122-659: Ken Elton Kesey ( / ˈ k iː z iː / ; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born in La Junta, Colorado , and grew up in Springfield, Oregon , graduating from the University of Oregon in 1957. He began writing One Flew Over
244-470: A CIA -financed study under the aegis of Project MKULTRA , a highly secret military program, at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital, where he worked as a night aide. The project studied the effects of psychedelic drugs , particularly LSD , psilocybin , mescaline , cocaine , aMT , and DMT . Kesey wrote many detailed accounts of his experiences with these drugs, both during the study and in
366-1230: A pacifism orientation, naturism , etc, ...". In 1968, in Carrara , Italy the International of Anarchist Federations was founded during an international anarchist conference held there in 1968 by the three existing European federations of France , the Italian and the Iberian Anarchist Federation as well as the Bulgarian federation in French exile. During the events of May 68 the anarchist groups active in France were Fédération Anarchiste , Mouvement communiste libertaire, Union fédérale des anarchistes, Alliance ouvrière anarchiste, Union des groupes anarchistes communistes, Noir et Rouge, Confédération nationale du travail , Union anarcho-syndicaliste, Organisation révolutionnaire anarchiste, Cahiers socialistes libertaires , À contre-courant , La Révolution prolétarienne , and
488-479: A tumor ; he did not recover and died of complications several weeks later on November 10 at age 66. After a public service in Eugene, his body was brought back to his farm and buried next to his son Jed. The film Gerry (2002) is dedicated to Kesey. Kesey Square is in downtown Eugene, Oregon . This is a selected list of Kesey's better-known works. Counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of
610-580: A Great Notion inspired a 1970 film starring and directed by Paul Newman ; it was nominated for two Academy Awards , and in 1972 was the first film shown by the new television network HBO , in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania . In 1965, Kesey was arrested in La Honda for marijuana possession. In an attempt to mislead police, he faked suicide by having friends leave his truck on a cliffside road near Eureka , along with an elaborate suicide note written by
732-546: A collection of Native American artifacts. The Koshare Indian museum hosts a unique Boy Scout / Explorer program which trains the Scouts in both Native American dance and building traditional outfits. The Scouts give dance performances during the summer and also host Scout troops from other areas. Purgatoire River track site , one of the largest dinosaur track sites in North America, is south of La Junta. The Caboose
854-644: A daughter, Sunshine Kesey, with fellow Merry Prankster Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Adams . Born in 1966, Sunshine was raised by Adams and her stepfather, Jerry Garcia . Kesey had a football scholarship for his first year, but switched to the University of Oregon wrestling team as a better fit for his build. After posting a .885 winning percentage in the 1956–57 season, he received the Fred Low Scholarship for outstanding Northwest wrestler. In 1957, Kesey
976-409: A decline of the suit and especially of the wearing of hats; other changes included the normalisation of long hair worn down for women (as well as many men at the time), the popularization of traditional African, Indian and Middle Eastern styles of dress (including the wearing of natural hair for those of African descent), the invention and popularization of the miniskirt which raised hemlines above
1098-426: A departmental Stegner Fellowship before permitting his attendance as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. Reinforcing these perceptions, Stegner's deputy Richard Scowcroft later recalled that "neither Wally nor I thought he had a particularly important talent." According to Stone, Stegner "saw Kesey... as a threat to civilization and intellectualism and sobriety" and continued to reject Kesey's Stegner Fellowship applications for
1220-471: A female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% were non-families. 30.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 15.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 3.06. In the city, the population was spread out, with 27.1% under the age of 18, 10.4% from 18 to 24, 24.6% from 25 to 44, 21.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age
1342-436: A narcotic , and the attachment of severe criminal penalties for its use, drove the act of smoking marijuana, and experimentation with substances in general, deep underground. Many began to live largely clandestine lives because of their choice to use such drugs and substances, fearing retribution from their governments. The confrontations between college students (and other activists) and law enforcement officials became one of
SECTION 10
#17327720723721464-552: A public bus system with one route that circles the city. Intercity transportation is provided by Bustang . La Junta is part of the Lamar-Pueblo-Colorado Springs Outrider line. The former military airport, located 5 miles (8.0 km) north of La Junta, has 77 acres (31 ha) of tarmac and two runways. One runway (east-west) is 6,851 feet (2,088 m) long and the other is 5,800 feet (1,800 m). [1] . The city and region are served by
1586-523: A rethinking of the direction of the United States and other democratic societies . Post-war affluence allowed much of the counterculture generation to move beyond the provision of the material necessities of life that had preoccupied their Depression-era parents. The era was also notable in that a significant portion of the array of behaviors and "causes" within the larger movement were quickly assimilated within mainstream society, particularly in
1708-754: A rift of dissent within the establishment. In the UK, the Profumo affair also involved establishment leaders being caught in deception, leading to disillusionment and serving as a catalyst for liberal activism. The Cuban Missile Crisis , which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war in October 1962, was largely fomented by duplicitous speech and actions on the part of the Soviet Union. The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, and
1830-458: A widened area of consciousness, love and sexual experimentation as more worthy of their attention than entering the rat race. The straight, consumerist lifestyle was not to their liking, but they did not object to others living it. But at that time the middle classes still felt they had the right to impose their values on everyone else, which resulted in conflict." In the Netherlands, Provo
