"The Lonesome Death"

In my senior year of high school, I was required to listen to two albums, watch two movies, and read two books that had been from at least 2 decades ago. One of the albums I chose belonged to my father, and was a Bob Dylan cd that he recommended. Much to his dismay, I did not enjoy the cd, but I can definitely respect Dylan's work and the impact that he had on other musicians. The current event that he wrote about in his song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" is important to the time period, and I was shocked to read that her murderer only spent 6 months in jail. It is scary to think about how much of a problem existed between the white and black races in this decade. Although racism still happens, I cannot imagine living in a time where justice would not result from Caroll's murder. Dylan addresses this particular case, and applies it to the race problem as a whole.

Burroughs & Sanders

Both of these readings had very unconventional structures. I wasn't quite sure what a "yippie" was supposed to be referring to. A lot of Burroughs' article seemed to be about resisting authority, as he discusses cops in a violent situation. He also mentioned the Daughters of the American Revolution, which made me curious, because I know my mother and grandmother belong to this organization, and my mother has been talking about my joining as well. The "American dream" is also briefly addressed, which made me think about how at the time the article was written, in 1968, this dream had been turned upside down since its prominence in the 1950s. I wasn't able to make much sense of Sanders' poem, but like Burroughs, he addressed the violence of the police. Resistance to authority remains a theme throughout this section.

Che Guevara

Hoffman's letter which she claimed to have been written by Che Guevara, is certainly representative of his beliefs. I read The Motorcycle Diaries, and also watched the movie, and now that I make a connection between these and this letter, I realize how important he was as a part of counterculture. The way that he lived was almost nomadic--he really appreciated each day on his journey, and took many risks. This reminds me of Easy Rider, and also the hippie lifestyle, which seemed to be so carefree. At the same time, the shared causes that they were fighting for are so meaningful; freedom, health care, equal rights, broader horizons, individuality, more opportunities.

Testament

Boyle's role as a professor in the 60s is documented powerfully in the testament she wrote after going to jail for demonstrating with her radical students. I like that she referenced classical authors and that she is writing particularly about unity. This intrigued me, because she was nearly 70 years old when sent to jail. Even though she was brought up in an entirely different generation, she still related to her students and their beliefs. I think that the most important aspect she is arguing for in this poem is for individuality and freedom from a strict government.

Lydon

I really liked "The Rolling Stones - At Play in the Apocalypse" because it was written from a reporter's perspective. Lydon is especially aware of his surroundings while at this free concert in San Francisco, he is required to be attentive in his career. I liked how he provided specific details about the number of people attending and the mood and conditions of both the crowd and the bands. It was interesting how he explicitly connected the rowdiness of the attendees to their shared generation of the post baby boom. Lydon is thorough in his observations, as he makes classifications and presumably experiences the show without using drugs. I was confused about the role of Hell's Angels in this piece. I thought that they got along well with the hippies because they were both parts of the counterculture. Why were they so aggressive and violent toward random concert goers?

Protesting Rules

I thought it was interesting that the readings in this segment are compiled of a list of rules of how to behave if one happens to be arrested. Authority figures, especially police officers are negatively discussed and portrayed as untrustworthy brutes, which is disconcerting. I can't imagine the amount of riots that took place during those times. California remains the center stage for all of the action in this era. I found it amusing that in the picture of the "hip cop" the man kind of resembles Che Guevara and has long hair. Also, dubbed "peaceman". There is still a lot of creativity despite the violence that overshadows the attempt of radical free speech.

Hey Mr. Newsman

This was my favorite reading assignment for this section. I can relate to Kampf's material and tone in the poem because of the Doctorow novel I'm reading for the next paper assignment. The message in this poem is demonstrative of the counterculture, to me. The artistic contrast between political sides is creative and impressive. While the majority of the poem seems to single out the speaker's possibly Communist and definitely radical political views, the last line of the poem defines the actual message of the poem, which is the fight for "the rights of man." Even though the speaker is in opposition of the traditional and conservative views, he is willing to fight for the freedom of men from all political standpoints. I thought this was a powerful message and a creative way of stating it.

Housewives!

