Were You a Hippie?

[DGS49]

I was born in 1949, so I was in the "sweet spot" of the 60's. I was at ground zero for the Vietnam draft. I was in ninth grade when JFK was shot and 18 or 19 when MLK and RFK were assassinated. My contemporaries were growing long hair, smoking dope, and attending anti-war rallies. I was on campus for the school year '67-'68, then spent the following three years in the Army. I listened to Motown music, the music of the British Invasion, and American groups, especially the Beach Boys. In today's parlance, I am the heart of what younger generations now derisively call, "Boomers."

Neither I nor any of my classmates or friends were "Hippies."

We were all working class; we didn't have the time or money to be Hippies. Me and my friends were going to school and working as many hours as possible to sock away money for school (tuition, books, living expenses, etc,.). We couldn't have long hair because most employers wouldn't hire you unless you looked "presentable." We drank beer and cheap wine, and didn't transition to MJ until the 70's.

So who were the Hippies? Upper middle-class, spoiled twits. Kids who had parents supporting them fully, paying their school tuition, giving them cars and paying for their apartments, protecting them from the mundane worries of life. These are the same people who went to college and decided to stay there as long as possible to evade the draft - few of them were ever drafted - then became entrenched...and are the godfathers of the disaster that is today's "Higher Education."

Woodstock? Basically all Hippies. Although we were aware that it was happening, working class kids didn't have the time or the spare money to go to such an event.

So if you are too young to remember yourself, and you read about the 60's generation and all the wild shit that they did, keep in mind that then, as now, there were basically two communities of young adults in the late 60's - one the children of working class parents, usually with fathers who were WWII vets, while the other group lived in a whole different world, side by side with the working class kids. The Hippies grew up to be Democrats; we grew up to be Republicans.

And there you have it.

 

[progressive hunter]

I was born in 1949, so I was in the "sweet spot" of the 60's. I was at ground zero for the Vietnam draft. I was in ninth grade when JFK was shot and 18 or 19 when MLK and RFK were assassinated. My contemporaries were growing long hair, smoking dope, and attending anti-war rallies. I was on campus for the school year '67-'68, then spent the following three years in the Army. I listened to Motown music, the music of the British Invasion, and American groups, especially the Beach Boys. In today's parlance, I am the heart of what younger generations now derisively call, "Boomers."

Neither I nor any of my classmates or friends were "Hippies."

We were all working class; we didn't have the time or money to be Hippies. Me and my friends were going to school and working as many hours as possible to sock away money for school (tuition, books, living expenses, etc,.). We couldn't have long hair because most employers wouldn't hire you unless you looked "presentable." We drank beer and cheap wine, and didn't transition to MJ until the 70's.

So who were the Hippies? Upper middle-class, spoiled twits. Kids who had parents supporting them fully, paying their school tuition, giving them cars and paying for their apartments, protecting them from the mundane worries of life. These are the same people who went to college and decided to stay there as long as possible to evade the draft - few of them were ever drafted - then became entrenched...and are the godfathers of the disaster that is today's "Higher Education."

Woodstock? Basically all Hippies. Although we were aware that it was happening, working class kids didn't have the time or the spare money to go to such an event.

So if you are too young to remember yourself, and you read about the 60's generation and all the wild shit that they did, keep in mind that then, as now, there were basically two communities of young adults in the late 60's - one the children of working class parents, usually with fathers who were WWII vets, while the other group lived in a whole different world, side by side with the working class kids. The Hippies grew up to be Democrats; we grew up to be Republicans.

And there you have it.

did they call you squares??

 

[Concerned American]

I was born in 1949, so I was in the "sweet spot" of the 60's. I was at ground zero for the Vietnam draft. I was in ninth grade when JFK was shot and 18 or 19 when MLK and RFK were assassinated. My contemporaries were growing long hair, smoking dope, and attending anti-war rallies. I was on campus for the school year '67-'68, then spent the following three years in the Army. I listened to Motown music, the music of the British Invasion, and American groups, especially the Beach Boys. In today's parlance, I am the heart of what younger generations now derisively call, "Boomers."

Neither I nor any of my classmates or friends were "Hippies."

We were all working class; we didn't have the time or money to be Hippies. Me and my friends were going to school and working as many hours as possible to sock away money for school (tuition, books, living expenses, etc,.). We couldn't have long hair because most employers wouldn't hire you unless you looked "presentable." We drank beer and cheap wine, and didn't transition to MJ until the 70's.

So who were the Hippies? Upper middle-class, spoiled twits. Kids who had parents supporting them fully, paying their school tuition, giving them cars and paying for their apartments, protecting them from the mundane worries of life. These are the same people who went to college and decided to stay there as long as possible to evade the draft - few of them were ever drafted - then became entrenched...and are the godfathers of the disaster that is today's "Higher Education."

Woodstock? Basically all Hippies. Although we were aware that it was happening, working class kids didn't have the time or the spare money to go to such an event.