1952-580: A year-long stay in the country; Aboriginal activist Cheryl Buchanan (who was active in the 1972 setup of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy ; and later partner of poet and activist Lionel Fogarty ) and radical scientist Alan Roberts (1925–2017 ) on global warming —and ongoing coverage of cultural trailblazers such as the Australian Performing Group (aka Pram Factory ), and emerging Australian filmmakers. The Digger
2074-508: Is associated with college campus mass protests and radical leftist movements. The British "New Left" was an intellectually driven movement that attempted to correct the perceived errors of " Old Left " parties in the post–World War II period. The movements began to wind down in the 1970s, when activists either committed themselves to party projects, developed social justice organizations, moved into identity politics or alternative lifestyles , or became politically inactive. The emergence of
2196-597: Is home to Otero College . La Junta (Spanish for ' the junction ' ) was named for the fact it rested at the intersection of the Santa Fe Trail and a pioneer road to Pueblo. The town developed near Bent's Fort , a fur trading post of the 19th century. During World War II , La Junta had an Army Air Force Training Base outside town. An Air Force detachment of the Strategic Air Command remained there until modern flight simulators developed in
2318-539: Is the drive-through for the State Bank, which was established in 1893. The bank has been remodeled with antiques, including a teller line from the late 1890s. The city is served by the daily newspaper The Tribune-Democrat . The city is also served by a local radio station that broadcasts in AM and FM. They are KBLJ 1400 AM and KTHN 92.1 FM. La Junta, until recently, had a railroad yard for assembling freight trains for
2440-522: The "Bloody Sunday" event of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches , and graphic news footage from Vietnam brought horrifying, moving images of the bloody reality of armed conflict into living rooms for the first time. The breakdown of enforcement of the US Hays Code concerning censorship in motion picture production, the use of new forms of artistic expression in European and Asian cinema, and
2562-488: The American Dream . Many key movements related to these issues were born or advanced within the counterculture of the 1960s. As the era unfolded, what emerged were new cultural forms and a dynamic subculture that celebrated experimentation, individuality, modern incarnations of Bohemianism , and the rise of the hippie and other alternative lifestyles . This embrace of experimentation is particularly notable in
SECTION 20
#17327720723722684-685: The Grateful Dead ), black lights , fluorescent paint, strobe lights , LSD, and other psychedelic effects. These parties were described in some of Allen Ginsberg 's poems and served as the basis for Tom Wolfe 's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , an early exemplar of the nonfiction novel . Other firsthand accounts of the Acid Tests appear in Living with the Dead by Rock Scully and David Dalton, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of
2806-583: The Hog Farm , Quarry Hill , and Drop City in the US were established as straightforward agrarian attempts to return to the land and live free of interference from outside influences. As the era progressed, many people established and populated new communities in response to not only disillusionment with standard community forms, but also dissatisfaction with certain elements of the counterculture itself. Some of these self-sustaining communities have been credited with
2928-580: The Partial Test Ban Treaty which prohibited atmospheric nuclear testing. La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in, the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado , United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census . La Junta is located on the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado 68 miles (109 km) east of Pueblo . The city
3050-561: The South Bronx as a means to validate Puerto Rican experience in the United States, particularly for poor and working-class people who suffered from marginalization , ostracism, and discrimination. Young Cuban exiles in the United States would develop interests in Cuban identity, and politics. This younger generation had experienced the United States during the rising anti-war movement , civil rights movement , and feminist movement of
3172-525: The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication in neighboring Eugene in 1956, Kesey eloped with his high-school sweetheart, Oregon State College student Norma "Faye" Haxby, whom he had met in seventh grade. According to Kesey, "Without Faye, I would have been swept overboard by notoriety and weird, dope-fueled ideas and flower-child girls with beamy eyes and bulbous breasts." Married until his death, they had three children: Jed, Zane and Shannon. Additionally, with Faye's approval, Kesey fathered
3294-476: The Vietnam War began in 1964 on United States college campuses. Student activism became a dominant theme among the baby boomers, growing to include many other demographic groups. Exemptions and deferments for the middle and upper classes resulted in the induction of a disproportionate number of poor, working-class, and minority registrants. Countercultural books such as MacBird by Barbara Garson and much of
3416-675: The civil rights movement in the United States had made significant progress, such as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , and with the intensification of the Vietnam War that same year, it became revolutionary to some. As the movement progressed, widespread social tensions also developed concerning other issues, and tended to flow along generational lines regarding respect for the individual , human sexuality , women's rights , traditional modes of authority , rights of people of color , end of racial segregation, experimentation with psychoactive drugs , and differing interpretations of
3538-472: The concert film Gimme Shelter , Medium Cool , Zabriskie Point and Punishment Park . By the later 1960s, previously under-regarded FM radio replaced AM radio as the focal point for the ongoing explosion of rock and roll music, and became the nexus of youth-oriented news and advertising for the counterculture generation. Communes , collectives , and intentional communities regained popularity during this era. Early communities such as
3660-569: The modernist grandeur of William Faulkner 's Yoknapatawpha saga, Kesey regarded it as his magnum opus. In 1965, after being arrested for marijuana possession and faking suicide, Kesey was imprisoned for five months. Shortly thereafter, he returned home to the Willamette Valley and settled in Pleasant Hill, Oregon , where he maintained a secluded, family-oriented lifestyle for the rest of his life. In addition to teaching at
