Then....
I barely remember Jr. High. I vividly remember all the years of elementary school. But somehow those three years of Jr. High are a blank in my usually, good memory. I had a couple of good girlfriends. Nothing else.
Now high school is something else. It is vivid and alive, as though it was yesterday. We had two Jr. highs in my town. They came together in the high school. All the girls I got along with went to the other one, and were all friends with each other. So when our schools merged, I met them all, and made a lot of great friends, and some of the best friends I have ever had in my life. High School was a very happy time for me. I wasn't really involved with boys in my school, but I was very content with the girlfriends I had. It was a time of hanging out together everyday, laughing, laughing, laughing, talking on the phone. I felt very secure and safe in the relationships I had.
I consider myself to be an average suburban girl at this time. I had my friends, watched TV, talked on the phone, went to the mall and movies. I ate hamburgers and hot dogs and sodas. I was happy, content and life was good.
This was a real time of transition for our American culture. I entered high school in 1967. This was the time of the hippie movement and the Vietnam war. I lived on Long Island, and I think hippiedom was getting there slowly. Things were still pretty conservative there. But things changed alot in the 3 years I was in High School. Here are some observations:
Most girls were still virgins. If you had sex you were still considered a slut.
Most people didn't smoke pot. if you did, you were considered a wild, bad kid.
The Vietnam War was having a big influence on the culture. It was having a big effect on alot of the teachers in our school. Basically the school got divided into two camps. The radical teachers and then the more conservative ones. The conservative teachers were math, science and foreign language. The radical teachers were in the history and english departments. They were doves, and very anti war. There was one history teacher who was a bonafide hawk as well. They were against the system in general. Some of them actually were rebelling against being teachers and school. They didn't care about attendance, and let us know about it. You could cut for the whole year, never get reported, and get a B. Some never really taught. They just sat around and talked about whatever day after day.
Our school was divided into halls. Each one for a subject. In the English and History halls, it was pandemonium during classes. Kids were all over the place, in the halls, cutting study halls and classes and no one cared. Every few months, the principle would have an assembly to reprimand teachers and students, telling the teachers they must monitor those halls, and telling students they must be in class. this would work for a few days, and then back to pandemonium.
Kids were turning radical as well. Boys were growing their hair long, and people were wearing black arm bands in support of the anti war movement. Usually the sophomores had a sophomore boat ride. As a class, we had an assembly and voted not to have the boat ride, as it seemed too indulgent in light of the Vietnam War. We voted against a Jr. Prom as well. We had a third assembly about the Senior Prom. We almost voted against that as well, but chickened out. I didn't go, in honor of the war.
I was a senior during the crisis at Kent State University. What happened was students at Kent State University were protesting the war. The National Guard actually killed 4 students and wounded 9 others. This sparked massive protests throughout America on college campuses. It sparked a protest at my High School as well. We called it a Strike. Some how, I don't remember how, we all decided to leave school, as a demonstration. The school started pouring out of the doors. I was one of the kids who managed to get out. The superintendent got wind of this, and locked the doors of the school, leaving some kids inside. A lot of us got out. We just didn't leave, we had a rally. I kind of remember microphones, maybe not. I do remember the most radical kids, who were like our radical leaders getting up and making speeches. It is odd the school let this happen, considering they had locked some of the kids inside. I don't know what they did. I guess they went to class.
Maybe I was naive, but pot didn't seem to be that well established in the high school. I do remember though that more "wild' kids, were taking LSD in the school. I few times ambulances needed to be called, and a kid on LSD was taken to the hospital. My brother was 4 years younger than me. By the time he was in high school, it seemed like pot was very well established among the high school students. There was a huge shift and change in our culture in those 4 years.
*************
I go to Woodstock!
Probably the highlight of my high school years, in terms of a changing world, is that I ended up at Woodstock. I was 16 years old. I was working as a waitress in a summer camp in the Catskill Mountains. I had a boyfriend there, who I guess was hip to what was going on outside the camp. I was oblivious. We had a few days off. He asked me if I wanted to go to a concert, with another young couple at the camp. I said sure. So we set off, for an overnight excursion. Little did I know I was going to Woodstock, which would become life changing for our culture, as well as being incredibly famous. Honestly, I thought we were going to an high school gym. No kidding.
