AtDTDA 32: Fantasia on a Fantasia of Thomas Tallis Pt. 1

[grladams at teleport.com]

This is, in all respect, just a post about what hippy means to me, and not
about the community in which Robin grew up and shared much joy. Many life
situations shared by country people and hippies might have been the same. I
just can't shake the perjoritive of hippy. Hmm. Maybe I should look at that.

The word hippy never brought me a positive feeling to me, overall. And when
I think of who Tallis had in mind, hippy was far from it. I kind of thought
about people who woke up early, worked hard as a member of a small rural
community. A school teacher mother who walked 5 miles through rain and
snow, to a one-room school house to teach in rural West Virginia. People
who lifted and carried heavy loads from barn to truck... I have been
listening to pop country music this week from the early 70's and some of
the lyrics, "here in topeka, the rain is a droppin' the faucet's a drippin'
and the kids are a-bawlin'". Now Loretta was singing about the contrast
between the glitz and glam of the hollywood elites and the country people.
But hippies, at least at the time, was a perjoritive word for other self
centered peoples interpreted by country people, well it wasn't good to be a
hippy to everyone. 

My impression of hippiedom was that in it's attempt to cancel out rules and
open up the mind, just as many rules and laws of being a proper hippie
emerged. 

My folks lived on the other side of the country and in the 60s, during the
Vietnam war, always only had thought of the act of being a soldier as a
noble task of some kind. Anti war protests was one thing, but spitting on
soldiers when they came back rubbed people like that the wrong way. Kinda
unfortunately soured it for any good hippies that were out there. The
manson kids, the scene at Altamont, etc etc, removed any last vestiges of
positive ideas about hippies for people like my parents, and by extension,
probably me too. But maybe I need to look into my navel here on this. 

But there probably were hippies who helped their communities, raised
chickens, lifted loads, fixed trucks. And, there might have been self
centred country people. 

So, just food for thought on the value of the word hippy..

Jill

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