3782-561: The nuclear weapons policy since before the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The public became concerned about nuclear weapons testing from about 1954, following extensive nuclear testing in the Pacific . In 1961 and 1962, at the height of the Cold War , about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons . In 1963, many countries ratified
Ken Kesey - Misplaced Pages Continue
3904-462: The poverty line , including 31.4% of those under age 18 and 10.0% of those age 65 or over. Tourists come to see tarantulas who are looking for mates during the cooler weather in September and into October each year. Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site , an important trading post along the Santa Fe Trail , is northeast of La Junta. The Koshare Indian Museum , housed at Otero College , holds
4026-493: The " Sponti " movement and other leftist groups. In the late summer of 1968, the commune moved into a deserted factory on Stephanstraße to reorient. This second phase of Kommune 1 was characterized by sex, music and drugs. Soon, the commune was receiving visitors from all over the world, including Jimi Hendrix . Mánička is a Czech term used for young people with long hair, usually males, in Czechoslovakia through
4148-473: The "old school" political left either ignored or denounced them. According to ABC News , "The group was known for street theater pranks and was once referred to as the ' Groucho Marxists '." In Trafalgar Square , London in 1958, in an act of civil disobedience , 60,000–100,000 protesters made up of students and pacifists converged in what was to become the " ban the Bomb " demonstrations. Opposition to
4270-483: The 174-pound (79 kg) weight division, and almost qualified to be on the Olympic team, but a serious shoulder injury halted his wrestling career. He graduated from Springfield High School in 1953. An avid reader and filmgoer, the young Kesey took John Wayne , Edgar Rice Burroughs , and Zane Grey as his role models (later naming a son Zane) and toyed with magic , ventriloquism and hypnotism . While attending
4392-435: The 1959–60 and 1960–61 terms. Nevertheless, Kesey received the prestigious $ 2,000 Harper-Saxton Prize for his first novel in progress (the oft-rejected Zoo ) and audited the graduate writing seminar—a courtesy nominally accorded to former Stegner Fellows, although Kesey only secured his place by falsely claiming to Scowcroft that his colleague (on sabbatical through 1960) "had said that he could attend classes for free"—through
4514-482: The 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is often synonymous with cultural liberalism and with the various social changes of the decade. The effects of the movement have been ongoing to the present day. The aggregate movement gained momentum as
4636-631: The 1960s and 1970s. Anarchism was influential in the counterculture of the 1960s and anarchists actively participated in the late 1960s students and workers revolts . During the IX Congress of the Italian Anarchist Federation in Carrara in 1965, a group decided to split off from this organization and created the Gruppi di Iniziativa Anarchica . In the 1970s, it was mostly composed of "veteran individualist anarchists with
4758-652: The 1960s and 1970s. Long hair for males during this time was considered an expression of political and social attitudes in communist Czechoslovakia . From the mid-1960s, the long-haired and "untidy" persons (so called máničky or vlasatci (in English: Mops ) were banned from entering pubs, cinema halls, theatres and using public transportation in several Czech cities and towns. In 1964, the public transportation regulations in Most and Litvínov excluded long-haired máničky as displeasure-evoking persons. Two years later,
4880-881: The 1960s, also called the Chicano civil rights movement, was a civil rights movement extending the Mexican-American civil rights movement of the 1960s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment. The American Indian Movement (or AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement that was founded in July 1968 in Minneapolis , Minnesota. A.I.M. was initially formed in urban areas to address systemic issues of poverty and police brutality against Native Americans. A.I.M. soon widened its focus from urban issues to include many Indigenous Tribal issues that Native American groups have faced due to settler colonialism of
5002-447: The 1960s, causing them to be influenced by radicals that encouraged political introspection, and social justice. Figures like Fidel Castro and Che Guevara were also heavily praised among American student radicals at the time. These factors helped push some young Cubans into advocating for different degrees of rapprochement with Cuba. Those most likely to become more radical were Cubans who were more culturally isolated from being outside
Ken Kesey - Misplaced Pages Continue
5124-459: The 1960–61 term. The course was initially taught that year by Viking Press editorial consultant and Lost Generation eminence grise Malcolm Cowley , who was "always glad to see" Kesey and fellow auditor Tillie Olsen . Cowley was succeeded the following quarter by the Irish short-story specialist Frank O'Connor ; frequent spats between O'Connor and Kesey ultimately precipitated his departure from
5246-578: The 1980s rendered live flight unnecessary for pilot training maneuvers. At least one military aircraft crashed closeby during such training maneuvers. The area is high plains terrain, dry with short grass prairie and sagebrush, and is part of the Southwestern Tablelands ecological region. This area of Colorado is often the warmest. Summer brings numerous days above 100 °F (37.8 °C). The hottest temperature recorded in La Junta
5368-536: The Americas, such as treaty rights , high rates of unemployment, education, cultural continuity, and preservation of Indigenous cultures. The Asian American movement was a sociopolitical movement in which the widespread grassroots effort of Asian Americans affected racial, social and political change in the US, reaching its peak in the late 1960s to mid-1970s. During this period Asian Americans promoted antiwar and anti-imperialist activism, directly opposing what
5490-490: The Cuban enclave of Miami. Much of the 1960s counterculture originated on college campuses. The 1964 Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, which had its roots in the Civil Rights Movement of the southern United States, was one early example. At Berkeley a group of students began to identify themselves as having interests as a class that were at odds with the interests and practices of
