NO FURTHER

Ken Kesey Remembered, Right Down To The Bone.

An issue of The New York Times Book Review, dated Nov.11 but printed long
before it was known Ken Kesey was seriously ill, carries a full-page ad by
Bauman Rare Books of New York City: "Ken Kesey. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest. 1962. First edition. 'Boldly inscribed by Kesey.' $7,800." It is the
fourth-highest priced of 32 books listed. Topping the list is a first
edition of Uncle Tom's Cabin for $12,500. A first edition of Treasure
Island, $9,000. The Ancient Mariner, a copy owned by Ernest Shackleton, is
offered for $8,500. Not bad company.

News of Kesey's death has garnered nearly as much newspaper space in New
York City as it has in Eugene. A 2,000-word obit with photo ran in the NYT
Sunday edition Nov. 11, followed by a NYT editorial Nov. 13. His life was
noteworthy to not only our little Oregon community, but to generations of
truth-seekers on both sides of the Atlantic.

OK, he may be looking down at us from Cloud 9 laughing at such accolades,
but hey, we need heroes. Kesey will do just fine until someone else comes
along and ratchets open our consciousness with playful irreverence.

Local media have tended to pussyfoot around Kesey's LSD use, mentioning it
in passing as though it were only a youthful indiscretion. After all, we
spend billions today battling the drug trade and incarcerating users. The
NYT obit is more complete and more honest, describing Kesey's writing under
the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, and his annual Easter Sunday LSD hike
up Mount Pisgah near his home. "The past few years that's been about the
only time I've taken acid and even then not much. Just enough to make the
leaves dapple," the obit says, quoting an April interview in The Times Union
of Albany, N.Y.

In an EW cover story Oct. 5, 2000, Kesey said, "We try to uphold the
psychedelic movement. We have not backed off."

How important were drugs to opening up and stimulating Kesey's powers of
observation and his poetic writing? We don't know, but we do know that the
psychedelic movement is about more than just drugs. It's about stepping out
of conventional thinking and perceiving. It's about tossing out the limits
our society has placed on what is normal. Kesey was an inspired writer and
charismatic character long before he volunteered for drug experiments at
Menlo Park Veterans Hospital and began his psychedelic journey. Millions of
people have taken LSD, but only Kesey has blessed us with characters like
Randle McMurphy, Chief Broom, Nurse Ratched, the Stamper family and Little
Tricker the Squirrel.

Kesey lived an artistic and intellectual life that changed the world a bit,
and for the better. We can't ask more of any man or woman. His literary
works will remain with us as reference points as we try to wrap our minds
around his life -- and our own gifted lives. He lived among us, and we're
grateful he took us along on his curious and unforgettable path.

His close friend and fellow Prankster Ken Babbs has this to say about him on
the family web site, http://www.intrepidtrips.com:

"A great good friend and great husband and father and granddad, he will be
sorely missed, but if there is one thing he would want us to do, it would be
to carry on his life's work. Namely, to treat others with kindness and if
anyone does you dirt forgive that person right away. This goes beyond the
art, the writing, the performances, even the bus. Right down to the bone."
- -- TJT