What happened to all the hippies? Where are you/we?
I wish a hippie would run for president.
Anyway, if you get a chance to see this documentary, check it out!
H
I'm a hippie for sure.
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hester_prynne
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I'm a hippie for sure.
The other night I saw this documentary on the hippie movement. It was on the history channel and I can't say how much I liked it. You know, I am and always will be a hippie. I can't be the only one, but people never talk about it, about what the goal was, to live cohesively in peace. There wasn't alot of coverage about the goal of the hippie movement in the media, but it looks like the history books will educate/remind many of us of what our dream was and that we did accomplish it in many ways. We paved the way for bringing other cultures into public awareness and openmindedness!!!!! Now that is my kind of goal.
What happened to all the hippies? Where are you/we?
I wish a hippie would run for president.
Anyway, if you get a chance to see this documentary, check it out!
H
What happened to all the hippies? Where are you/we?
I wish a hippie would run for president.
Anyway, if you get a chance to see this documentary, check it out!
H
"I am a victim of society, and, an entertainer"........DW
it was a cool documentary.
note: those the media had labeled "hippies" performed in the fall (?) of 1967 a San Francisco treat, ''The Death of the Hippie" where a large group of those gentle, peace-loving 'freaks' staged a mock funeral complete with a casket, marched thru Golden Gate Park to stage the death of this name that somehow didn't fit into the minds of those flower children who enjoyed lives and perceptions expanded by the use of psychedelics which had changed the arts of the times: the music by groups such as "The Charlatans" (who reputedly had been the first band influenced by LSD) to the Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & the Fish, to name but a few... and, of course, the Grateful Dead, whose music had begun a movement of Dead Heads ('heads' being another word that was synonymous with 'freaks') that continues to this day, thanks to Jerry Garcia, et al, of the band.
But the name endured. "Hippie" became the name. "Freaks" or 'Heads" are only words that still have the meaning of those times for those that were there - Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, where minds were blown, freedom was tested and proven to be achievable in a capitalistic society - the Free Clinic was made up of like-minded souls that were med students, the Free Store gave freely of clothing, beds, furniture.. anything that was given freely to them in the way of donations, much like the Salvation Army and Goodwill get their stuff... and the radical group called the Diggers who fed those that were hungry daily. The times were magical, the times were indeed, filled with the sweet essence of love, the streets of the Haight were thick with incense and music, and all around one good hear laughter and joy as people shed the value systems of the 50s and early 60's, and sought freedom from the war in Viet Nam, sought freedom for the African-Americans, the American Indians... sought freedom from chemical-laden foods, sought freedom of the press with such papers as the San Francisco Oracle, the Berkeley Barb, and Jan Wenner's Rolling Stone, whose staff was allowed the freedom to write what they believed in and were treated to an environment where smoking a little pot was acceptable.
But change happened, as it always does... those that believed, that had faith in their lifestyles had to flee Haight Ashbury... a return to Nature. They moved to the country. Steven Gaskin's Farm in Tennessee, to Santa Fe and Taos, NM, to Marin County in northern California... wherever they could find inexpensive areas where they could afford to live the experiment... growing foods naturally, making their own clothes, their own music, setting their own parameters for living a communal life.
This drained Haight Ashbury of it's soul and in return narcotics moved in. So many freaks now chose smack over pot and their lives were altered... changed for the worse. The once happy, freedom-loving, peaceful 'hippies' were casualties from junk, from meth... they laid around the once carnival atmosphere of the Haight and became beggars to support their habits. There was no more sharing, no more free love. All that had evaporated. Dispelled into the gloom of addiction.
But those fortunate enough to have left began movements that endure to this day - from their food co-ops grew grocery stores that carry the good and produce that originally came from that era - Whole Foods being one of the largest now. The same movement gave birth to the ecology movement, the hemp movement, yoga, alternative medicines... the times now are full of those offshoots and apparently are still growing, evolving.