5612-515: The Cuckoo's Nest in 1960 after completing a graduate fellowship in creative writing at Stanford University ; the novel was an immediate commercial and critical success when published two years later. During this period, Kesey participated in CIA-financed studies involving hallucinogenic drugs (including mescaline and LSD ) to supplement his income. After One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5734-649: The Kesey home in Pleasant Hill. In 1988, Kesey donated $ 33,395 toward the purchase of a proper bus for the school's wrestling team. Kesey was diagnosed with diabetes in 1992. In 1994, he toured with members of the Merry Pranksters, performing a musical play he wrote about the millennium called Twister: A Ritual Reality . Many old and new friends and family showed up to support the Pranksters on this tour, which took them from Seattle's Bumbershoot all along
5856-583: The New Left in the 1950s and 1960s led to a revival of interest in libertarian socialism . The New Left's critique of the Old Left 's authoritarianism was associated with a strong interest in personal liberty, autonomy (see the thinking of Cornelius Castoriadis ) and led to a rediscovery of older socialist traditions, such as left communism , council communism , and the Industrial Workers of
5978-660: The New Year's 1978/1979 concert at the Winterland Arena in San Francisco, Kesey is featured in a between-set interview. On August 14, 1997, Kesey and his Pranksters attended a Phish concert in Darien Lake , New York. Kesey and the Pranksters appeared onstage with the band and performed a dance-trance-jam session involving several characters from The Wizard of Oz and Frankenstein . In June 2001, Kesey
6100-455: The Ocean , a literary magazine that featured excerpts from an unfinished novel ( Seven Prayers by Grandma Whittier , an account of Kesey's grandmother's struggle with Alzheimer's disease ) and contributions from writers including Margo St. James , Kate Millett , Stewart Brand , Saul-Paul Sirag , Jack Sarfatti , Paul Krassner and William S. Burroughs . After a third novel ( Sailor Song )
6222-596: The Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs by Hunter S. Thompson and the 1967 Hells Angels memoir Freewheelin Frank: Secretary of the Angels (Frank Reynolds; ghostwritten by Michael McClure ). While enrolled at the University of Oregon in 1957, Kesey wrote End of Autumn ; according to Rick Dogson, the novel "focused on the exploitation of college athletes by telling the tale of a football lineman who
SECTION 50
#17327720723726344-557: The Pranksters. Kesey fled to Mexico in the back of a friend's car. He returned to the U.S. eight months later. On January 17, 1966, Kesey was sentenced to six months at the San Mateo County jail in Redwood City , California. Two nights later, he was arrested again, this time with Carolyn Adams, while smoking marijuana on the rooftop of Stewart Brand 's Telegraph Hill home in San Francisco. On his release, he moved back to
6466-510: The South by white-dominated state government , and ongoing racial discrimination in jobs, housing, and access to public places in both the North and the South. On college and university campuses, student activists fought for the right to exercise their basic constitutional rights, especially freedom of speech and freedom of assembly . Many counterculture activists became aware of the plight of
6588-422: The US, even though counterculture participants numbered in the clear minority within their respective national populations. The Cold War between communist and capitalist states involved espionage and preparation for war between powerful nations, along with political and military interference by powerful states in the internal affairs of less powerful nations. Poor outcomes from some of these activities set
6710-853: The US, the social tension between elements of the counterculture and law enforcement reached the breaking point in many notable cases, including: the Columbia University protests of 1968 in New York City, the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests in Chicago, the arrest and imprisonment of John Sinclair in Ann Arbor, Michigan , and the Kent State shootings at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where National Guardsman acted as surrogates for police. Police malfeasance
6832-453: The United States , and transnational solidarity with peoples around the globe impacted by U.S. militarism ." and intellectual movement involving poets, writers, musicians and artists who are Puerto Rican or of Puerto-Rican descent, who live in or near New York City, and either call themselves or are known as Nuyoricans . It originated in the late 1960s and early 1970s in neighborhoods such as Loisaida , East Harlem , Williamsburg , and
6954-618: The University of Oregon—an experience that culminated in Caverns (1989), a collaborative novel by Kesey and his graduate workshop students under the pseudonym "O.U. Levon"—he continued to regularly contribute fiction and reportage to such publications as Esquire , Rolling Stone , Oui , Running , and The Whole Earth Catalog ; various iterations of these pieces were collected in Kesey's Garage Sale (1973) and Demon Box (1986). Between 1974 and 1980, Kesey published six issues of Spit in
7076-449: The West Coast, including a sold-out two-night run at The Fillmore in San Francisco to Boulder, Colorado , where they coaxed the Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg into performing with them. Kesey mainly kept to his home life in Pleasant Hill , preferring to make artistic contributions on the Internet or holding ritualistic revivals in the spirit of the Acid Test. In the Grateful Dead DVD The Closing of Winterland (2003) documenting
7198-419: The Western world, effectively united millions against the war, and against the war policy that prevailed under five US congresses and during two presidential administrations. The counterculture movement took hold in Western Europe, with London, Amsterdam, Paris, Rome and Milan, Copenhagen and West Berlin rivaling San Francisco and New York as counterculture centers. The UK Underground was a movement linked to
7320-541: The World . The New Left also led to a revival of anarchism. Journals like Radical America and Black Mask in America, Solidarity , Big Flame and Democracy & Nature , succeeded by The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy , in the UK, introduced a range of left libertarian ideas to a new generation. Social ecology , autonomism and, more recently, participatory economics (parecon), and Inclusive Democracy emerged from this. A surge of popular interest in anarchism occurred in western nations during
7442-462: The advent of modern production values heralded a new era of art-house , pornographic, and mainstream film production, distribution, and exhibition. The end of censorship resulted in a complete reformation of the western film industry. With new-found artistic freedom, a generation of exceptionally talented New Wave film makers working across all genres brought realistic depictions of previously prohibited subject matter to neighborhood theater screens for
SECTION 60