Friedan's excerpt from The Feminine Mystique was kind of amusing, because it always seems that women are not balancing "home duties" with careers in an acceptable manner. Today, it is more likely to hear that women are ruining the lives of their husbands and children because they spend too much time in the office instead of in the home. In the 1950s and 1960s, women were at the opposite end of the spectrum, marrying early, having more children, and interested in securing husbands instead of jobs. This former trend is really hard for me to imagine. While my grandmother watched all of her friends marry right out of high school, she went on to college, graduated, and then went for her master's degree. She didn't get married until she was 30 years old. Afterwards, she still worked as a school teacher and librarian while being a mother to four sons. She is almost horrified when she reminisces about these times, and always tells me how grateful she is for denying my grandfather their marriage until she was satisfied with her level of education and secured a job! I admire her for sticking to her goals while women around her were marrying as soon as they could. I am not surprised that doctors found the reported "problems" that Friedan documented in her book. I don't see how so many women could be truly happy with their lives without taking time for themselves, and dedicating time to reach goals separate from family.

'66

The '66 reading in Hippie was very interesting - I liked reading about the Diggers. I can't imagine living in this time, I don't think we have anything like this currently. I like the message that they were sending. I suppose since they thought that the government wasn't doing enough to provide everyone with food, that they would do their best to make a difference in as many lives as they could. It's incredible how different coasts of the U.S. can be so divided. While much of California was aware of the hippie movement, New York was a completely different atmosphere. Apparently New Yorkers were closed off from this society and way of life. I like that this reading provided an illustration of the contrast between these two areas in popular culture, such as fashion of the time. The music scene was seemed to be changing in this time too, and it was surprising to learn that explicit language was so discouraged by performing musicians. Today, harsh words are expected at most concerts, performers are certainly not thrown off stage or scolded for what they say. This surprised me especially because of the emphasis on free speech during the time period.

Jim Carroll

After reading only the short excerpt of The Basketball Diaries, I became intrigued about the rest of the story. The language Carroll uses is beautiful, despite the sad, seemingly hopeless atmosphere he describes. The introduction to this section caught my eye because I read Naked Lunch in high school. I like how the sections are organized chronologically by season and year. The narrator seems like he originally liked taking drugs, but as his addiction looks him in the face, he realizes the freedom that drugs once offered him may not be as meaningful as the freedom of being clean. He also talks a lot about his friends, with whom he shares this lifestyle. They are young, high school students experimenting and getting in over their heads. He describes the effects of LSD, and how the drug attaches levels of energy to objects, like trees. The detachment he feels from his body while on LSD seems frightening to me. I understand that these types of experiences were often the main goal for drug users, but they don't sound appealing to me.

MLK

Reading Baldwin's account of his acquaintance with King was interesting and reminded me of Holmes' writing on Kerouac. Baldwin truly admired King, and his memory of meeting MLK is illustrated as a cherished moment. All of the readings in this section support King's efforts and ideals. I read the Autobiography of Malcolm X recently, which helped me understand the extent of King's argument that fighting for the same cause in different ways can produce a lot of negativity. He and Malcolm both wanted the African American race to have true freedom, but they disagreed upon the method of reaching their shared goal. King's nonviolent approach clashed with Malcolm's nationalism. I definitely understand King's viewpoint more than Malcolm's, but in particular points of these readings, I found King's nonviolence approach to be surprisingly extreme. Parks recounts watching King suffer physical harm without making an effort toward defending himself. He publicly asked onlookers to pray for the man who struck him, in order to save him from hatred. While King relayed a beautiful and inspiring message during his life, I find it hard to imagine watching something like this happen. His dedication is admirable and his writing is eloquent, although I'm sure it nothing compared to how he spoke.

Reading Response

The readings in Portable appear abstract and nontraditional. I liked reading the different styles and formats unique to each author. I found Bukowski the easiest to read, even though there were irregularities in grammar and sentence structure. I found it really interesting that Holmes kept a journal on his friend Kerouac. I've always been interested in biographical writing, so this was easy to read as well. I was somewhat confused by Brautigan's "surreal fantasy" writing style. What does he mean???
In the Hippie reading, I liked learning about aspects and beginnings of the popular rock bands that are not usually explicitly discussed. I was shocked when reading about Leary...associations with Harvard, involving his kids with smuggling drugs, etc. He had a lot of connections with musicians and writers during this era. The mention of "Sandoz" caught my eye. This was the only other time I remember seeing this name besides on the track list "Girl Named Sandoz" of one of my favorite cds.
There are a few questions I'm turning over as I read this material...
Difference between beat and hippie?
The meaning of the American flag image used in the counterculture? I first began thinking about this after watching Easy Rider, the movie I want to use images from for my iconography paper.