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.