#17327720723727564-404: The assistance of the state police. On August 19, 1966, during a "safety intervention" organized by the state police, 140 long-haired people were arrested. As a response, the "community of long-haired" organized a protest in Prague . More than 100 people cheered slogans such as "Give us back our hair!" or "Away with hairdressers!". The state police arrested the organizers and several participants of
7686-412: The associated massive expansion of consumerism afforded by post-war affluence and encouraged by TV advertising—were key components in creating disillusionment for some younger people and in the formulation of new social behaviours, even as ad agencies heavily courted the "hip" youth market. In the US, nearly real-time TV news coverage of the civil rights movement era's 1963 Birmingham Campaign ,
7808-424: The attendant theories concerning the event, led to further diminished trust in government, including among younger people. Many social issues fueled the growth of the larger counterculture movement. One was a nonviolent movement in the United States seeking to resolve constitutional civil rights illegalities, especially regarding general racial segregation , longstanding disfranchisement of Black people in
7930-445: The birth and propagation of the international Green Movement . The emergence of an interest in expanded spiritual consciousness, yoga , occult practices and increased human potential helped to shift views on organized religion during the era. In 1957, 69% of US residents polled by Gallup said religion was increasing in influence. By the late 1960s, polls indicated less than 20% still held that belief. The " Generation Gap ", or
8052-404: The city was 74.22% White , 1.22% African American , 1.77% Native American , 0.86% Asian , 0.13% Pacific Islander , 18.33% from other races , and 3.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 43.60% of the population. There were 2,977 households, out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.0% were married couples living together, 14.7% had
8174-447: The class. While under Cowley's tutelage, he began to draft and workshop a manuscript that evolved into One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . Reflecting upon this period in a 1999 interview with Robert K. Elder , Kesey recalled, "I was too young to be a beatnik , and too old to be a hippie." At the invitation of Perry Lane neighbor and Stanford psychology graduate student Vic Lovell, Kesey volunteered to take part in what turned out to be
8296-598: The climb over Raton Pass . BNSF runs freight trains between Denver and Kansas/Texas via La Junta. The sole remaining major train crossing Raton Pass today is the daily Southwest Chief , in both directions, between Los Angeles and Chicago. U.S. Highway 50 travels through La Junta, approaching from Pueblo to the northwest and continuing eastward towards Lamar and into Kansas . U.S. Highway 350 begins at La Junta and travels southwest before reaching Trinidad . State Highway 10 also begins at La Junta and travels west-southwest before reaching Walsenburg . The city operates
8418-435: The consumption of LSD with multimedia performances. He mentored the Grateful Dead , who were the Acid Tests' house band , and continued to exert a profound influence upon the group throughout their career. Kesey's second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion , was a commercial success that polarized some critics and readers upon its release in 1964. An epic account of the vicissitudes of an Oregon logging family that aspired to
8540-450: The counterculture music encouraged a spirit of non-conformism and anti-establishmentarianism. By 1968, the year after a large march to the United Nations in New York City and a large protest at the Pentagon were undertaken, a majority of people in the country opposed the war. The application of nuclear technology , both as a source of energy and as an instrument of war, has been controversial. Scientists and diplomats have debated
8662-405: The counterculture. The three-day Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro , held in 1971, was organized in the valley of Avándaro near the city of Toluca , a town neighboring Mexico City, and became known as "The Mexican Woodstock". Nudity, drug use, and the presence of the US flag scandalized conservative Mexican society to such an extent that the government clamped down on rock and roll performances for
8784-482: The enduring uniform of the generation, as daily wearing of suits along with traditional Western dress codes declined in use. The fashion dominance of the counterculture effectively ended with the rise of the Disco and Punk Rock eras in the later 1970s, even as the global popularity of T-shirts, denim jeans, and casual clothing in general have continued to grow. In the western world, the ongoing criminal legal status of
8906-553: The family farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregon , in the Willamette Valley , where he spent the rest of his life. He wrote many articles, books (mostly collections of his articles), and short stories during that time. On January 23, 1984, Kesey's 20-year-old son Jed, a wrestler for the University of Oregon , suffered severe head injuries on the way to Pullman, Washington , when the team's loaned van crashed after sliding off an icy highway. Two days later at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane , he
9028-489: The first time, even as Hollywood film studios were still considered a part of the establishment by some elements of the counterculture. Successful 1960s new films of the New Hollywood were Bonnie and Clyde , The Graduate , The Wild Bunch , and Dennis Hopper 's Easy Rider . Other examples of hippie modernist cinema includes experimental short films made by figures like Jordan Belson and Bruce Conner ,
9150-403: The forefront as an increasing number of primarily younger people broke free from the constraints of 1950s orthodoxy and struggled to create a more inclusive and tolerant social landscape. The availability of new and more effective forms of birth control was a key underpinning of the sexual revolution . The notion of "recreational sex" without the threat of unwanted pregnancy radically changed
9272-538: The government fearing a repeat of the student protests of 1968. Few bands survived the prohibition, though the ones that did, like Three Souls in My Mind (now El Tri ), remained popular due in part to their adoption of Spanish for their lyrics, but mostly as a result of a dedicated underground following. While Mexican rock groups were eventually able to perform publicly by the mid-1980s, the ban prohibiting tours of Mexico by foreign acts lasted until 1989. The Cordobazo