The four of us set off hitchhiking. We got to Monticello, which was the major town in the Catskills for hotels and tourists. I didn't know why, but restaurants were giving out free food to everyone. I thought it was extra cool that the bagel shop gave us free bagels and potato salad. I still had no idea that I was part of anything extraordinary.
Well, we continue on. At some point there was a road block and we had to start walking. I was 16, and just took it all in my stride, never realizing anything was unusual or different. After all, I never hitchhiked before, except a few miles, so I thought this was normal. At one point after the road block, there was a pick up truck driving along at a very slow pace. They let us sit in the back of that. They had a canopy with all their stuff. That is when I saw pot for the first time. My boyfriend went through their stuff and found a pipe and pot. I didn't really know anything about it. I just thought it was wrong for him to being going through their stuff, and was trying to make him stop. He decided to smoke the pot. I guess he had done it before. I wasn't really reacting to that, as much as I was reacting to feeling it was wrong for him to go through their stuff, and then smoke their pot, without their permission. Needless to say, I didn't smoke any, and I wasn't happy with him for smoking it, and for taking their stuff. Oh well......
Anyway, that didn't last long. The next thing I remember is getting out of the truck, and we are walking in the country, with fields and woods. Then my boyfriend covers my eyes, and says "don't look over there, there are naked people over there". Funny. I didn't look. We kept walking. Finally we came to the end of the field, it sloped down. I looked down, and there was an ocean of people. It was Woodstock. I thought to myself " This isn't any high school gym".
We went down. I had no idea where I was, or what was going on. I know now it was day 2. It was after the rain, and after they had knocked down the fence, which was good, because of course we didn't have any tickets. The fence was only like those short, little plastic fences, way easy to knock down. We just walked right over it, and went way down, close to the stage. It was about 4 o clock maybe in the afternoon. I think Canned Heat was on. I should say now, that Woodstock was totally wasted on me. I was just a naive, 16 year old girl, who listened to the top 100 on WABC. I really didn't know any of the bands. But regardless, I WAS THERE.
So this is who played when I was there ( I think). Canned Heat, Incredible String Band ?? (were there even there?), Sly and the Family Stone ( I knew them), Janis Joplin (who I had no idea about who she was) The Who ( they played Tommy which was impressive, even to me). We had to leave the next day to go back to camp. Yes we left. I can't believe we did that. We left at sunrise as they were announcing the Jefferson Airplane. I can't believe we did that.
It was totally muddy from the rain the day before. We were close to the stage, so it was packed like sardines, person to person. We didn't even bring a blanket. I don't think we had any food (good thing for the free bagels). We just sat there in the mud. I was a little lost and confused. I really didn't know what was going on, or what to think of it. The music really was non stop. I enjoyed Sly and the Family Stone, because I knew them. I remember my boyfriend saying all right Janis, that is why I know she was there. I didn't know who Janis was. I didn't pay any attention. Can you believe that?? I think he was getting stoned again, this time with a joint, and I didn't like that. It got dark, and I remember laying there in the mud, listening to the music. The Who came on, it seemed to be the dead of night, and played Tommy. This penetrated even me. It was amazing laying there, listening to them. I especially remember "
See me, feel me, touch me, heal me " coming over the loud speakers in the middle of the night. WOW! Somehow the night ended and we got up and left at sunrise, missing The Jefferson Airplane. I didn't get to see them a second time either. They had a free concert on the grass, at Sunnybrook University that next year, and my father didn't let me go. I had a boyfriend at Sunnybrook, and he wanted me to come. I had to go to a Bat Mitzvah instead of my Mother's friend's daughter. Can you believe that too?? Interestingly enough though, I got to see The Who perform Tommy a second time. This time I totally knew the album.
copyright 2010 © Stacey Bander. Please contact for any reuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment