Hippies in the Heartland III

Rural Southwestern Minnesota, 1971

The “trip” was set up by my film-making teacher at the University of Minnesota.

I had nothing going on in my life since returning to the U after a year at the community college. The chance to spend a weekend in the country appealed to me. There wasn’t going to be any instruction (sort of like his class), this field trip was a chance to get away from my bleak home scene. We met Saturday morning at the old art building on campus and our caravan made its way to an old homestead farm located somewhere in southern Minnesota. There was a faction trying to make a soft-core porn flick but the rest of us of us just hung out. I took some pictures but was uninspired. I was in my militant sobriety days then which probably explained a lot. Including my lack of social skills. When night fell I set up my tent beside an idyllic burbling brook where I managed to get to sleep despite the friendly mosquitoes. A while later the sounds of footsteps and the glare of a flashlight outside the tent woke me up. The local sheriff had gotten the notion that a “hippie invasion” was taking place and was prowling around, looking for some “heads” to bust. I feigned sleep and he eventually left. His visit took the damper out of the festivities; the next day things just kind of petered out and we went back to the city.

The “Hippie” movement didn’t die at Woodstock, not even at Altamont. It lingered on into the degenerate 70s in various ways, mostly as a back to nature movement, even giving rise to a new form of consumerism.  It didn’t require much effort: let your hair grow, get some tattered second-hand duds, pick up a nickle bag and a pack of Zig-zags and you were all set. In a way, it still exists as a default. Kicking back on a week-end with in comfortable clothes, an adult beverage of choice and, maybe, even some cannabis if the laws where you live have changed to allow it.

Hippies in the Heartland I
Hippies in the Heartland II