Is Paul a Hippie? A colleague suggested this because I often wear a peace badge or peace T-shirts. OK, HUAC, I may be guilty of being a Quaker pacifist revolutionary socialist, and I have been a friend and fellow traveler of a number of other peaceful revolutionary socialists over the decades, but I do affirm (I don’t swear— Quaker, remember) that I was never a hippie. I wear peace items because I believe in peace activism and think this is important, not as decoration or ornament the way hippies might have and many others do today. I wouldn’t have been caught dead at Woodstock. I have nothing against hippies, but at that historical period (of which younger people are apparently ignorant), I was busy earning my Ph.D. at Princeton and spending days and nights at Villanova as a new faculty member.
June 1, 2011
3 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
p.s. During the 60’s, it was the style to wear gaily-colored shirts. I still have a couple of classics from Carnaby Street in the attic. That was the norm for being casual well-dressed for most everybody (and better than today’s long floppy shorts, if I do say so). Hair was longer, whether you were a student or a lawyer. And I still occasionally hang a classic beaded curtain at the doorway to our marital bedroom. I am a romantic who feels that a beaded curtain can contribute to an atmosphere of mystery and romance – something many people’s marriages seem to be missing. What does that have to do with hippies?
Being called Hippie and Tree-hugger (for my concern about our destroying this planet) often seem to be unconscious ways of subtly trying to discredit or marginalize what I believe is a very serious message. So maybe this is funny — or maybe not. I know that it has been said both ways.
Comment by Paul — June 1, 2011 @ 11:43 am
June 5 is World Day of Naturism. Sounds good enough to me, if it isn’t too cold. Could that make me a hippie, or only a Germanic healthy-living outdoors enthusiast? Maybe back packing is hippie? What am I missing here? Self-proclaimed ex-hippies of my acquaintance tend to over eat and drink and claim to have been at Woodstock. Gee, guess I still don’t have what it takes.
Comment by admin — June 4, 2011 @ 11:28 pm
This makes me smile. Ah, the assumptions we make. I was hanging out in Harvard Square back in those hallowed days – a geeky-hippie-wannabe. Much too young (natch), but oh-so-taken with the theoretical free spirit of love beads and flower power.
I must say, it’s amusing to me to see my teenage sons enamored with tie-dying and ripped jeans. Come to think of it, they listen to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, just like someone else in the family…
Comment by BigLittleWolf — June 7, 2011 @ 4:36 pm