>       The outlaw history of the sixties would make an interesting
epic

>but it doesn't touch the outlaw marauding of Vietnam or the violent

>history of America. The left is always chewing on itself to the glee

>of the powers that be. Is there a plan out there to move the world

>forward a few steps.

>

> Allen Cohen


Many of us considered ourselves outlaws at the time... perhaps because
we broke so many laws and tried not to get caught. Petty stuff mostly,
rioting in the streets, drugs, sex, bricks, rip offs, trying to stop
the war, hitting back at racist corporations ... tirades against the
Panthers remind of me of the old wisdom, You can't have a revolution
without breaking a few eggs.  Someone is bound to throw a hissy fit
when eggs get cooked. A revolution is a violent and scary phenomena and
you'd better get out of its way ... 


What? Did some think we were a gentle university debating team with tea
and crumpets? Perhaps it began that way, and certainly many of those
who began in the university became more active but those who wanted the
dilettante debating shouldn't have gotten the rest of us involved in
it. We worked with our hands, approached things somewhat less
complexly. You want it changed? Stop bellyaching and debating and
change it. Remains the crux of the matter doesn't it?


And as Allen says, what we did was nothing compared to the millions
murdered by "our boys" "over there." Directed by government policy, of
course, good Germans all, woops, I mean you got to love your country.
The Vietnamese could say that, but they weren't doing what our country
was doing then. 


We could chew on each other, but the positive aspect that came out of
this list from my view is connecting with others from back then and
seeing that we're all still working on projects related to change, not
the overblown hopeful and dramatic results we had hoped ... and I
continue to wonder .... what do I do with my ideas? How transform them
into change when I go for a walk in the valley this afternoon and three
trophy houses are going up, carved, bulldozed from formerly peaceful
meadows. Where do the high school kids get their new school, built in a
wetlands under the airport flight pattern so someone can make a few
bucks? Where do the strawberry and lettuce pickers live when the land
is bought up by dot.commers? That's just beginning...


best, Don