Country Joe and his Fixin-to-Die

Country Joe McDonald wrote the song "I feel like I'm fixin'-to-die rag" and it became one of the most popular protest songs about the Vietnam War. The first line of the chorus asks the question "what are we fighting for" emphasizing the fact that the United States had no reason to be in Vietnam to begin with. The chorus ends with the line "woopee, we're all gonna die" making the point that because of the Government, we should be proud to serve our country and die for a war that did not concern us. One of the set of lines in the song that really stood out to me was "Send your sons off before it's too late, and you can be the first one on your block, to have your boy come home in a box." There is something about those lines that just gives me chills when I read the lyrics or listen to the song. Overall I think the song is was great protest song and when it came out, people really believed in it. When Country Joe McDonald performed this song at Woodstock the crowd went wild, and I have to say that once I heard him play it, I went on iTunes and bought the song.

"Hey Mr. Newsman"

Richard Kampf's song, "Hey Mr. Newsman" seems to be speaking out against the war and the "man".

In his first verse, Mr. Newsman is taking pictures of the singer because of his long hair and boots, which shows that Mr. Newsman is trying to make him stand out.

In the second verse, Kempf says that Lincoln had long hair as well, trying to show that ever though he has long hair doesn't make him a bad person. 

In the third verse, Kempf is at war fighting for freedom, but the man that is judging him (Mr. Newsman) is sleeping in a nice warm bed far away and safe. 

In the fourth verse, Mr. Newsman calls Kempf subversive, and Kempf replies with even though you are calling him subversive, he is still out there fighting for freedom. 

In the fifth verse, Kempf talks about how, he has been fighting for freedom, while rich, snobby, clean shaven kids don't have to worry about anything like that. 

In the final verse, Kempf talks about how his clothes are old and raggy, but it shouldn't make any difference because he is still the one fighting for freedom. 

I feel the song had a huge impact on the time and it really showed how the hippies were judged even if they went to war. Kempf did a really good job showing this. 

Rachel Carson and the Environment

Rachel Carson's research on the dangers of pesticides opened her eyes to how much damage they were causing to the environment. When she first made this research known, she was greatly criticized due to the fact that she was a woman and that major chemical companies would be losing money and business. 

The excerpt from Silent Spring titled "A Fable for Tomorrow", was very interesting. At first while I read this tale, I could not figure out what was happening to the town, Once I read the line "a white granular powder still showed a few patches..." it made perfect sense. The pesticides were killing the animals and making the people sick. Something that was thought to be helpful was in fact doing more harm. 

Finally, her last paragraph in the tale was very grim. It said that all the disasters had not happened in the same town, "yet everyone of these disasters has actually happened somewhere..." Her book was a huge wake up call to the 1960's and showed us that people were killing the same world they were living in. 

Tim O'Brien's "The Man I Killed"

Tim O'Brien's story about the man he killed was intense.  He seemed to be sympathetic to the man he killed because when Kiowa, one of his friends, started talking to O'Brien about the victim and started using cereal references, O'Brien, seemed annoyed and upset. Kiowa seemed to fine with the thought of killing another. Which is understandable because of the area they where in. It was kill or be killed. 

O'Brien repeats himself a lot in this story. I think he does that so he can fully grasp what has happened to him and to the man he has killed. Kiowa tries to put the whole situation into perspective for O'Brien, but at some points it seems that Tim O'Brien would rather have Kiowa say nothing at all. 

Finally, O'Brien seems to be alright after some time. I think that it is terrifying to kill another man but I'm sure that if he was pointing a gun at you it would be easier. Although, I still feel that no matter what, after you kill someone it takes a lot out of you and it is something that you will remember for the rest of your life. 

Lenny Bruce on Drugs

Lenny Bruce's story "Pills and Shit: The Drug Scene" was interesting to say the least. At time it was hard to follow because he seemed to jump around and ramble a lot of the time. It wouldn't surprise if he wrote this story while on some kind of drug. Actually, I would be kind of shocked if he was sober while he wrote this. 

Overall I found it interesting that he did not smoke marijuana at all. For someone living in that time period, marijuana was a big drug that everyone did, and to read that he didn't smoke pot was surprising to me. Even though the drugs he did were worse than pot, in a way I suppose I can understand why he chose not to smoke marijuana. 

I enjoyed his rambles of the "wise guy" and "old Jew" I lived in Brooklyn, NY for fourteen years and I have definitely see that type of "Old Jew" in those kinds of shops. It made me laugh a little bit. 

In the end, I found Bruce's story of his drug "issues" and thoughts on drugs to be powerful and very realistic. I found the way he died to be sad, in a way ironic, and somewhat righteous.

Anne Moody's "Coming of Age in Mississippi"

Anne Moody's story about the assassination of Medgar Evers from her autobiography, "Coming of Age in Mississippi," was a very powerful story. From reading her words, I could feel her emotions about Evers and the events that happened after his assassination. I felt bad that no one at the college would go to protest with Moody after Evers had been shot. They all supported Evers but when it came down to it, they would not even pay their respects to the recently departed.  

Also, I was disguisted with what the policemen did to the protesters. If they would have directly taking them to jail, it still would have been wrong, but not as barbaric as torturing them in the fairgrounds. All being stuffed in a paddy wagon like cattle is no way to be treated in a country that was based off of freedom. It upsets me that people had to go through bullshit like that in order to have the same rights as people of a different color. 

Blog of a Dirty Young Man on "Notes of a Dirty Old Man"

Charles Bukowski's excerpt from "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" describes his job as a gas pump attendant at an all-night gas station. Bukowski's style as he writes for the newspaper column seems to be a stream of consciousness writing style. He seems to write whatever comes to his mind and doesn't seem to worry about punctuation as much as he does to get his point across. He uses periods in his story but doesn't use capital letters after periods which makes me think that the periods are there more for when he takes a second to collect his thoughts and to write what happens next than to actually use them for the punctuation. Also, when he is writing, Bukowski uses all capital letters to show anger and emotion from his characters, as seen when the cabbie is yelling as him for all the soda being gone. Bukowski writes to blow off steam, to complain about something, or to just retell stories that has happened to him. Much like this excerpt from "The Portable Sixties Reader". 

Overall, I enjoyed Bukowski's excerpt. I like the fact that he wrote for the sake of writing and not because he was forced to do so. When he wrote, he didn't sugar coat anything thing that happened or leave anything out. Everything that happened, no matter how small or pointless, he would write about. I really enjoy stream of consciousness writing because it lets you see what exactly the writer is thinking.