Like a lot of you, I've been hearing the word "hippies" a lot lately. It seems to have been adopted by the punditerati as a catchall dismissal for protesters in general and the OWS movement in particular. Nothing to see here, folks, just some hippies.
When I hear people dismiss hippies, I wonder if they ever think about why their grocery store carries organic foods, or any bread darker than "Roman Meal." I wonder if they think about why their business offers options for child care and family leave.
Do they ever wonder how, seemingly out of the blue, America decided that pedestrian parks and green spaces would be a great addition to cities? Or why the paper mill stopped pouring foaming liquid fartage into the stream that runs through town? Why there are bike lanes and Thursday farmer's markets and all the other "quality of life" touches touted by the city fathers?
Do they ever think about how they, and "everyone," came to decide the Vietnam War wasn't really the smartest move? Or another, similar, military misadventure?
Do they ever wonder where all of this surprisingly "common" sense arose?
Dirty. Fucking. Hippies.
"Long-haired, loudmouthed, crazy-ass fools."
You're welcome. Now, gather 'round. There are a couple of things we haven't finished...
I wrote this track in the depressing depths of the Junior Years, when all things hippie seemed but a quaint, black-and-white memory and all the world was falling to the march of global money and Neocon madness.
But now, something new is stirring, or rather, something old is being reconsidered: the power of community, of humanism and democracy. Voices long stifled by a corporate monomedia are starting to leak out, on web pages and Sharpied cardboard, in public parks outrageously occupied by the public, around water coolers and dinner tables, voices asking the simple question, "Is there a better way?"
Perhaps this time, someone will listen.
Personal note: Today's my birthday. Usually on 10/25, I come here and ask y'all to donate $10.25 to the DNC or an equally unpleasant cause. What's surprising is how generously you've responded over the years. Today, though, I'm only begging your clicks and, if you like what you hear, your links, tweets and shares.
I'll be putting up a few more OWS-related vids in the coming days. I hope you will enjoy them.