Drugs and Pills and Shit and Culture and Art and Drugs and Stuff

After having read the Burroughs piece and the Bruce piece, are there any unifying elements to the drug culture that the two men write about and describe? Are there values, qualities, morals that the culture emphasizes? Are there ways in which the two pieces reveal discord and disagreement within the culture? Please make sure to site examples from each piece in your response.

So Beat...

In the spirit of Jack Kerouac's piece, let's write some free-flowing associative explanations of what you understand the "beat generation" to be all about.  No arguments necessary, just speak from your heart, you hep cats, you hot hipsters, you bop masters and jive kings...or whatever...what we're seeking here is a genuine exploration of this concept and an attempt at an explanation, but we are also attempting to capture the style and spirit of the movement (think of how Glenn O'Brien wrote his introduction. It wasn't formal and scholarly, though it was certainly intellectual, etc.).

Please remember, as always, this blog is due by 11 pm tonight.