A lot of things turn forty this year, from the banal (Jennifer Aniston is born, Pontiac Firebird Trans Am is introduced) to the culturally seismic (Woodstock, Tommy, Abbey Road, the beginning of the SALT I talks, Nixon's inauguration, Apollo 11, Walmart's incorporation, the Stonewall riots, the Manson murders, the first ATM machine). Well, okay; maybe 1969 was heavy on seismic events. But 2009 also marks the forty-first anniversary of a shockwave in the literary world—the publication of Tom Wolfe’s seminal work of “new journalism,” The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, a novel that defined an entire generation at its zenith of absurdity. Compared to these other, arguably more “important” dates (forty is just an abstract number, right?), the forty-first anniversary of a classic piece of American writing might seem small. Why should we devote more than a passing glance to a novel that seemingly only consists of dope, day-glo, and rebellion?

As an avid reader, I feel as if I can honestly say that I’ve never read a more manic work by a more reputable author—but that’s the whole point. How else can one capture the ultimate upheaveal of the late sixties without being somewhat manic oneself (although Wolfe claims he never did LSD)? The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test flew circles around the “Silent Majority’s” cultural pushback. As our generation begins to use its senses and notice that our environment is eerily reminiscent of the 1960’s, it’s becoming increasingly clear that there are more important messages in Wolfe’s narrative than we think. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test centers around the exploits of one of Wolfe’s contemporaries: author Ken Kesey of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest fame, backed up by his “Merry Pranksters”—a veritable commune based out of Kesey’s home and psychedelically painted (and psychadelically equipped) bus, “Furthur.” But this true story isn’t about dropping acid and shit gettin’ weird. It’s about the Pranksters, who were in some ways performance artists miles ahead of convention, challenging social normalcy itself as they roared across America leaving no dowdy middle-class citizen’s homburg in place. 

Though forty-one years have passed since the publication of the Acid Test, Wolfe’s golden ticket to literary acclaim, the eerie similarity of our present day to the sixties era of upheaval poses important questions about our generation’s identity. In Chapter XIV, “A Miracle in Seven Days,” Kesey and the Pranksters “lecture,” as it were, a Unitarian summer retreat. Unitarians, like those at Dartmouth who call themselves liberals, think they are pretty progressive. The theme of the retreat is “Shake the Foundations,” which the Pranksters interpret as a true explanation of their wild, debauched, peace-loving, drug using, rock’n’roll listening, day-glo-facepaint-covering psychadelica. The “sport shirt” Unitarians were shocked—they really weren’t that liberal after all! Wolfe relates this sentiment on pg. 186:

“Among the middle-aged Unitarians, ministers and laymen, tamping down their pipes for a nice relaxed Sport Shirt week, there was consternation written on practically every face as they watched the bizarre vehicle [Furthur] pitching and rolling into the camp grounds. Things were…up tight from the moment they got there. I guess this is kind of rubbing their noses in it, thought Kesey. The Unitarians are people who stand up for the right to dissent and nonconformity and a lot of other good things, and we’re rubbing their noses in it.”

Even without relying on psychadelics and strange costumery, we Dartmouth liberals can learn much about how to actually “shake the foundations” of our society—something that many students (perhaps mistakenly) thought they had done in the ’08 elections. Surprise, jerks, the foundation is still there! Okay, Eric Holder is legit. But, as is generally always the case in American politics, whether the “left” or the “right” is in power, the status quo still reigns supreme. So while many of us are off playing the same old congress-lobbying, socialized-medicine-trumpeting, non-recycled-Keystone-can-mourning “trip” (as Kesey would say), maybe we can do some actual foundation-shaking by, like Kesey, resolutely challenging the very fibers of our society...just by Being. Sure, I’m impressed by your sick "green advocacy" policy internship, and I’m sure that it’s going to be ca$h money on your resume, but don’t you think that you could shake the foundation better outside of D.C., without your frumpy (and a bit large in the shoulders) JoS. A. Bank suit, without constantly checking  your iPhone as if you’re some crusader, changing the world one awkward Senator photo-op at a time?

In these trying times, we need thinkers who are willing to go completely and utterly left of center in a fit of ridiculous performance art to show America that even the liberal status quo is way, way more ridiculous than day-glo paint and peaceful absurdity. Kind of like the Merry Pranksters. I'm not sure that I can do it. Can you?