Hippies during the Vietnam War

Many people hear the word "Hippy" and automatically think of the negative connotation that comes along with it. Illegal drugs, underaged/excessive drinking, pre-marital sexual relations, lost morals are among that aspects that the history of hippies includes. Hippies are linked with the Vietnam war becuase of the group's rise in population during this time.

(Here is a short video on the Vietnam War. Its a bit graphic but still very real and educational on the subject)
http://http://link.history.com/services/player/bcpid1287024722?bctid=1327153775

Why did this type of lifestyle become more popular during this time? I belive that it is because the termoil of the war reached great heights, and unmanagable heights, for some. People were under great stress during the war and were in need of an escape and that is exactly what they found in the hippy lifestyle. The hippies had an idealistic dream that they could live without working, without the law, without morals, and with happiness. Being drunk, high and secluded from the rest of the world was the only way that some people could forget about the people they had lost, the money they had lost, their horrible experiences and the terror that the world was experiencing. They wanted peace and the hippies found the only bit of peace that seemed to remain.

The negative feelings that non-hippies had towards the "loose" group has remained strong since the Vietnam war. Even today, it is considered and insult to be called a hippy. A girl walks down the hallway of my large highschool with loose, long hair, skimpy cotton clothing, and a very natural appearance. She is glared at and looked down upon. She is referred to as a "hippy".

The forgotten side effect of war

I am currently reading a book called Motherland by Fern Schumer Chapman. It is a true story written by a woman and it is about her quest to find information about her ancestry. She knows nothing about her maternal family despite the fact that her own mother is still living and a prominent part of her life. Her mother escaped Germany just before the Holocaust began during WWII but she left her entire family behind.

This book tells alot about the effect that war can have on a person. After many decades, the author's mother still never talks of her past. She has no family photos displayed and escapes any situations were questions of the subject may come up. She never told her daughter stories of her past, family,or childhood. The author describes moments throughout her own childhood that showed her the pain that her mother is living with. She recalls "sometimes, when I walked past the bathroom while she was taking a bath, I would hear her repeating, over and over, words that began with a 'w,'. She was trying to master its sound, to rub out the 'v,' the last vestige of her German accent. It was her stain" (XI). The author describes her mother as a "survivor" and I found this very interesting. Many of us mourn the death of soldiers and we hope and pray for the ones that are currently risking their lives but once they return home safely, they are forgotten about. Their heroic duties are not forgotten, but their pain and mental damage is never recognized. What a person sees and does in war, the experiences and losses that they go through stay with them forever. This is definetely one of the horrible downsides of war. It is an issue that is very overlooked and often forgotten about.

An Uggly truth

For our American Studies class, we had to write a poem/personal essay on the creation process of an object that we use daily. I choose to write a poem on UGG boots. I have two pairs of them and I wear them daily, mostly in winter and cold weather. They are the most amazing pair of shoes that I own. They are warm and it feels like I am wearing a pair of slippers when they are on my feet. I never really took the time to think about where they came from despite the fact that I wear them almost everyday for three months out of the year and that I am fully aware of what they are made from. They are made from the fur and skin of sheep. If I had tried to think about how UGGs are made before I aqcuired the knowlege that I have now, then I assume I would have imagined that the sheep were gracefully put to sleep with some sort of painless oral medication. Then they would be gently skinned as most animals are before they embark on the meat-packaging process. I would have thought that naturally, the animals would be killed anyway for meat so we were only reducing waste by creating something out of the skin and fur. I have since proved this idea to be very incorrect. While the sheep are actually still alive, they are tied by their feet and hung from a pole as the skin from their behind is sliced off with a knife. This is done without any painkillers whatsoever and the sheep are left to hang their until new skin begins to heal back. This process is to keep flies from planting thier larva which can infect and kill the sheep. The sheep need to remain alive for a few years until their skin is ready to be used. The sheep are sold in auctions and then shoved into car trunks and trucks to be transported to farms where their throats will be cut or where they will be suffocated. Once dead, their skin is removed, cleaned, dyed, etc. as it goes through its preparation process so that the country's affluent can have warm feet. This information had a major impact on the way that I view my UGGs. I think that it is safe to say that I will not be purchasing any new ones in the near future. Considereing that a good portion of female New Trier students own and actively use their UGG boots, I thought that spreading this information would be a good thing. I attached a link for a youtube video that peacefully(without extrmeme graphics, blood, and gore) shows the effect that our needs has on sheep. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKAsiEtaf5E&feature=related

Present-day Hoovervilles

The disputed reign of President Herbert Hoover brought along with it the presence of poverty and homelessness. To succomb this time, U.S. citizens were forced to take drastic measures in order to survive. Many people lost their homes due to the loss of money during this memorable era. The great depression is very directly linked in our country's history to what we call "Hoovervilles". These were small man-made towns that were created by many of the povertised people who were in desperate need of shelter. Most of the "houses" of the towns were made of cardboard and scraps of metal.

Today, it is argued that we are living in a depression, and as because of this, our own present-day Hoovervilles have been created. They are called tent cities because most of the inhabitants live in tents. or in tool sheds as is shown in this photo:

(Here is a great New York Times Article!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26tents.html?_r=2

The tent cities are growing rapidly right along with the economic crisis. people are losing their jobs and unable to find work which causes them to lose their homes. some of the inhabitants of these modern hoovervilles earn a few dollars a day by collecting and recycling empty bottles. This money is needed and used to buy food for their survival which only helps them to continue on to the next day where they will do the exact same thing just to eat.