The late Ken Kesey, whose most popular novel was One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, was a primary contributor to the cultural divide of the 1960s.
Kesey and his Merry Pranksters took a cross-country psychedelic bus ride to promote his second book, Sometimes a Great Notion, and a lifestyle that would flourish in that era. Tom Wolfe captured the mania in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
“You’re either on the bus, or you’re off the bus,” the Pranksters said repeatedly, the implication being that you were one of us–the counterculture–or one of them, that is, those that just don’t get it.
Andrew Kornylak reminded me of that in his story for this issue, “On the Bus,” a compelling read about a rather more mundane day in the life of a passenger on SunTran.
I cut Andrew’s reference to Kesey but I kept his theme because, in a different context, being On the Bus is relevant. Times have changed–don’t I know it; I still remember parts of the ’60s–but those counterculture rebels today are stuck in traffic in those two-story buildings they call SUVs. With rare exceptions, aging boomers are definitely not On the Bus.
What became of Volkswagen Beetles and day-glo buses? They’re museum pieces now, and so is the culture that promised it would be different.
What a long, strange trip it’s been.
This article appears in Jul 11-17, 2002.