During the course of this class I have learned many new elements about the 1960's some of which I had never given previous thought to. It was fascinating to learn about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. The activists at Berkeley will forever have a special place in my heart now, as well as the artists, the hippies and maybe not so much - President Nixon. I have included my portfolio for this class in text below. Thank you for reading!
1. Two most important thresholds of my life:
I believe the first catalytic threshold I went through took place when I was 17 years old, and came out to my parents that I was Atheist. While this goes against all of their religious teachings, this was a very hard but necessary event and it was a huge turning point in my life. I remember the sense of loss of innocence, the simplicity of childhood felt distant. It was gone in an instant at one point, but then as I grow older some of the nostalgia of being child-like comes back to me, I think this is important. The second profound threshold took place at age 19, when I had my first and only child.
-This child was not raised by me, and in a lot of ways I never got over this experience. Certainly these two events have shaped who I am in so many ways, but I also know that I wouldn’t change anything, as all thresholds- good or bad can be of worth for our life experiences.
In regards to thresholds that I should’ve experienced but didn’t I would say that being a mother would be one of them. This was a major decision that I had to make, and I chose to place my child for adoption. My ego centric attitude that played into this decision is without a doubt the religious aspects surrounding me at this time, and also being too young, and too inexperienced with life. Then when I was 22 I almost got married, but ended up not having that huge life-changing experience. It was definitely for the better. I made this ego centric decision, from growing, changing and having new perspectives on life in general.
2. Gandhi
I’ve seen a few documentaries about the great soul Gandhi. I’ve loved them all. I would however, prefer to read about his life and his accomplishments. There so personal and beautifully illustrated in my mind this way.
Mahatma means ‘Great Soul’.
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi says ‘be the change you wish to see in the world’. I try to model my life after this ideology and I believe I could truthfully say that he has had so much influence on my life even down to influencing me to sell my car and choosing to ride a bike instead or how I treat the people around me in everyday life situations. Gandhi proliferates this way of living profoundly through his actions and words of peaceful protesting. He practiced a form of non-violence called Satyagraha meaning life- force after he returned from England where he was living and studying the law. It was this threshold that he had to go through to become the person he became, to influence people the way that he could.
3. Letter from Birmingham Jail:
Martin Luther King is Jesus. Jesus is JFK. JFK is Gandhi and, well you get the picture. These people were assassinated because they were causing true, everlasting change. During one of Bill Hicks stand-ups, he says “The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it's real because that's how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it's very brightly colored, and it's very loud, and it's fun for a while. Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, "Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?" And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, "Hey, don't worry; don't be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride." And we … kill those people...It's just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok …”
This quote reminds me of all of these great men who were assassinated.
In Letters from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King speaks about the interconnectedness of us all. He says “Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider…” This pretty much sums up what MLK’s message was about and his words ring true still now more than ever.
4. Eyes on the Prize: We ain’t scared of your jails:
It was beyond frustrating when they were talking about the ‘sit-ins’ and for a good part of the day waiting to get service in the restaurant, and no one came to take their orders. I can scarcely fathom living during a time when such blatant segregation was taking place. I would’ve definitely been arrested more than a few times trying to be apart of the Civil Rights Movements. It truly, truly blows my mind that human beings are treated this way, still to this day we deal with segregation when it comes to women's rights and LGBT rights.
The Freedom Riders in this documentary are inspiring. It was the first I’d ever really heard of them and what they were doing and what they went through for all of us to enjoy the freedoms that we so readily take for granted. The nation's first federal African American judge encapsulates this by saying “Democracy is a process, not a static condition. It is becoming rather than being. It can easily be lost, but never is fully won. Its essence is eternal struggle.”
~ William H. Hastie
5. America takes Charge 1966-67:
The differences between Jack Hill, Bill Erhardt, Charlie Sabateur, and Marc Smith surmises the opinions and vast differences between the American people on the Vietnam War. While Jack Hill believed that what they did in the war was normal and the war was a just war, so did some Americans. His attitude towards the war was sickening and inhumane. What we did in Vietnam was completely asinine. Charlie on the other hand believed the entire country was covered with bomb craters. He was drafted. He didn’t want to be there in the first place and didn’t ever really think about the possibility of dying in war. He wasn’t at all prepared for it and was mostly naive, and young. Bill Erhardt felt the doom of being a redcoat. He joined when he was only 17 years old, and then on a trip to Hong Kong he wanted desperately to escape and disappear into the world.
It’s in these vast differences between the soldiers attitudes and beliefs you can so readily see the division between American citizens. It is why the war went on for as long as it did and why there was so much chaotic tension and build-up towards the end.
6. American Liberalism:
American Liberalism in the 60’s meant having a social safety net, but with lots of regulation from the government. In 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt came into office stating that he would change the great depression around by offering more jobs, and creating greater opportunities with the CCC and the PWA. During the 60’s the civil rights activists and the liberal leaders clashed with their ideologies (as seen in Berkeley in the 60’s).
7. One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest is classic American literature. It touches on so many different cultural elements going on in this decade. All of the women were portrayed as evil man-hating bitches, who wanted nothing more than to make life miserable for the men living within the hospital walls. This represents society’s implicitly rigid rules and regulations, as ‘big brother’ and the combine.
