"It was as if we were all in an airplane sitting on the runway and everyone on board was getting high waiting for the airplane to take off. We were high on the Summer of Love, the end of the war, the hope of a better world. The revolution and the birth of our consciences filled our hearts with vision. But when we looked out the window, all we could see was the smoke that billowed forth from our water pipes. We thought we were flying high, man; we thought we had taken off, but as the smoke cleared and we looked out the window, there we were, still on the ground. Then as we filed off the plane, we found ourselves right where we had started all those years ago; a little grayer, a lot sadder, and airsick on top of it all."
The '60s or The Sixties Movement
These turbulent years faded away without bringing about anything that was in the heart of the sincere. We write these articles to those who were also disillusioned and hurt by the unfulfilled promise.
The Woodstock Nation
A chance to live out the values we embraced, to love and share, to be natural, to be free from what we hated in society? We could reject what we saw around us, but would we find our way to build a new society? Could we truly love and be loved?
The Elusive Dream
Haight-Ashbury! Do you remember what magic these two words held in our minds?! Thousands grabbed their bedrolls, backpacks, or sleeping bags and left home to find this Promised Land...
A Place to Belong
Thirty years ago communes sprang up where everyone shared everything, searching for peace and love. But our little utopias faded away. Can the longing in our hearts to live together in peace ever be satisfied? Is there such a place?
A Hope that Doesn't Disappoint
If we human beings really could be washed and cleansed of all the guilty stains buried deep in the recesses of our souls, then we could be one!
Timothy Leary's Dead
Doctor Timothy Leary began to preach the gospel of LSD and left Harvard in search of disciples. He preached that we could expand our minds, deepen our consciousness and lift ourselves out of a mundane existence. We swallowed it, hook, line, and sinker.
We Are Stardust, We are Golden
Getting back to the garden had tremendous significance at Woodstock ?we were trying to find Utopia, that place of everlasting bliss and happiness, which history had taught was nowhere.
The Hippiecrit
If we did not attain to the society of love and peace we sought, who is to blame? Most of us eventually settled for the status quo and have become what we once hated. If you have ever wondered why the Movement never got off the ground, you may find the answer in these articles.
Roots
The hippie exterior eventually wore off, exposing the roots that were still there. Like it or not, we'd become the very thing we'd railed against.
Come Together!
This was the cry that became a Movement. It was in the heart of a whole generation, fueled by a desire for a love we sensed was possible and a justice we knew the world needed.
Are You a Hippiecrit?
Did we really think we could throw off the ancient boundaries of conscience and create a society of love and unity?
After All Is Said and Done
Our higher learning enabled us to know everything that was wrong with the world and yet justify our enjoyment of that same world to its fullest.
Personal Experiences
Can the zeal and ideals of youth be tempered with wisdom and experience without losing the original vision? These articles describe the struggles of some who grew up in the Sixties, and how they found the reality of the life they longed for.
Children of the Children
As I got older, I began to discover that all these dreams of "getting back to the land" had evolved into one thing.
Back to the Garden
A fine home, a good marriage, beautiful land, and healthy children — but the tranquility was only external. Going back to the land and being self-sufficient wasn't enough.
Radical of Radicals
A radical can only bring about a positive change in society if he himself is rooted in a life-sustaining source.
Confession of a Former Feminist
It is true that woman is the key to restoration, but feminists won't like the recipe...
Flower Children
From that first "summer of love" to the close of the Vietnam war, we burst into flower, faded, and scattered the seed of our generation all across the United States. We were the flower children — young, innocent, and short-lived. |
 Hippiecrit
Why the Movement Never Got Off the Ground
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