Phil Windley says:
Despite an aversion to frameworks, Sam Ruby is trying out jQuery and generally seems to like what he sees. He says "The net effect of all of this is that you can 'write less and do more', as promised."
Javascript is a sparse language. If you are trying to write applications without a library, you are working way too hard. It doesn't matter which library you choose. If you are starting from zero, any library will give you a huge lift. And in the long run, there is always time to switch to another library. But for God's sake, don't carry some "aversion to frameworks" around like a badge of honor.