It touches on something that is even more painful and fatalistically acute within the character Mcmurphy; being diagnosed insane because he lived life freely, expressing his sexuality, his boisterous laughter and not living by society’s rules set in place for general society. Again, this implies that what society wants, is for all of its captors to be in line with what is ‘normal’, right and good.
In addition to something that wasn’t implicitly implied within other motifs, I thought about McMurphy’s laughter and how that gave him a sort of power that others didn’t have within the combine. He was still himself and was able to maintain this self, until the laughter (power, freedom, joy) was taken away.
“Man, when you lose your laugh you lose your footing.”
― Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
8. Silent Spring:
I must confess, I haven’t been able to eat a single thing that isn’t organic since having read Silent Spring. The way they can spray our foods with poisons and get away with it, and even have it be the cheaper choice for people who don’t know any better is disgusting and disturbing to say the least. I think to a certain extent, people don’t really understand this problem we are facing as a nation. With more and more documents coming into easier access and viewability- via netflix, or another streaming source, it’s hard not to be knowledgeable about the food that can heal us or make us sick. Carson states at one point that “A few years ago a team of Food and Drug Admin scientists discovered when (pesticides) are administered simultaneously a massive poisoning results up to 50 times as severe..”
I found Silent Spring to be mesmerising and an essential source of lit for all those concerned about their health. The part in particular about earthworms and their essential place in the ecosystem was amazing. They aerate the soil, keeping it well-drained, aid penetration of plant roots. They increase nitrifying powers of the soil bacteria and decrease the putrification, and the earthworms excrement nutrifies the soil. This won’t happen with the presence of pesticides. Who the hell even thought up pesticides anyways?! Think about it...those bugs are in place for a reason. Everything in nature has it’s place. Mother nature is brilliant, and she doesn’t just mess around.
9. Erin Brockovich:
I’m glad I finally had a reason to sit down and watch this film. I’ve been meaning to see it for quite some time and Julia Roberts does an excellent job portraying the real-life story of Erin Brockovich. One of my favorite aspects of this film is her tenacity and her determination to win despite her lack of education, and single-mother status. How incredibly intimidating it must have been to go up against a huge corporation and defend a bunch of people with no prior attorney/legal experience.
You could see her passion in her work though as she knew all of the townspeople by name and even had their phone numbers memorized. I think this translates into humanity and what can be done to make our own interactions with one another less mechanical and more organically authentic. This is what the film represented to me in a lot of ways.
10. All the Presidents Men:
Without a doubt one of the most resonating and poignant films I’ve seen in years, and probably years to come. All the President’s Men is set to a tone of political beats and how journalists capture the gritty grey aspects of it all. Based on a true story, the characters Woodward and Bernstein (played by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman) are reporters at The Washington Post who have to investigate and try to capture as best they can the scandal that took place at Watergate, the democratic headquarters.
First of all, this film (and the novel) captures just how powerful media can be. Two reporters single-handedly called out our nations leaders bluff and didn’t let him get away with it- when everyone else was scared to attempt it. Then second of all, the scandal brought forth the desire in our politicians to once more be good and transparent to us the people. Something that had blatantly been lost as seen in the actions of this scandal. This film made me think a lot about our own president and the upcoming elections. It made me wonder just how much we really know and how much is accurate, or if every president has scandal-worthy stories that just haven’t been told yet.
11. Berkeley in the Sixties:
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary; the music, the particular protesters that told there memorable and history-changing stories. It was very well constructed and brought to light what really went on in Berkeley during the sixties. First, we have Rotunda, an event that sort of catalyzed young people to speak out and fight for their rights. It spawned a movement called Operation Abolition. Then came another movement called SLATE, simply put, a political platform that was used to educate other students about various issues.
Then of course you have the Civil Rights Movement which forever changed the course of our history. One of the more memorable parts of Berkeley was when hundreds, possibly thousands, of students surrounded the police car and wouldn’t let it move forward. They then commenced to stand atop the officer’s car giving speeches one by one about their envisions to a better life and world for everyone. Another scene which will always stay with me is the woman who during the Anti-Vietnam War, sat on the train tracks with a train heading full-speed towards her, would’ve died just standing up for what she believed in, but was swooped up instead by a police officer. It is this kind of passion that needs to be re-instilled in our younger generations if we would like to see our world change for the better.
I wish so desperately that these sorts of profound movements still occurred on a regular basis, now we get lucky if we have an occasional protest with holding signs and marching around the capitol, but I think people become tireless because they don’t see immediate change, and that is what we are becoming; a product of being happy only when witnessing or receiving something immediately in this fast-paced world. We want things to happen instantaneously. What Berkeley in the 60’s reiterated is that passion and dedication pays off.
12. My Reflections:
I think the most affecting aspect of this class was learning about The Civil Rights movement. Watching the students at Berkeley, for me, was very eye opening. I desperately wished we would’ve gotten into the amazing era of music at this time on a more integral level. The part I liked least about this class is how heavily the emphasis was being placed on learning about the Vietnam war. I hate that war so much, and it was pretty exhausting learning so much about it for an entire semester. It was very hard also for me to retain a lot of the details of something I try not to think about our nation doing in past historical events. Other than that this class was great and informative. Definitely feel like there could’ve been more class discussions but sometimes it felt hard to jump in with input. Perhaps there could’ve been more in-class activities.
