About book Wild Child: Girlhoods In The Counterculture (1999)
Nothing captures the spirit of a social movement more than stories told in the voices of those who were there. And in these essays from "girlhoods in the counterculture," we can visualize what it was like and hear the songs and the beat of this unique subculture.With a foreword by Moon Zappa and essays from various daughters of the "hippie" movement, such as Chelsea Cain, Rain Grimes, Diane B. Sigman, River Light, and others...we can almost experience their lives along with them.In the case of Chelsea Cain, she had the opportunity to revisit that time period by attending an event touted as one of the last bastions of sixties-style counterculture years later: the Rainbow Gathering. What she discovered, of course, is that you can't really go back.This is what she shared in her story:"In 1972, I was a naked flower baby on a farm commune in Iowa. My mother spent that summer sanding sixty years of thick white paint off the kitchen window frames...By fall the four frames were natural wood again and she began another project: sewing my father a green felt Robin Hood shirt (I have pictures of him smiling sheepishly in it). My parents were both on the run: my mother from society's expectations for women at the time, my father from the draft and the war machine. My memories of this period are pure and sweet: love and music, dogs and garden vegetables, sunshine and songs....She describes occasionally meeting someone named "Summer" or "Star," and after an exchange of words that identify a common "hippie" childhood, knowing right away that there is some basic part of each other, some true thing that connects them.She goes on to say: "When I first heard about the Gathering, I expected it to be like that—a big family reunion, a living memory—something like those half-remembered evenings listening to the Dead through kitchen speakers on that Iowa farmhouse porch."But it wasn't like that at all. Like so many holidays, the celebration itself has evolved into a celebration of a celebration rather than anything specific." She details how many of the people who attended were not part of the core group from that long ago time. They were just there to party.The other women share similar experiences, but mostly we can see how each woman's unique situation formed her into the person she is today, with the core values born in a unique time in history.And no matter what each woman's story is, the bonds of that time connect them and inform their lives in the present.I can relate to some of the stories in "Wild Child: Girlhoods in the Counterculture," especially the ones about people living the "counterculture" lifestyle in suburban homes, rather than on communes, with food coops and organic gardening to show our ideals. Shared values connect us all, despite the surface differences in how these values are expressed.I enjoyed reading and feeling the beat of a time that is no more, but that will always be a part of me. For me, this was a five star read.
Short essays by women whose parents were hippies in the groovy days of free love and moving back to the land or onto the commune. Liked the book but found many of the stories bittersweet and a couple downright painful. Some of the parents, in their enthusiam for tuning out, turning on and grooving to their own beat, abdicated their responsibilities as adults and parents. Getting high, making groat muffins and exploring love with many partners wasn't always compatible with raising children safely. I don't just mean having balanced meals, clean underwear and a bedtime when I talk about safety. Some of these parents didn't protect their children from predators. Many of the authors loved the counterculture and the freedom of their childhood, others were damaged by it.All in all a fascinating look into a childhoods so diametrically opposed to my own. I am a contemporary of many of these women, but our childhoods could not have been more different. I salute them for their beautifully told stories.
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Although I would never describe my parents as "hippies" there were many aspects of this book that reminded me of my childhood. Mainly things like moving around a lot as a child, living in houses in rural settings, the woods around us being an important part of my childhood. Watching the video of Woodstock when I was 11 with my Dad and being thoroughly enchanted with that time and place. Being turned on to classic rock as a child. To this day, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin are some of my favorites. Truthfully, this book speaks more to who I am now while still making nostalgic for the past. Very well written essays about the counterculture! My only complaint is that it's too short!
—Kim
A short quick read, I liked this book. What's it like to have hippie parents, to grow up with extreme permissiveness (is that an oxymoron?)? In the pieces in this edited collection, the answer seems to depend on the parents and the child--sometimes it's wonderful to be so free, sometimes it's crippling to have nothing to rebel against. I liked reading the details about what it was really like back then (most of the women contributors are about my age, born in the early 70s): having no running water, being born on the kitchen table, having other kids mock your lunch, knowing words and concepts that most consider inappropriate in a kid, smoking pot with your folks. One note--this is not by Moon Unit Zappa, rather, she wrote the Forward. The editor is Chelsea Cain.
—Katherine
I don't think I have ever been so grateful for my normal boring parents as I was while reading this book. I was born too late for the "hippie" era, but I can see the appeal of it. The freeness of the community, the getting away from all the conformity, and being yourself, but there are dark sides to this and this book points out so many of them. While I am ok with adults making choices like this, whether they are good or bad, children for the most part have no place in it. Yes, there are good aspects to it, but the bad seem to outweigh the good, really messing up the person you strive to be.
—Darcy
