The Summer of Love Nostalgia
At the moment, I'm working on a humorous depiction commemorating the 40th anniversary of the 1967 "Summer of Love" in San Francisco, or Sham Francisco if you prefer. I was only 15 years old that year, living in Queens, convinced of my total invisibility at the awful High School I was attending. It would be another 18 months before my conscisousness began to get awakened, alth0ugh the music was already getting to my imagination.
By 1969 and 70, I was convinced that something big was going on with the anti-establishment, pot-smoking, go back to the land living, alternate-lifestyle, peaceful new order of younger people in this country, and maybe the rest of the world too. I was not alone in this, although it turned out to be much less than that. By and large, the hippies were materialistic too, looking out for themselves as much as anyone else, as imperfect as most of the rest of the human beings, or human be-ins, that populate this paradise known as Earth. While it was disillusioning, it wasn't all that surprising to me, who was, after all, an outsider by outlook and inclination.
All that said, some aspects from the 60s have trickled down into the national consciousness in the form of organic food, concern for the environment, a somewhat jaded outlook on ambition, and the idea of generosity. At least for some, it seems, there is an influence from that era.
Now I, and most of my friends, are in their mid-50s, and have their lives, and some have health concerns. I'm wondering what it's all about, where it's all going, was it all a silly fad back then? At least, for me, there is still a sensibility that never quite went away, of being interconnected. Best of al for me, I began to get my first positive reinforcement for my artwork in 1969. I'll be eternally grateful to my generally stoned first audience of peers who made me feel like I might have talent and might be on to something after all.
By 1969 and 70, I was convinced that something big was going on with the anti-establishment, pot-smoking, go back to the land living, alternate-lifestyle, peaceful new order of younger people in this country, and maybe the rest of the world too. I was not alone in this, although it turned out to be much less than that. By and large, the hippies were materialistic too, looking out for themselves as much as anyone else, as imperfect as most of the rest of the human beings, or human be-ins, that populate this paradise known as Earth. While it was disillusioning, it wasn't all that surprising to me, who was, after all, an outsider by outlook and inclination.
All that said, some aspects from the 60s have trickled down into the national consciousness in the form of organic food, concern for the environment, a somewhat jaded outlook on ambition, and the idea of generosity. At least for some, it seems, there is an influence from that era.
Now I, and most of my friends, are in their mid-50s, and have their lives, and some have health concerns. I'm wondering what it's all about, where it's all going, was it all a silly fad back then? At least, for me, there is still a sensibility that never quite went away, of being interconnected. Best of al for me, I began to get my first positive reinforcement for my artwork in 1969. I'll be eternally grateful to my generally stoned first audience of peers who made me feel like I might have talent and might be on to something after all.
posted by Rich Sigberman at
9:22 AM
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