Well, I've more or less sequestered myself from the world this week in an effort to work on the literary-journalism component of my project. It's been much more challenging than I expected, mostly because I am only now realizing the full extent to which my brain has been completely fried by writing a 33,000 first draft of a novel for senior thesis.
The main angle that I am pursuing at this point is the indelible similarities between the counter-cultural hub of the Midwest - Coventry Road, and the surrounding "white bread" suburban developments such as Forest Hill. During the era of the Vietnam War, when the Beat Generation's message of sticking it to the man, and free-love (albeit tinged with a good deal of misogyny at its root) achieved its zenith in the grand historical spectrum of the past century, many people in the suburbs actually shared many of the base beliefs of those crazy hippies hanging out in those now-dingy apartments that flank the Coventry commercial district. Both groups really did find fault with the War, and even before the social explosions of the 1960s, housewives in their ranch homes began to find fault with the so-called "American Dream" and the overvaluation of capitalism. It is immature to suggest that the hippies were something truly unique - in fact, they were simply the amalgamation of the beliefs of Americans all over the country. History has painted a dichotomous tale of hippies fighting against the suits, when really, most people at the time seemed to be thinking critically about where they stood in regards to their government and their nationalism.
Happy project!
- Alec Aldrich
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