9394-410: The growing subculture in the US and associated with the hippie phenomenon, generating its own magazines and newspapers, fashion, music groups, and clubs. Underground figure Barry Miles said, "The underground was a catch-all sobriquet for a community of like-minded anti-establishment, anti-war, pro-rock'n'roll individuals, most of whom had a common interest in recreational drugs. They saw peace, exploring
9516-458: The hallmarks of the era. Many younger people began to show deep distrust of police, and terms such as " fuzz " and "pig" as derogatory epithets for police reappeared, and became key words within the counterculture lexicon. The distrust of police was based not only on fear of police brutality during political protests, but also on generalized police corruption—especially police manufacture of false evidence, and outright entrapment, in drug cases. In
9638-406: The inevitable perceived divide in worldview between the old and young, was perhaps never greater than during the counterculture era. A large measure of the generational chasm of the 1960s and early 1970s was born of rapidly evolving fashion and hairstyle trends that were readily adopted by the young, but often misunderstood and ridiculed by the old. These included the wearing of very long hair by men,
9760-472: The knees, as well as the development of distinguished, youth-led fashion subcultures . Styles based around jeans , for both men and women, became an important fashion movement that has continued up to the present day. Several factors distinguished the counterculture of the 1960s from anti-authoritarian movements of previous eras. The post-World War II baby boom generated an unprecedented number of potentially disaffected youth as prospective participants in
9882-466: The maverick literary critic Leslie Fiedler (then based at the University of Montana ) successfully importuned the regional fellowship committee to select the "rough-hewn" Kesey alongside more traditional fellows from Reed College and other elite institutions. Because he lacked the prerequisites to work toward a traditional master's degree in English as a communications major, Kesey elected to enroll in
10004-592: The meeting. Some of them were given prison sentences. According to the newspaper Mladá fronta Dnes , the Czechoslovak Ministry of Interior in 1966 even compiled a detailed map of the frequency of occurrence of long-haired males in Czechoslovakia. In August 1969, during the first anniversary of the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia , the long-haired youth were one of the most active voices in
10126-579: The municipal council in Poděbrady banned máničky from entering cultural institutions in the town. In August 1966, Rudé právo informed that máničky in Prague were banned from visiting restaurants of the I. and II. price category. In 1966, during a big campaign coordinated by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia , around 4,000 young males were forced to cut their hair, often in the cells with
10248-662: The nature of the 1960 U-2 incident resulted in the government being caught in a blatant lie at the highest levels, and contributed to a backdrop of growing distrust of authority among many who came of age during the period. The Partial Test Ban Treaty divided the establishment within the US along political and military lines. Internal political disagreements concerning treaty obligations in Southeast Asia ( SEATO ), especially in Vietnam , and debate as to how other communist insurgencies should be challenged, also created
10370-696: The non-degree program at Stanford University 's Creative Writing Center that fall. While studying and working in the Stanford milieu over the next five years, most of them spent as a resident of Perry Lane (a historically bohemian enclave next to the university golf course), he developed intimate lifelong friendships with fellow writers Ken Babbs , Larry McMurtry , Wendell Berry , Ed McClanahan , Gurney Norman and Robert Stone . During his initial fellowship year, Kesey frequently clashed with Center director Wallace Stegner , who regarded him as "a sort of highly talented illiterate" and rejected Kesey's application for
10492-407: The novel was an immediate success; in 1963, it was adapted into a successful stage play by Dale Wasserman , and in 1975, Miloš Forman directed a screen adaptation , which won the "Big Five" Academy Awards: Best Picture , Best Actor ( Jack Nicholson ), Best Actress ( Louise Fletcher ), Best Director (Forman) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Lawrence Hauben and Bo Goldman ). Kesey originally
10614-629: The original English Diggers led by Gerrard Winstanley and sought to create a mini-society free of money and capitalism . On the other hand, the Yippies employed theatrical gestures, such as advancing a pig (" Pigasus the Immortal") as a candidate for president in 1968, to mock the social status quo. They have been described as a highly theatrical, anti-authoritarian and anarchist youth movement of "symbolic politics". Since they were well known for street theater and politically themed pranks, many of
10736-407: The poor, and community organizers fought for the funding of anti-poverty programs , particularly in the South and within inner city areas in the United States. Environmentalism grew from a greater understanding of the ongoing damage caused by industrialization, resultant pollution, and the misguided use of chemicals such as pesticides in well-meaning efforts to improve the quality of life for
10858-694: The publications close to Émile Armand . The New Left in the United States also included anarchist, countercultural and hippie -related radical groups such as the Yippies who were led by Abbie Hoffman , The Diggers and Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers . By late 1966, the Diggers opened free stores which simply gave away their stock, provided free food, distributed free drugs, gave away money, organized free music concerts, and performed works of political art. The Diggers took their name from
10980-400: The rapidly growing population. Authors such as Rachel Carson played key roles in developing a new awareness among the global population of the fragility of our planet , despite resistance from elements of the establishment in many countries. The need to address minority rights of women, gay people, the disabled, and many other neglected constituencies within the larger population came to
11102-466: The recreational drug industry was instrumental in the formation of an anti-establishment social dynamic by some of those coming of age during the counterculture era. The explosion of marijuana use during the era, in large part by students on fast-expanding college campuses, created an attendant need for increasing numbers of people to conduct their personal affairs in secret in the procurement and use of banned substances. The classification of marijuana as