So if you are too young to remember yourself, and you read about the 60's generation and all the wild shit that they did, keep in mind that then, as now, there were basically two communities of young adults in the late 60's - one the children of working class parents, usually with fathers who were WWII vets, while the other group lived in a whole different world, side by side with the working class kids. The Hippies grew up to be Democrats; we grew up to be Republicans.

And there you have it.

You are two years older than I. When Woodstock happened I was in my first year in the Marine Corps. I didn't even know it happened until the movie came out.

 

[MarathonMike]

No. I started working at 10 years old earning money shoveling driveways. Then a paper route at 12, Summer construction job at 15, golf course worker at 16, grocery bagger at 18, math tutor at 19, and then I started my career as an engineer at 22 that ended at age 62. Hippie? That was something I saw on TV and heard about in songs.

 

[The Irish Ram]

My Dad grounded me to keep me from taking the car and heading for Woodstock and then taking the punishment that I would have gotten when I got back. He was very good at pre-emptive strikes on my plans. He knew me so well...

 

[MarathonMike]

My Dad grounded me to keep me from taking the car and heading for Woodstock and then taking the punishment that I would have gotten when I got back. He was very good at pre-emptive strikes on my plans. He knew me so well...

A couple of friends of mine went and they said it was a stinking, wet miserable mess with a few magical moments mixed in.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

No. All my friends were girlfriends of outlaw bikers. Most of the guys were ex military of some sort. Not a flower child in the bunch.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

No. I started working at 10 years old earning money shoveling driveways. Then a paper route at 12, Summer construction job at 15, golf course worker at 16, grocery bagger at 18, math tutor at 19, and then I started my career as an engineer at 22 that ended at age 62. Hippie? That was something I saw on TV and heard about in songs.

Did you notice? All those who didn't work at a young age are opposed to child labor. Those that worked as children think it's just fine.

 

[MarathonMike]

Did you notice? All those who didn't work at a young age are opposed to child labor. Those that worked as children think it's just fine.

Well let's be careful there. I don't think little African kids working 6 days a week in Lithium mines or in Chinese factories for a dollar a day is fine. But American kids learning how to work is definitely fine.

 

[sparky]

born in the late 50's ,probably best described as ......



~S~

 

[frigidweirdo]

I was born in 1949, so I was in the "sweet spot" of the 60's. I was at ground zero for the Vietnam draft. I was in ninth grade when JFK was shot and 18 or 19 when MLK and RFK were assassinated. My contemporaries were growing long hair, smoking dope, and attending anti-war rallies. I was on campus for the school year '67-'68, then spent the following three years in the Army. I listened to Motown music, the music of the British Invasion, and American groups, especially the Beach Boys. In today's parlance, I am the heart of what younger generations now derisively call, "Boomers."

Neither I nor any of my classmates or friends were "Hippies."

We were all working class; we didn't have the time or money to be Hippies. Me and my friends were going to school and working as many hours as possible to sock away money for school (tuition, books, living expenses, etc,.). We couldn't have long hair because most employers wouldn't hire you unless you looked "presentable." We drank beer and cheap wine, and didn't transition to MJ until the 70's.

So who were the Hippies? Upper middle-class, spoiled twits. Kids who had parents supporting them fully, paying their school tuition, giving them cars and paying for their apartments, protecting them from the mundane worries of life. These are the same people who went to college and decided to stay there as long as possible to evade the draft - few of them were ever drafted - then became entrenched...and are the godfathers of the disaster that is today's "Higher Education."

Woodstock? Basically all Hippies. Although we were aware that it was happening, working class kids didn't have the time or the spare money to go to such an event.

So if you are too young to remember yourself, and you read about the 60's generation and all the wild shit that they did, keep in mind that then, as now, there were basically two communities of young adults in the late 60's - one the children of working class parents, usually with fathers who were WWII vets, while the other group lived in a whole different world, side by side with the working class kids. The Hippies grew up to be Democrats; we grew up to be Republicans.

And there you have it.

I got called a hippy once, by some redneck driving a 4 by 4 in Colorado.....

 

[The Irish Ram]

lol. Was it a blue 4X4?

 

[The Duke]

I was born in 1949, so I was in the "sweet spot" of the 60's. I was at ground zero for the Vietnam draft. I was in ninth grade when JFK was shot and 18 or 19 when MLK and RFK were assassinated. My contemporaries were growing long hair, smoking dope, and attending anti-war rallies. I was on campus for the school year '67-'68, then spent the following three years in the Army. I listened to Motown music, the music of the British Invasion, and American groups, especially the Beach Boys. In today's parlance, I am the heart of what younger generations now derisively call, "Boomers."

Neither I nor any of my classmates or friends were "Hippies."

We were all working class; we didn't have the time or money to be Hippies. Me and my friends were going to school and working as many hours as possible to sock away money for school (tuition, books, living expenses, etc,.). We couldn't have long hair because most employers wouldn't hire you unless you looked "presentable." We drank beer and cheap wine, and didn't transition to MJ until the 70's.

