toad. The experiment seemed to change his life drastically because he was a regular college student and a future olympian but when he did LSD, he said it was like finding a new part of the world.
ReplyDeleteI read some information on the Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, and it seems as if Kesey created a group of followers that encouraged a way of living which included the drugs- known as the "Merry Pranksters." The topic of this drug lifestyle could be a big part of the book we are about to begin because the author "preached" this way of life. Kesey became famous and eventually was wanted by the FBI, but was caught and convicted. Kesey's view in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest should be interesting because he was at the forefront of this experiment.
DeleteI thought the Video on LSD was very interesting. It was kinda funny because he was tripping like crazy. I thought that it was interesting how in the 1960's the government was interested in LSD. Also I thought it was crazy how they where asking regular people to try it and experiment with LSD in a hospital.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that, even when Ken Kesey was high, he still sounded very poetic describing everything he saw. Mixed with the backround music, the video was strange and kind of creepy. Ken seemed to ramble on, comparing the microphone recorder to a toad and a razor.
ReplyDeleteI am surprised at the seemingly lenient access that Kesey had to experience this drug. I thought that the hospital would've introduced him to all possible consequences of consuming LSD. It is also scary how far the mind can be manipulated... but I guess it incites some pretty interesting stories. Do not do drugs!!
ReplyDeleteI found the video on Ken Kesey and LSD very interesting. I found it funny that when Ken Kesey described his experience while high, he referred to almost everything looking like a toad and he also still sounded well-spoken. I was shocked at how interested the government was with LSD and could not believe that they asked regular people to test it.
ReplyDeleteI found the video on Kesey's LSD experience very interesting. I think it provided some great insight into what an LSD trip is like, especially with the visuals of the recorder turning into a toad, the strobe light, the clock with several hands, etc.
ReplyDeleteI liked seeing the connections Kesey would make during the tests, like hexagons, pentagons, but then not triangles, or even pyramids, but mummies and writing in a pyramid. It’s like his mind was going too fast to speak everything. I also never knew the government paid people to take LSD, that was new.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I noticed in the first chapter was that Ken didn't seem at all like a crazy guy. Wolfe describes his voice as “a soft voice with a country accent” and that he has a wrestler’s build, nothing stereo typically hippie at all. Kesey’s view on what LSD could do was also interesting. The idea that there would be no separation between him and his audience because during the Acid Tests they would all be taking the same drug at the same time was really something that I thought was “creative”.
DeleteThe chapter I read in The Electric Kool-Aid Test, labeled the Bladder Totem, describes how "The Pranksters" lived and how they viewed life. For example, Wolfe writes about how they saw everything that occurred as a large metaphor for life. One man pinched his fingers in a desk and then went on to rant about the meaning of life and how tables should work. Wolfe also describes how dirty and unrefined life was for "The Pranksters." After reading this, I found it shocking how they thought the drug could have a positive effect on the world as a whole.
ReplyDeleteKesey states at the beginning of the video that he was 'the prettiest little boy you've ever seen. I didn't smoke, I didn't drink". On top of all this, Kesey went to Stanford. I am curious as to why someone who had never done anything bad wanted to be part of an experiment where he tested a potentially dangerous drug.
ReplyDeleteI read the first few pages of chapter one in The Electric Kool Aid Test. I think that Kesey's experiences truly reinforce the fact that you should not do drugs. His story shows that this can happen to anyone. Ken went from being a successful novelist to a runaway from the government all because of drugs. He was in hiding, used disguises, and fled to Mexico...His life was turned completely upside down. DON'T DO DRUGS!!
ReplyDeleteKesey became the leader of the "merry pranksters", a group of people who thought LSD would change the world. They talked about how people in the world were just playing games, and they made a big deal about things that don't really matter, like a missed catch, a finger slammed in a desk, and they always talk about it, but the Merry Pranksters don't really do anything but take drugs and whine about it.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most interesting parts of "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" in my opinion is when they try to have the Acid Test Graduation. I found this fascinating because it allows the reader to try and see what their true motives were. They weren't simply looking to get high on a new drug, they had the intention of transcending to a higher state of mind, and they attempt to do this without the help of drugs, which shows that although the drugs are nice, they also want the experience.
ReplyDeleteI found this video a little unsettling, in the sense that humans are so powerful that they can manipulate their mental state and create an entirely new perception of the world simply based on a molecular compound. In a way, these acid tests promoted a twisted “way to change the world” as Kesey had intended, as his dazed and nonsensical utterances recorded during his test show the uncanny effects of unnatural neurological manipulation. I believe that achieving a world changing difference through a reality-altering psychedelic drug is frankly frightening, and this causes me to wonder about Kesey’s ideas for the world. What exactly did he have in mind for a LSD-based future? Did he truly believe that altering people’s perceptions to a potentially harmful neurological state would change the world?
ReplyDeleteI expect many of his futuristic ideals to appear in Cuckoo’s Nest, and am fascinated to hear his perspective on how he intended the twisted effects of LSD to be implemented in his ideal vision of the future.
I really liked the way that "Electric Kool-Aid Test" described the ideas that were popular in the time period and the reasonings of the different groups, bringing a more vibrant feel to the pages. I read Chapter 3, entitled "The Electric Suit," and I like the way that Kesey's character is illustrated.Within the first bit of the chapter, he appears as relaxed, nonchalant, yet not completely present, as it take time for him to digest Mountain Girl's question about jail. I specifically like the paragraphs that talk about the irony within the differing ways that the cops would act. Lastly, I liked thinking about the discussion that Kesey and Goldhill had.
ReplyDeleteThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test ultimately describes the themes of Kesey’s life at that time. Many of his actions illustrate an unwillingness to conform to societal pressures and authority. This can been seen through the mannerism of the “Merry Pranksters,” as their bright, exotic, and mismatched clothing is an visual symbol of both living under the psychedelic influence of LSD and their unwillingness to conform to the uniform, social pressure from society and authority. One can also infer that Kesey himself tries to hide from society, by hiding away in his “Versailles” in the Redwood forests, holding his LSD gatherings with his friends in a sanctuary where they can evade the social pressure that threaten the whimsical qualities of their youth. His experiments with LSD also illustrate his attempts at escaping reality, due to the fact that he immersed himself in the psychedelic experience in order to latch on to a colorful and warped sense of reality. These ideas will undoubtedly show themselves throughout One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest.
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