It was a magical time to be alive. Being in Southern California, I enjoyed listening to beach music (Beach Boys), but I also went to a concert to see Jefferson Airplane and the Doors together ( I remember thinking that Jim Morrison was disgusting!) I remember sitting in a small classroom with all of the lights out listening to Cream and Janis Joplin- I think we would have gotten in trouble if someone knew we were there, but somehow it seems as though even the teachers were a little more "laid back" during that time. I was writing to several boys that were in the Vietnam war. I had never met most of them, but a friend's brother worked in the mailroom and gave our letters to guys who didn't get much mail. I was also writing to the younger brother of a guy who lived across the street from me. I remember the day I got a letter back from the post office, marked "deceased." No phone call, no polite letter, just deceased. That's what it was....deceased. Most of my time was spent hanging out with a small group of girls. We weren't all that politically aware, but we all had strong opinions about things that directly involved us. I remember we had an impromptu student strike because the school administration cancelled a concert that was scheduled at school. Mostly we were just kids having fun. We had no idea that the world would look at this time as being so special.

Submitted by Ginger Hunt gingerh@warwick.net