Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 20 in one sentence

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 20 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.


The Dharma Bums Chapter 20 in one sentence:

Ray continues to meditate in the woods and grow in his Buddhist understandings, while his brother-in-law is getting annoyed at him for hanging around and not working, and the "old tobacco-chewing stickwhittlers" Ray sees at the crossroads store are baffled by his eccentricities.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 21 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 19 in one sentence

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 19 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.


The Dharma Bums Chapter 19 in one sentence:

Ray sets up his sleeping bag on the couch on the back porch, and after his family members (mother, sister, brother-in-law, nephew) go to bed he returns to the meditation spot he created the previous spring in the woods under a pine tree, Bob the dog and some strays go with him, he meditates for an hour before returning to the house where he falls asleep in his bag, the next night enjoys Christmas Eve with the family, thinks of Japhy, spends the next week alone (mother at a funeral in New York and the rest working) reading and studying and meditating in his woodsy spot, makes supper for the family, puts up a basket and shoots hoops, and one night after pacing in the yard Ray experiences satori (sudden enlightenment) after which he goes inside and feeds the cat.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 20 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 18 in one sentence

Mexicali, Mexico

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 18 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.


The Dharma Bums Chapter 18 in one sentence:

Ray catches various rides from Riverside all the way to the Mexican border and walks across to Mexicali where he is warned off sleeping in the riverbottom mudflats, eats some garbanzo soup, digs the people and places, recrosses the border at dusk, is searched by American guards, mistakenly thinks he can catch the Zipper to Colorado in El Centro (where he goes by bus), starts thumbing, gets a ride from a middlewestern man (Beaudry) who promises to take Ray to Tucson in his big truck if he shows him around Mexicali that night, Ray shows him a good time at the old saloons of real Mexico and a whorehouse, they cross back over and reach Tucson, Ray cooks him a big steak over a fire along the highway, Beaudry ponders his life compared to Ray's and offers to take Ray clear to Ohio, Ray has a Buddhist-tinged vision over the mountains of Alamogordo, they make only one overnight stop to sleep in a hotel in Independence, Missouri, Beaudry drops Ray off in Springfield, Ohio, Ray buys a bus ticket to Rocky Mount, changes his mind and tries to cash in his ticket but they won't do it, instead of waiting for the next bus he decides to hitchhike to the next town and catch the bus there, Ray finally reaches his mother's and looking at her he thinks of Japhy and decides that "People have good hearts whether or not they live like Dharma Bums. Compassion is the heart of Buddhism." 

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 19 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 17 in one sentence

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 17 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions. By the way, with this chapter we are officially half way to the end (Chapter 34)!

The Dharma Bums Chapter 17 in one sentence:

Reaching Riverside by bus, Ray wants to try out his new gear and camp out but is warned by someone at the bus station that the cops would arrest him, nevertheless he buys food at a supermarket and then bushwhacks through the woods toward the riverbottom under the highway bridge to a nice opening where he can't be seen, he sets up camp, stands on his head for five minutes to clear his head cold, remembers crying in L.A. the night before because "After all a homeless man has reason to cry, everything in the world is pointed against him," eats his food, prays and includes a little prayer for Rosie, spends a long time sitting crosslegged and meditating, sleeps well except for some bamboo joints under the leaves -- "Better to sleep in an uncomfortable bed free, than sleep in a comfortable bed unfree" -- wakes and makes up a little morning prayer, packs his gear, and washes up in a tumbling spring across the highway to ready himself for his "three-thousand-mile hitchhike to Rocky Mount, North Carolina" where his mother is waiting. 

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 18 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 16 in one sentence

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 16 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 16 in one sentence:

Before Japhy leaves, Ray and Japhy eat in Chinatown, see a street preacher, discuss Christianity v. Buddhism, see a new Buddhist temple being built, Ray tells Japhy goodbye, then spends a few days with Cody's family, helps Cody pray Rosie into purgatory, Ray hops a train to L.A. and hangs out there waiting to catch the 7:30 PM Zipper to Yuma, Arizona, meets an ex-marine bum carrying a slip of paper with a quote by the Buddha, the bum teaches Ray about standing on his head three minutes a day to cure thrombophlebitis (it cured the bum's arthritis and cures Ray in three months), Ray hops on an "eighteen-car sealed sonofabitch" by mistake and barely gets off before it is going too fast, spends the rest of the night miserable in the industrial jungle of L.A., then walks to the bus station and catches a 25-mile ride to Riverside, noting that "everything was far away from the easy purity of being with Japhy Ryder in that high rock camp under peaceful singing stars." 

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 17 and post a one-sentence summary.

And we'll be half way to the 34th (last) chapter!

