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Originally Posted by deltadoc  Shel, still waitin'!  -
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Sorry DD - I wrote out my comments but forgot to post them. Here y'go:
Let me clear something up. Just because some overweight, long-haired jamoke and his burnt out girlfriend were wearing beads and flowers doesn't mean they were hippies. To my mind, the true hippie (and I hate that term) were those that came to The Haight, and other places, and tried to create some social change, and who made contributions to society, such as providing free food as mentioned in an earlier message, created art and music, explored healthier food and farming techniques, and looked for alternatives to the more typical materialistic middle-class life. It was during this period I learned about vegetarianism, macrobiotic foods and cooking, eating healthier, and was introduced to growing one's food and organic gardening (the "French intensive method was my first foray into organic gardening), recycling, and so many other things that are now pretty much acceptable, main-stream practices, although often corrupted by corporate and political interests.
Many of what the press called "hippies" were nothing more than drug pushers, misfits, troublemakers, petty criminals, and the like. They flocked to The Haight like flies to a corpse, and by the time the press caught on and started publicizing the "hippie movement" which drew these creeps to the Haight, many of the "founding hippies," as it were, had moved on and out of the area, starting alternative businesses and doing more constructive things. A lot of "us" moved to Marin County or to Berkeley. Many in the Berkeley segment are still driving their late-sixties Volvos
There was no "Death of Hippie," at least as reported by the main stream press. We just moved and moved on, incorporating what we learned and experienced into more main stream and constructive endeavors.
AS far as I know, there was no specific "Norbert the Nark" other than a character in the Gilbert Shelton "Fabulous Furrie Freak Brothers" comix.
I think I saw the documentary you mentioned, but don't really remember it.
I don't think those times will return, but, in reality, they never left. There are still - and there have always been - people looking to improve life and make positive social changes. It's often those on the fringes that get things started, bringing up issues and ideas that slowly find their way into the main stream.
Mario Savio wasn't considered a hippie by the press - in fact he was considered a troublemaker - yet he essentially started the free speech movement, something embraced by many who were hippies, and who used the premise to bring about social change. Joan Baez wasn't a hippie, but she often showed up in The Haight to give concerts, talks, and fight for social change. Peter Coyote, the actor, wasn't a hippie, yet there he was, right alongside the rest of us, handing out free food, looking to make changes in society. All of these non-hippies were no different than many of the rest of us, doing the same things but with a different label applied by the press. Joan Baez is still considered a social activist, Peter Coyote cotinues to be involved in what he believed in then - I don't know what happened to Mario. but we all owe him at least a little thank you.
Shel