Post by Hippie Tribes on Oct 5, 2010 18:30:18 GMT -5
HIPPIES
When we hear someone mention the "Sixties", one of the first things that comes to mind are the Hippies! Groovy, peace-loving, gentle, fun-loving, free people. Or, depending on your point of view - Dirty, long-haired, lazy, drug-smoking, flowers-in-their-hair, weirdos! Then-governor of California, Ronald Reagan, expressed his contempt for student protesters with these words: "A hippie is someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane, and smells like Cheetah." However they are remembered, they were certainly unique - a very special kind of being.
The Hippies were a transformation from the Beat Generation to the counterculture of the Sixties. Trying to generically describe what they were is impossible. They have been known as "hippies", "free people", "mods", "flower children", "heads", "freaks", "hipsters" and some-not-so-nice names. To paraphrase an old Buddhist phrase: "A thousand different hippies (monks), a thousand different philosophies (religions)."
This is the grooviest part of the Sixties. It isn't only about philosophy, it is about physical appearance. Though bell bottom jeans and tie dye shirts with love beads is the common image one thinks of when imagining a hippie, it was so much more. There really were few, if any, rules of dress. When I first arrived on Plum Street in Detroit during the Summer of Love, I wore a discarded multi-colored rug as a poncho by making a hole in the middle for my head to pass through, As I acquired enough bread (money) to buy a couple buttons at one of the head shops, I would adorn the rug with them. I also acquired a string of purple colored love beads. My first button was the original red, white & blue "Make Love Not War" pin.
This "bag" is where we discuss "Hippies" - what they were, why they were, and how to be one.
When we hear someone mention the "Sixties", one of the first things that comes to mind are the Hippies! Groovy, peace-loving, gentle, fun-loving, free people. Or, depending on your point of view - Dirty, long-haired, lazy, drug-smoking, flowers-in-their-hair, weirdos! Then-governor of California, Ronald Reagan, expressed his contempt for student protesters with these words: "A hippie is someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane, and smells like Cheetah." However they are remembered, they were certainly unique - a very special kind of being.
The Hippies were a transformation from the Beat Generation to the counterculture of the Sixties. Trying to generically describe what they were is impossible. They have been known as "hippies", "free people", "mods", "flower children", "heads", "freaks", "hipsters" and some-not-so-nice names. To paraphrase an old Buddhist phrase: "A thousand different hippies (monks), a thousand different philosophies (religions)."
This is the grooviest part of the Sixties. It isn't only about philosophy, it is about physical appearance. Though bell bottom jeans and tie dye shirts with love beads is the common image one thinks of when imagining a hippie, it was so much more. There really were few, if any, rules of dress. When I first arrived on Plum Street in Detroit during the Summer of Love, I wore a discarded multi-colored rug as a poncho by making a hole in the middle for my head to pass through, As I acquired enough bread (money) to buy a couple buttons at one of the head shops, I would adorn the rug with them. I also acquired a string of purple colored love beads. My first button was the original red, white & blue "Make Love Not War" pin.
This "bag" is where we discuss "Hippies" - what they were, why they were, and how to be one.