All You Ever Wanted to Know
(And Didn't Want to Know)    

      ABOUT ME

My Experiences During the Hippie Era

So, what was it like to be around, to be a part of the changing culture of the USA?

Well, I guess it was just like every other time period with the difference being that now we had television and radio discussing our revolts, could see other kids standing up for their beliefs, and had for the most part been raised in a time period of financial security so we were able to concentrate on other things instead of basic survival needs.  I'm not saying everyone had everything they wanted, not even everything they truly needed, but many kids did and that's also what we saw portrayed on our television shows we were brought up with in the 50's and early 60's. After all, Mrs. Cleaver, Beaver's mother, wore pearls and nice dresses every day. She stayed home and was a housewife, just like Ozzie's wife did, and I'm not talking about Sharon, but Harriet. Ricky Nelson's mother. And there was Donna Reed, Timmy's mother from Lassie, Mary Tyler Moore as Dick Van Dyke's wife, the mom on "Make Room for Daddy" (the show Danny Thomas starred in), "Father Knows Best" and umpteen other TV mom's who didn't have to go to work but instead had dinner on the table every night and looked after the kids and her husband.  So life looked good for most people, even if our own wasn't the best, and mine wasn't. So as we grew into teens, many of us looked at what was really going on in the world, rebelled against the pearls and dresses, wondered why our males had to go off to fight a war that seemed immoral and downright ludicrous. A lot turned to drugs for the thrill and the numbness. Many of us were feeling helpless to do things about the world situation. Many of us tried to fight the violence with "flower power". Most of the guys I knew grew their hair really long. Most of the people around my small hometown, adopted the "hippie uniform" whether or not they truly felt the same way.

What really happened on a day to day basis? Well, my first husband had longish blond hair and while he fit in with his peers, some of the "evil establishment" didn't like him. I remember one day we were walking hand in hand by the local ice cream parlor and a pick up truck with several men who I would call unenlightened now, but in those days I called them Rednecks, drove by and saw Frank. They turned off the street and pulled into the parking lot where we were walking and started yelling out the window about wondering whether or not he was a boy or girl and how they should probably check it out and see what he was. It was a bit scary for me, after all, if they were really considering doing that to him, what might they be considering doing to me. That seemed like more than just taunting, it seemed threatening. 

This really pales though, when you think about how black men are still subjected to taunting on a frequent basis, even by, or maybe especially by, the men and women who are sworn to uphold the law. In the hippie days we called them Pigs. Compared to many hippies, especially if they were around a peace rally, things could be considered really dull in my town. Mostly it seemed like we were treated as kids who would come to our senses some day and as long as we didn't do anything obviously illegal we were left alone.

Some of us went to peace demonstrations, some of us just wanted to party and some just did nothing. There were Jesus Freaks then too, who tried to reform us, or who just hung out with us constantly talking about their love of Jesus.

This was the time when Head Shops sprang up for the first time. A local one was opened and operated by a man who had been my former boss when I was trying to sell vacuum cleaners. In the back you could find the blue light rooms where all kinds of colorful, wild, drug and or politically oriented posters were on display.

<-- Okay, I may look stoned in this picture but I wasn't. I actually wasn't a very good hippie since I didn't do drugs. This was my passport photo and in those days we weren't supposed to smile for them.

The most important thing uniting the hippies seemed to be the hatred of the establishment. Some redirected that hatred into trying to love everyone, a brotherhood of man kind of feeling. It was cool to be nice to the ones who were oppressing us, and or the rest of the world. There really were some people who placed flowers in the ends of rifles. Lots of them wore flowers, either in their hair, or in the pattern of their clothing. Some of the hippies just wanted to take drugs and have sex.

No matter what their personal interests though, it seemed like we were the favored generation. We felt important and the media focused on us repeatedly for everything they could think of.

I just wanted to go to college, get married, have kids (preferably born at home - which I did accomplish) and live in peace and harmony the rest of my life (which I didn't). I got a couple of those wishes. I got married too soon and quit college to be with my hippie husband. He took this picture of me, and the one at the very top of the page. He also developed them and that's probably why they are off colored.

I quit college and talked him into going there. I worked as a waitress to support us as he went full time. Half way through his college I realized I had made a mistake marrying so young. I waited 2 more years until I got the divorce. He was a good guy, but we shouldn't have gotten married before we were mature and new what we each wanted out of life. Anyway, now he has a really good job in a near-by town and I live at the edge of making it. Maybe its my Karma for having divorced him. 

Here's a Complete List of all the Pages in my "About Me" Series

I'll include my list of all my "regular" web pages at the top of each page so if you get tired of hearing all about me, you can escape to some place else. But for now, here are some more personal pages...

Overview-Beginning	My father's ancestors	My mother's ancestors
My father	My mother	My siblings, as children
My father's parents	My mother's parents	My siblings, as adults
My childhood home	My children, Index	The Fifties thru my eyes
My pets	Places I have lived	Favorite places I've visited
My favorite music	Jobs I've had	My gardens through the years

If you want to go to other pages in this series you can click on any of these.  Most of these were made quickly, just to show my "artistry" (or lack of) in photography. Some are just fun pictures to look at. Below this series are many of my better pages, with both photos and stories about the people, places or things they are taken of.