I need to do a work of culture and civilization about the Vietnam war and the Hippie movement, what were they're theories, they're believes, they're custums, vocabulary, names or stepnames everything that can be important about this movement, why they took drugs, why they were just living in that way. So I need your help, please answer me as soon as possible so I can be able to do my job, and finish it. I'm gonna be very thankful with you for helping me in this case. Thanks a lot. Jeny

-- JENIFFER BOLAQOS GUTIERREZ (veropaletas@yahoo.com), March 08, 2000

Answers

As to "why they took drugs," I suggest you analyze the song "Bass Strings" on the album 'Electric Music for the Mind and Body' by Country Joe and the Fish. Also, you might ask yourself "Why would anyone want to 'break the ego'?"

As to Vietnam, many felt then, and some still do, that the USA should be the Arsenal of Democracy, but not the cop. Again, I suggest you analyze Country Joe MacDonald's "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag," the song that ended the Vietnam war. I didn't want to die for nothing. I don't know anyone who did.

I admit to an East Bay bias. For years, at Adeline & Ashby, along one of the main routes to SF, a Country Joe & the Fish sign dominated the intersection. Before LSD was criminalized, bookstores on Telegraph Ave. asked, "Are You Ready for the Acid Test?" In 1967, if you wanted to buy pot, where did you go? The Haight Ashbury, of course, but near the Forum at Telegraph and Haste was reliable, and in Canyon south of the old hotel at certain times and days people would materialize out of the woods offering true lids.

-- robert bardell (bbardell@pacbell.net), March 10, 2000.

the hippie movement when it first began was the most beautiful thing id ever seen. people sat in the streets and smoked and took of their shirts and gave eachother shirts and kissed eachother and it was one hugebig peacful party . we were a great civilization and then the people just got fed up with it and thats why we did what we did "we're not against the soldiers we're agiant the war"

-- b. fallon (oniskoni@aol.com), October 25, 2000.

Me to

-- Nicolas (nyykoola@free.fr), February 27, 2002.

blah, blah,blah,heeheehee,blah,blah

-- Carmen Elizabeth Maria Cruz (lovemeordont@2die4.com), December 18, 2002.

I think poo smells

-- Ali Babba (www.alibabba@btopenworld.com), January 15, 2003.

the Hippies were great, all about peace and love and beauty. i grew up around that when i was a kid. drugs and pot were not strangers to me. i went to grateful dead concerts and rainbow gatherings. healthy, whole foods was another thing too. and the smell of many human bodies and a lot of smoke is now a comforting thing for me. drugs wasnt a way to escape, it was from the earth so it was considred natural and fun and thats why so many of them are laid back and have really quiet voices. and sharing clothes and houses was just a way to conserve energy and be one whole heart. really sweet people, thats what Hippies are, dont believe all those naasty rumors about "drug-doin rebels that just wanna cause trouble" wars are the ones that cause trouble.

-- Hippy (gremlin_gurl_69@hotmail.com), January 18, 2003.

fuck this

-- jerry jackass (sucker@suckthis.com), April 04, 2003.

Hi Jeny,

Though your assignment may have ended by the time that I write this, I still wanted to contribute my response, as I was one of those "hippies". Superficially, we were all about "free love", peace, and "doing our own thing". We were against the war in Vietnam (which was never declared a war, and I lost many friends over there). I marched in many peace marches, and "love-ins", which were mostly large gatherings in Golden Gate Park. Yes, there were drugs used during this time, though for myself it was just the occassional social use of marijuana, and a one-time use of psilocybin ("magic mushroom"). Some of the vocabulary included: "far-out" "heavy", and outtasite" all of which meant something like: "Really great!" Good people were known as "Heads". A bad time was a "bummer!"

I went to a lot of concerts at the Fillmore West (Bill Graham used to pass out apples from a barrel), Winterland, The Family Dog (out on the Great Highway), the Avalon Ballroom, and other venues. I saw Hendrix at Winterland in '67, and Janice Joplin at the Fillmore West in '68, in addition to The Jefferson Airplane, Deep Purple, The Grateful Dead (I used to hang out at 710 Asbury, the Dead house, with Ron McKernan, one of the members of the group). Other groups were Quicksilver Messenger Service, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, and many, many others. Music was a huge part of the hippie movement. So was long hair! The long hair was a reaction to the way that things had been done before, and I think that a lot of the beliefs and behaviors that we expressed were a result of our frustration with the very conservative generations before us. The Beatles kind of started it all, with the British music ingluence & styles. The hippie styles also drew a lot from Native American dress. We made "love beads", which we would present to our friends and lovers. We wanted a different world, and thought that we could change it for the better. The majority of us had liberal, or "radical" politics. If you haven't fallen asleep by now, I am including some photos of my husband and myself, when we were young hippies. One of myself is in my psychedelically-painted bedroom.

-- Deb Wong (deb_wong@hotmail.com), April 04, 2003.

-- Deb Wong (deb_wong@hotmail.com), April 04, 2003.

Oh, cheese -- I actually bought a pair of American-flag striped bellbottoms, but never had the nerve to wear them in public. Not because of patriotic concerns, but because they made me look like a turnip.

True story: In 1967 I won a trip to San Francisco and spent the WHOLE time trying to see a REAL hippie. On account of I'd never seen one anywhere except the movies. I also took the Taylor cablecar, absolutely sure that it went through the Haight Ashbury. Ended up with a life-sized poster of Donovan that I put over my bed (oh, the shame!).