11224-506: The rest of the decade. The festival, marketed as proof of Mexico's modernization, was never expected to attract the masses it did, and the government had to evacuate stranded attendees en masse at the end. This occurred during the era of President Luis Echeverría , an extremely repressive era in Mexican history. Anything that could be connected to the counterculture or student protests was prohibited from being broadcast on public airwaves, with
11346-549: The same struggle against the military government . The Civil Rights Movement, a key element of the larger counterculture movement, involved the use of applied nonviolence to assure that equal rights guaranteed under the US Constitution would apply to all citizens. Many states illegally denied many of these rights to African-Americans, and this was partially successfully addressed in the early and mid-1960s in several major nonviolent movements. The Chicano Movement of
11468-487: The second half of his collegiate career with James B. Hall, a cosmopolitan alumnus of the Iowa Writers' Workshop who had previously taught at Cornell University and later served as provost of College V at the University of California, Santa Cruz . Hall took on Kesey as his protégé and cultivated his interest in literary fiction, introducing Kesey (whose reading interests were hitherto confined to science fiction ) to
11590-440: The social dynamic and permitted both women and men much greater freedom in the selection of sexual lifestyles outside the confines of traditional marriage. With this change in attitude, by the 1990s the ratio of children born out of wedlock rose from 5% to 25% for Whites and from 25% to 66% for African-Americans. For those born after World War II , the emergence of television as a source of entertainment and information—as well as
11712-463: The stage for disillusionment with and distrust of post-war governments. Examples included harsh responses from the Soviet Union (USSR) towards popular anti-communist uprisings, such as the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Czechoslovakia 's Prague Spring in 1968; and the botched US Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba in 1961. In the US, President Dwight D. Eisenhower 's initial deception over
11834-530: The state protesting against the occupation. Youth protesters have been labeled as "vagabonds" and "slackers" by the official normalized press. Oz magazine was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963 and 1969 in Sydney, and, in its second and better known incarnation, became a "psychedelic hippy" magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London. Strongly identified as part of the underground press , it
11956-522: The university and its corporate sponsors. Other rebellious young people, who were not students, also contributed to the Free Speech Movement. The New Left is a term used in different countries to describe left-wing movements that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s in the Western world. They differed from earlier leftist movements that had been more oriented towards labour activism, and instead adopted social activism. The American "New Left"
12078-414: The villains real and near, the awful villains of ignorance, and cancer, and heart disease and highway death. How many school buses could be outfitted with seatbelts with the money spent for one of those 16-inch shells? At a Grateful Dead concert soon after the death of promoter Bill Graham , Kesey delivered a eulogy, mentioning that Graham had donated $ 1,000 toward a memorial to Jed atop Mount Pisgah , near
12200-430: The wearing of natural or " Afro " hairstyles by Black people, the donning of revealing clothing by women in public, and the mainstreaming of the psychedelic clothing and regalia of the short-lived hippie culture. Ultimately, practical and comfortable casual apparel, namely updated forms of T-shirts (often tie-dyed , or emblazoned with political or advertising statements), and Levi Strauss-branded blue denim jeans became
12322-554: The works of Ernest Hemingway and other paragons of literary modernism . After the last of several brief summer sojourns as a struggling actor in Los Angeles , Kesey published his first short story ("First Sunday of September") in the Northwest Review and successfully applied to the highly selective Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship for the 1958–59 academic year. Unbeknownst to Kesey, who applied at Hall's request,
12444-476: The works of popular musical acts such as the Beatles , Jimi Hendrix , Jim Morrison , Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan , as well as of New Hollywood , French New Wave , and Japanese New Wave filmmakers, whose works became far less restricted by censorship. Within and across many disciplines, many other creative artists, authors, and thinkers helped define the counterculture movement. Everyday fashion experienced
12566-871: The years of private drug use that followed. Kesey's role as a medical guinea pig, as well as his stint working at the Veterans' Administration hospital , inspired One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . The book's success, as well as the demolition of the Perry Lane cabins in August 1963, allowed him to move to a log house in La Honda, California , a rustic hamlet in the Santa Cruz Mountains 15 miles southwest of Stanford University. He frequently entertained friends and many others with parties he called " Acid Tests ", involving music (including Kesey's favorite band,
12688-439: Was 110 °F (43.3 °C) on June 28, 1990, and June 24, 2012, while the coldest temperature recorded was −23 °F (−30.6 °C) on January 20, 1948. There were 7,568 people, 2,977 households, and 1,964 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,652.0 inhabitants per square mile (1,023.9/km ). There were 3,277 housing units at an average density of 1,148.3 per square mile (443.4/km ). The racial makeup of
12810-409: Was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $ 29,002, and the median income for a family was $ 36,398. Males had a median income of $ 26,325 versus $ 21,324 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 14,928. About 16.8% of families and 21.4% of the population were below
12932-573: Was a civil uprising in the city of Córdoba, Argentina , in the end of May 1969, during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía , which occurred a few days after the Rosariazo , and a year after the French May '68 . Contrary to previous protests, the Cordobazo did not correspond to previous struggles, headed by Marxist workers' leaders, but associated students and workers in
13054-683: Was a counterculture movement that focused on "provocative direct action ('pranks' and 'happenings') to arouse society from political and social indifference". In France, the General Strike centered in Paris in May 1968 united French students, and nearly toppled the government. Kommune 1 or K1 was a commune in West Berlin known for its bizarre staged events that fluctuated between satire and provocation . These events served as inspiration for