So who were the Hippies? Upper middle-class, spoiled twits. Kids who had parents supporting them fully, paying their school tuition, giving them cars and paying for their apartments, protecting them from the mundane worries of life. These are the same people who went to college and decided to stay there as long as possible to evade the draft - few of them were ever drafted - then became entrenched...and are the godfathers of the disaster that is today's "Higher Education."

Woodstock? Basically all Hippies. Although we were aware that it was happening, working class kids didn't have the time or the spare money to go to such an event.

So if you are too young to remember yourself, and you read about the 60's generation and all the wild shit that they did, keep in mind that then, as now, there were basically two communities of young adults in the late 60's - one the children of working class parents, usually with fathers who were WWII vets, while the other group lived in a whole different world, side by side with the working class kids. The Hippies grew up to be Democrats; we grew up to be Republicans.

And there you have it.

No, and I have an odd deep loathing for dirty hippies.

 

[MarathonMike]

I got called a hippy once, by some redneck driving a 4 by 4 in Colorado.....

What prompted that? Were you wearing a headband made out of daisies?

 

[sparky]

No, and I have an odd deep loathing for dirty hippies.

.....you're far from alone Duke.....

~S~

 

[Flash]

I was born in 1947.

I was right age for most of the fun in the 1960s.

I always despised Hippies.

Hollywood loved the sonofabitches but most Americans thought they were trash.

 

[sparky]

I was just a lad in the 60's , but i can distinctly recall the 'hippies' who turned me onto Maryjane

It was one of these 'try this, and see what it does' deals....

Methinks they all work for big pharma now.......~S~

 

[BothWings]

My Dad grounded me to keep me from taking the car and heading for Woodstock and then taking the punishment that I would have gotten when I got back. He was very good at pre-emptive strikes on my plans. He knew me so well...

Why not be one of the many people who hitch-hiked there? Hitch-hiking was the thing back then, and even when I grew up in the 80's we were still doing it often, much as our older uncles and brothers had in the 60's and 70's. As the 90's rolled in, hitch-hiking as a great American past-time quickly started to fall in obscurity, and quite suddenly. To see someone hitch hiking these days is an extreme rarity. There was a massive cultural change that happened in this country around 1990, right after the Berlin Wall fell and western corporate interests began to take over in the former East Bloc.

Regarding "hippies". I was never more than lower middle class. Some of my friends came from simply lower class families who scraped by. Many of my friends were Dead Heads. I was a Pink Floyd and Cream nut myself. Very few of us really like the new music of the 80's...unless it was from someone who was already established in the 60's or the 70's. The Traveling Wilburys and Stevie Ray Vaughan won lots of airtime with us as we travelled around and partied. We hung out in the mountains, wore tie-dyes (often ones we made ourselves) and listened to "variety tapes" in our cars that we copied from vinyl at home. All the money we spent on concerts (first one I ever saw was the Wailers, minus Bob Marley, because he had died a few years before) came from our lousy grocery store, construction and table-waiting jobs. Hanging out in the mountains and cliffs on the ridge above our valley was our greatest love. We brought our guitars up there and would jam to the land below. While I was about 15 years late for Woodstock, and liked alot of the music that made it famous, I never felt I missed a thing. The truth is, I don't LIKE huge crowds of muddy naked people walking around drooling and snuggling and flashing peace symbols. Now, 34 years after graduating high school I'd rather carry my AK47 to the gun range than wear a tie-dye. I enjoyed the nature and New Age knowledge side of hippy-ism, but the peacenik shit made me more and more sick the older I got.

Suffice to say, my friends and I were like the second wave of hipsters.
Interestingly enough, I did actually grow up about an hour from the Woodstock site, and in my 30's I worked for an engineering company which sent me up there to do soil tests about amile away from Yasgur farms. Never once did I even bother to pass by and look at it. I still listen to alot of that music. Especially, the Who and sometimes CSN and stuff like that. But truthfully I have just become alot more conservative with age without looking back.

 

[The Irish Ram]

I was at Greenbrier College for Women and hated that place so much, I walked out one day with an old coon hound I befriend, that I named Lightening, and never looked back. A trucker picked us up and drove all day. He stopped that night at a truck stop about 8 miles from my home town. What a stroke of luck. He let me out on the road and I stuck my thumb out and saw a white Cadillac and couldn't believe it. It was my Dad. So I turned back around and put my head down and kept walking until he passed. When I got to the family homestead, the car was there, and I dreaded the trouble I was in. I finally went in with Old Lightening, and Dad looked at me, shook his head and said, " I thought that was you, but the dog threw me." I just hugged him and the three of us went home...

 

[frigidweirdo]

What prompted that? Were you wearing a headband made out of daisies?

I just didn't look like the stereotypical midwesterner.