Call it Hippie or not, but it, the times of the late 60's, gave seed to much of what we see today. It has evolved from a media-named word to a mindset that continues not with a word, but a movement, that continues rolling along. The dream is not dead.
note: those the media had labeled "hippies" performed in the fall (?) of 1967 a San Francisco treat, ''The Death of the Hippie" where a large group of those gentle, peace-loving 'freaks' staged a mock funeral complete with a casket, marched thru Golden Gate Park to stage the death of this name that somehow didn't fit into the minds of those flower children who enjoyed lives and perceptions expanded by the use of psychedelics which had changed the arts of the times: the music by groups such as "The Charlatans" (who reputedly had been the first band influenced by LSD) to the Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Country Joe & the Fish, to name but a few... and, of course, the Grateful Dead, whose music had begun a movement of Dead Heads ('heads' being another word that was synonymous with 'freaks') that continues to this day, thanks to Jerry Garcia, et al, of the band.
But the name endured. "Hippie" became the name. "Freaks" or 'Heads" are only words that still have the meaning of those times for those that were there - Haight Ashbury, San Francisco, where minds were blown, freedom was tested and proven to be achievable in a capitalistic society - the Free Clinic was made up of like-minded souls that were med students, the Free Store gave freely of clothing, beds, furniture.. anything that was given freely to them in the way of donations, much like the Salvation Army and Goodwill get their stuff... and the radical group called the Diggers who fed those that were hungry daily. The times were magical, the times were indeed, filled with the sweet essence of love, the streets of the Haight were thick with incense and music, and all around one good hear laughter and joy as people shed the value systems of the 50s and early 60's, and sought freedom from the war in Viet Nam, sought freedom for the African-Americans, the American Indians... sought freedom from chemical-laden foods, sought freedom of the press with such papers as the San Francisco Oracle, the Berkeley Barb, and Jan Wenner's Rolling Stone, whose staff was allowed the freedom to write what they believed in and were treated to an environment where smoking a little pot was acceptable.
But change happened, as it always does... those that believed, that had faith in their lifestyles had to flee Haight Ashbury... a return to Nature. They moved to the country. Steven Gaskin's Farm in Tennessee, to Santa Fe and Taos, NM, to Marin County in northern California... wherever they could find inexpensive areas where they could afford to live the experiment... growing foods naturally, making their own clothes, their own music, setting their own parameters for living a communal life.
This drained Haight Ashbury of it's soul and in return narcotics moved in. So many freaks now chose smack over pot and their lives were altered... changed for the worse. The once happy, freedom-loving, peaceful 'hippies' were casualties from junk, from meth... they laid around the once carnival atmosphere of the Haight and became beggars to support their habits. There was no more sharing, no more free love. All that had evaporated. Dispelled into the gloom of addiction.
But those fortunate enough to have left began movements that endure to this day - from their food co-ops grew grocery stores that carry the good and produce that originally came from that era - Whole Foods being one of the largest now. The same movement gave birth to the ecology movement, the hemp movement, yoga, alternative medicines... the times now are full of those offshoots and apparently are still growing, evolving.
Call it Hippie or not, but it, the times of the late 60's, gave seed to much of what we see today. It has evolved from a media-named word to a mindset that continues not with a word, but a movement, that continues rolling along. The dream is not dead.
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Doreen Peri
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Dave The Dov
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The History Channel taking a break from guns,prisons and anything else that's a part a it's right wing programing. Hmmm I bet there was a lot of ripping on it.
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hester_prynne
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Man Cec, I loved reading what you wrote and emphatically agree with you that the movement is not dead, not at all.
But where is everybody?
We need a billionaire to step forward and get a studio eight writers commune going.....!!!!
Thanks Cec, and everyone for responding.
I am a hippie, I have been for a long time, a solitary hippie practitioner. I dream of buying an old pink hotel near a lake, turning it into the "hotel 60's". Of course I have spoke of this before....
Who knows.
It could happen...
H
But where is everybody?
We need a billionaire to step forward and get a studio eight writers commune going.....!!!!
Thanks Cec, and everyone for responding.
I am a hippie, I have been for a long time, a solitary hippie practitioner. I dream of buying an old pink hotel near a lake, turning it into the "hotel 60's". Of course I have spoke of this before....
Who knows.
It could happen...
H
"I am a victim of society, and, an entertainer"........DW
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