Im thankful that my mother has wireless internet so that I could do this on Thanksgiving- Essay Proposal

When my friends and I plan a trip to San Francisco, which historical site or culturally steeped area we will visit first is rarely on our minds. Our primary concern is: where will we dine? Being complete foodies has left us obsessed with the city and the many culinary adventures it holds. For my final essay, I am going to write about the cultural phenomenon of dining in San Francisco. The phenomenon of gastronomics has been around for some time, especially in France, but is somewhat young in America. It is even younger in San Francisco(being one of the youngest cities), but of course, it has taken hold and become one of the most important culinary epicenters of the world. This would be the best way to relate the text to my topic; showing that San Francisco catches up and usually surpasses the rest of the world in a short period of time. I definitely need more time to develop this idea, as its not quite clear to me yet. I would also like to relate the idea of imperialism brought up again and again in our texts, especially among the beat generation. Does SF need to spend money on such a frivolous pastime? Isn't fine dining all about being a consumer? Other materials that I am thinking of using are San Francisco magazine as well as the writing of one of the most renowned food critics, Michael Bauer, of the San Francisco Chronicle. My thesis for this project is not quite clear. I want to be able to argue in favor of fine dining, since it is a passion of mine, but this may be a challenge if I relate my topic to the text. At this moment, my thesis will be based on San Francisco's ability to make something truly remarkable.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dharma Bum/Zen Buddhist

In the first chapter, the main character Ray (which is Kerouac) defines Dharma as "True Meaning" and a Dharma Bum as a kind of "religious wanderer."(pg. 5) When I looked up the meaning of Dharma, I found that it generally refers to one's religous duty. The way that I interpret this is that if you are a true Dharma Bum, then you are living a simple, meager, and homeless life as a sort of duty to free yourself of any distraction so that you may concentrate on your religion.
Ray describes himself as being a "perfect Dharma Bum" when he is in fact wandering, train jumping, and practicing his charity and kindness. His religious aspirations are to remain this perfect Dharma Bum, and it proves to be an inner struggle for him to do so throughout the book.
I believe that this is a key reason why Japhy Ryder is so important. Ray looks up to him as a sort of effortless master of Zen. In fact, the differences in the way they practice their forms of buddhism is a key theme in "The Dharma Bums". One example of their contasting spirituality is Japhy's "yab yum" ceremony which he accepts as key buddhist practice, versus Ray's year of celebacy because he sees lust as a distraction to his focus on enlightenment.
The inner struggle that Ray endures being a Dharma Bum made complete sense to me today when in class I learned that Kerouac always struggled between being catholic and buddhist.