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 15 in one sentence

RIP Natalie Jackson, real-life Rosie

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 15 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 15 in one sentence:

Ray packs his rucksack and tries it out by walking around San Francisco, hangs out with some bums on Skid Row, decides to visit Cody and Rosie at her place, Cody worries about Rosie's mental health (she is convinced the police are coming to arrest them all) and talks Ray into staying with her while Cody goes to work, Ray tries to calm her down by explaining the Dharma, he goes out for wine and brings back some musicians, she seems better, Ray goes home when Cody returns, Cody sleeps and Rosie goes up on the roof and breaks the skylight to cut her wrists, a neighbor sends the cops, Rosie makes a run for the roof edge, a cop grabs for her but only gets her bathrobe and she falls six flights to her death, all of which pushes Ray to pack up the following week and hit the road, comforted by the thought that Rosie is now in Heaven and "she knows" the truth Ray was trying to teach her.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 16 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 14 in one sentence

Jack Kerouac's actual rucksack (click here)

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 14 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 14 in one sentence:

Ray intends to get all the outdoor gear he needs ("a regular kitchen and bedroom right on my back") to go off somewhere and find perfect solitude in order to "pray for all living creatures" ("the only decent activity left in the world"), so he and Japhy and Alvah shop for gear at Goodwill and Salvation Army and Army Navy stores in Oakland and at the Ski Shop in Berkeley, until he has acquired: assorted clothing and cookware, a new rucksack, snow glasses, gloves, poncho, polybdenum bottle, food wraps, shaker, and cutlery -- he feels like a new man.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 15 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 13 in one sentence

Gary Snyder, real-life Japhy Ryder

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 13 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 13 in one sentence:

Ray makes love to Princess at his cottage, then Ray and Alvah party with Japhy and Coughlin, they spout Zen nonsense while drinking wine, Japhy describes his vision of how the whole world is full of rucksack wanderers (Dharma Bums) who eschew materialism and stage a Zen Lunatic revolution, they talk about having floating zendos, the Zen talk gets a little more serious, Japhy gives Alvah life advice, the talk turns nonsensical again, Ray and Coughlin almost knock down the cottage wrestling, Morley shows up, Japhy leaves but promises to return in the morning to help Ray buy outdoor gear, Ray wonders about the point of it all, hoping he can find out at last from these Dharma Bums.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 14 and post a one-sentence summary.

900,000+ pageviews for The Daily Beat!

The Daily Beat just hit a total of over 900,000 pageviews (since May 2010). We are on our way to the big one: one million (1,000,000) pageviews. That day should come, given our latest monthly stats, in about 14 months or so (7,000+ some per month). That gives us time to figure out how to celebrate the big day. It will probably involve single malt Bushmills and giving away a book or two. Stay tuned . . . .


P.S. I realize that successful blogs hit a million pageviews in days, not years, but I'm trying to celebrate the small things

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 12 in one sentence

Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 12 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 12 in one sentence:

Ray is amazed by the wisdom Morely showed by waiting behind, but then sees Japhy literally running down the mountain and realizes "it's impossible to fall off mountains you fool," so Ray joins him and they surprise Morley at the lake, Ray tells Japhy when he saw him running down the mountain he suddenly understood everything and Japhy calls it a moment of satori, Ray expresses shame at not making it to the top, they head down and rest at the big rock where they have a little to eat and a lot of tea, they start down again in the moonlight leaping boulder to boulder, Ray can't go on because of his blisters so Japhy trades his protective boots for Ray's thin sneakers, they rest in the alpine meadow, Morley and Japhy talk a blue streak, they finally reach the car and their first stop is the lodge to return Morley's blankets, Japhy balks at the first place they stop to eat because he isn't dressed well enough, at the second they have a "raving great dinner," after which Ray buys a bottle of muscatel at a liquor store, and they drive back to San Francisco through the night "drinking and laughing and telling long stories," Japhy and Ray sleeping along the way until they reach Berkeley and Ray crawls into bed in his cottage and sleeps till late afternoon, arising to find the veins in his feet all cleared -- he had "worked the blood clots right out of existence."

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 13 and post a one-sentence summary.

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 11 in one sentence

We're back at it after a brief respite yesterday to recover from New Year's Eve festivities. Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 11 of The Dharma Bums and summarize it in one sentence. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.

The Dharma Bums Chapter 11 in one sentence:

Starting out at noon and leaving their packs at camp, Japhy -- dressed only in a jockstrap -- leads Ray and Henry toward the summit, they marvel at the beautiful mountain lake at the foot of the Matterhorn (unseen by most men) at 11,000 feet, and with only a 1,000 feet to go Morley decides not to try it and wait at the lake, so Japhy and Ray start up the scree slope, but after some difficult climbing Ray gets scared by the height and wedges himself inside a ledge and yells to Japhy -- "I'm staying right here!" -- then Ray ponders a Zen saying ("When you get to the top of a mountain, keep climbing"), and when Japhy reaches the top Ray hears him yodel, but Ray considers Morely the smartest of them all and vows that they'll never get him up there again.

Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 12 and post a one-sentence summary.