-- Rosa (rosadebon@yahoo.com), April 04, 2003.

dear Jeny, it was the best time America (or even the whole wolrd) had ever had. The time when we all were together, the time when we fought for peace and justice. We were happy, cause we were right! And you have no right to be sad when you're right....That's my point well..I think that everything that was posted here is enough to make a great report! peace and keep rocking!

-- Priscilla (priscilla@snowcrest.net), April 07, 2003.

Wow. More is known about the mysterious Rosa...

-- SFHE editor (chunkylover53@sfhe.tk), April 08, 2003.

This topic has brought back some interesting/nostalgic/funny memories. The above photos of me were taken in 1968. One is in the photo booth that used to be in the Greyhound Bus Station on 7th Street. You could get 4 pictures for a quarter. I stil have the suede fringe vest that I wore in the B&W pic. The other pic is of my cat Clancy & I in my painted bedroom. Keeping with the spirit of the times (mid-60s-early 70s), I wanted my surroundings to be more colorful. I had an assortment of paints, acrylic and oils, and decided to just cover the walls with designs. Unfortunately, I ran out of linseed oil, and so used salad oil, instead (necessity being the Mother, and all that), to thin my oil paints. Those parts of the walls that I used the salad-oiled piant on never did dry, so when my friends visited and rested back on the walls, they always came away with a design. Being the cool hippies that we were, my buds and I were always looking for tokes. But none of us had much money, so there were times when we couldn't purchase the stuff. During one of these times, my friend Chas and I wondered if catnip might do the trick, so rolled some catnip joints, and puffed away. It didn't taste too bad, but an hour later, we both got the runs (big time!), so we decided that it wasn't worth it. My cat Clancy loved the smoke, though. My friend Chas and I had some wild adventures back then. Even when we were in grade school, we'd cut out, and hitch- hike to San Francisco. We often hung out at 710 Ashbury, a couple of times we even sat with with Ron McKernan ("Pigpen" of the Dead). Chas and I could also be seen panhandling on Haight Street (years later, I got a glimpse of us on a KPIX (local t.v.. news special) about the 60s, me in my peacoat and navy pants, yakking away, Chas's wild hair flying around in the beeeze. We marched a few marches against the war, one down Stanyan Street that I remember the most, on account of its irony. We carried the "Make Love Not War" signs, a peaceful march up to the point when two guys in the front of the line had an ideological difference of opinion. It grew ugly when they started to violently swing at each other with their "Make Love Not War" signs. One girl behind me cried out: "Oh, bad vibes, Mellissa! Let's split, this is too heavy a scene!", and I couldn't help laughing. Political consciousness takes time to evolve. Or something.

-- Deb Wong (deb_wong@hotmail.com), April 08, 2003.

Hah! I'll see your Pigpen and raise you one Peter Coyote (he of the original Diggers). Trust me, up close and personal he's as gorgeous as he is on film. And I hope he never stops doing voiceovers.

Oh: I sat next to Bill Graham at a record launching party. I'd only heard him before on the telephone, yelling at my boss, so I was too frightened to talk to him the whole night.

Oh, and I got to go ga-ga over meeting Sam Houston Andrew when I was a receptionist. And I have very fond memories of Carmella Skaggs, back when she was still a Skaggs. Extremely nice lady.

-- Rosa (rosadebon@yahoo.com), April 09, 2003.

I met Peter Coyote when he was called Peter Cohon. He was friends with my improv teacher, George. Yeah, Peter was/is a nice-looking fellow. Our improv group was an off-shoot of the Committee, and we met once a week in the late 60s-early 70s for our improv-encounter groups in an old house on Sutter Street. The group was fun and interesting. I never quite knew the reason that George insisted on group hugs and the "encounter" exercises that accompanied our acting sessions; maybe it was to loosen us up? All I know is that George REALLY liked the group hugs, especially between two groovy-looking chicks. Didn't mean to name-drop in my original message, but I guess that is how others can relate. There were/are certain "celebs" who are more accessible than others. Another local accessible is Neil Young. When I worked at McWhorter's in Redwood City, I dealt with the Youngs on a regular basis (they had an account with us). They were/are involved in the Bridge school, and came in regularly for supplies. In the improv group, one of my friends at the time (also a fellow 1970 Ocean High School grad) was Michael Bossier, who is now part of the comedy team of "Deb & Mike". Strangely enough, "Deb" of "Deb & Mike" was a friend & (Terra Nova H.S.) classmate of my husband Michael. Deb is Debbie Durst, married to Will Durst, a famous local comedian-commentator. I've only met Will once, though, at a show; he's accessible, but low-key in person, which is cool. Will lived with my longtime friend Peter Watson (that I based my comic strip Desmond on); they lived in a big house with Robin Williams and a lot of other local comics (most of whom performed on the Alex Bennett radio show, as well as the local venues - speaking of, Cobb's is closing down, sad). I have a few other stories from the old days on my home page, and my influences as a hippie can be seen in my art site: Deb Wong's Incarnation Series" ,which contain self-portrait nudes (so if one is offended by such, shouldn't go there). Gone off- track, somehow....flashbacks have a way of doing that!

-- Deb Wong (deb_wong@hotmail.com), April 09, 2003.