a) What is the topic you are interested in pursuing and why?

I am interested in studying the changes and influences drugs have made on the writings of San Franciscans. With how mind-bending some of these works can be, I find it very interesting to understand which ones are influenced by drugs, which ones have influenced drugs/drug use and which ones are purely religious (but you might otherwise think the author was on drugs). (note: drug use includes alcohol)

 b) How does this topic relate to San Francisco materials or frameworks read for the course?  Which of the readings are particularly relevant to this topic?

Jack Kerouac is always the forefront in my head, and I suppose with him the entire beat generation (read: lots of Ginsberg and Cassady and possibly Huxley)

c) What are some of the other materials you will need or want to read and/or inter-connect to cover this topic?

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (because I'm lame and haven't finished it yet), On The Road, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, etc...

d) What is your provisional “thesis” (hypothesis) at this point concerning this topic and these materials?

The idea of diversity is big in SF and diversity seems easily achieved through radical experimentation, the beat generation seemed to grip this by experimenting with their minds, bodies and souls in more ways than (but definitely including) using drugs and alcohol, and transgressing beyond a single style of religious thought, mixing influential deities from the East and the West.

(This is way too long and bulky and awkward but its kinda just a sprawl of thoughts on what should be in my thesis...)

e) What problems or limitations do you anticipate in pursuing, framing, researching, and writing on this topic?

I'm honestly not sure how much information there is out there on the specifics of who was on drugs while they were writing, so I might be limited to researching what drugs they were inclined to do in the general time span slightly before/during the writing process. That section might end up being mostly hypothetical.