13176-473: Was also an ongoing issue in the UK during the era. The Vietnam War, and the protracted national divide between supporters and opponents of the war, were arguably the most important factors contributing to the rise of the larger counterculture movement. The widely accepted assertion that anti-war opinion was held only among the young is a myth, but enormous war protests consisting of thousands of mostly younger people in every major US city, and elsewhere across
13298-403: Was declared brain dead and his parents gave permission for his organs to be donated. Jed's death deeply affected Kesey, who later called Jed a victim of policies that had starved the team of funding. He wrote to Senator Mark Hatfield : And I began to get mad, Senator. I had finally found where the blame must be laid: that the money we are spending for national defense is not defending us from
13420-556: Was filmed on 16 mm cameras during the trip, which remained largely unseen until the release of Alex Gibney and Alison Elwood 's 2011 film Magic Trip . After the bus trip, the Pranksters threw parties they called Acid Tests around the San Francisco Bay Area from 1965 to 1966. Many of the Pranksters lived at Kesey's residence in La Honda. In New York, Cassady introduced Kesey to Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg , who turned them on to Timothy Leary . Sometimes
13542-588: Was generally supportive of the film and pleased that it was made. When the 1964 publication of his second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion , required his presence in New York, Kesey, Neal Cassady , and others in a group of friends they called the Merry Pranksters took a cross-country trip in a school bus nicknamed Furthur . This trip, described in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (and later in Kesey's unproduced screenplay, The Furthur Inquiry ),
13664-488: Was having second thoughts about the game". Kesey came to regard the unpublished work as juvenilia, but an excerpt served as his Stanford Creative Writing Center application sample. During his Woodrow Wilson Fellowship year, Kesey wrote Zoo , a novel about beatniks living in the North Beach community of San Francisco , but it was never published. The inspiration for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest came while Kesey
13786-410: Was involved in the film, but left two weeks into production. He claimed never to have seen the movie because of a dispute over the $ 20,000 he was initially paid for the film rights. Kesey loathed that, unlike the book, the film was not narrated by Chief Bromden, and he disagreed with Jack Nicholson 's casting as Randle McMurphy (he wanted Gene Hackman ). Despite this, Faye Kesey has said that her husband
13908-572: Was produced by an evolving collective, many of whom had previously produced counterculture newspapers Revolution and High Times , and all three of these magazines were co-founded by publisher/editor Phillip Frazer , who launched Australia's legendary pop music paper Go-Set in 1966, when he was himself a teenager. In Mexico, rock music was tied into the youth revolt of the 1960s. Mexico City, as well as northern cities such as Monterrey , Nuevo Laredo , Ciudad Juárez , and Tijuana , were exposed to US music. Many Mexican rock stars became involved in
14030-559: Was published, Kesey moved to nearby La Honda, California , and began hosting " happenings " with former colleagues from Stanford, bohemian and literary figures including Neal Cassady and other friends, who became collectively known as the Merry Pranksters . As documented in Tom Wolfe 's 1968 New Journalism book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test , some of the parties were promoted to the public as Acid Tests , and integrated
14152-494: Was released to lukewarm reviews in 1992, he reunited with the Merry Pranksters and began publishing works on the Internet until ill health (including a stroke) curtailed his activities. Kesey was born in 1935 in La Junta, Colorado , to dairy farmers Geneva (née Smith) and Frederick A. Kesey. When Kesey was 10 years old, the family moved to Springfield, Oregon in 1946. Kesey was a champion wrestler in high school and college in
14274-512: Was second in his weight class at the Pacific Coast intercollegiate competition. He remains in the top 10 of Oregon Wrestling's all-time winning percentage. A member of Beta Theta Pi throughout his studies, Kesey graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in speech and communication in 1957. Increasingly disengaged by the playwriting and screenwriting courses that comprised much of his major, he began to take literature classes in
14396-422: Was the group's attempt to create art out of everyday life and to experience roadway America while high on LSD. In an interview after arriving in New York, Kesey said, "The sense of communication in this country has damn near atrophied. But we found as we went along it got easier to make contact with people. If people could just understand it is possible to be different without being a threat." A huge amount of footage
14518-458: Was the keynote speaker at The Evergreen State College 's commencement ceremony. His last major work was an essay for Rolling Stone magazine calling for peace in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks . In 1997, health problems began to weaken Kesey, starting with a stroke that year. On October 25, 2001, Kesey had surgery at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene on his liver to remove
14640-541: Was the subject of two celebrated obscenity trials, one in Australia in 1964 and the other in the United Kingdom in 1971. The Digger was published monthly between 1972 and 1975 and served as a national outlet for many movements within Australia's counterculture with notable contributors—including second-wave feminists Anne Summers and Helen Garner ; Californian cartoonist Ron Cobb 's observations during
14762-428: Was viewed as an unjust Vietnam war. The American Asian Movement differs from previous Asian-American activism due to its emphasis on Pan-Asianism and its solidarity with US and international Third World movements . "Its founding principle of coalition politics emphasizes solidarity among Asians of all ethnicities, multiracial solidarity among Asian Americans as well as with African , Latino , and Native Americans in
14884-463: Was working the night shift with Gordon Lish at the Menlo Park Veterans' Hospital. There, Kesey often spent time talking to the patients, sometimes under the influence of the hallucinogenic drugs he had volunteered to experiment with. He did not believe these patients were insane, but rather that society had pushed them out because they did not fit conventional ideas of how people were supposed to act and behave. Published under Cowley's guidance in 1962,
#371628