In our last appearance on the Howie Rose Show, we described our experience of growing up as grandchildren of the sixties (that is, children of children of the sixties) and started to call into question the values that were birthed during this cultural explosion in light of the desire for something even more (dare I say) than Dylan, JFK, Joplin, and Jerry had to offer.

To our delight, we received a very heartwarming and enlightening response from none other than Christiana’s mother (my mother-in-law),  a dyed-in-the-wool child of the sixties (she lived in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district when it was cool and lived in India in the late 60s when the Beatles were there), about her reactions to the “swamp” that we described.

With her permission, I’ve posted her response here. I wanted to share it because her perspective on the cultural explosion that has defined our lives and ideas in more ways than many of us care to admit, carries the kind of weight that only someone who lived before, through, and after those times could really bring. Enjoy!

Dear Joel, Diane, Tom and Christiana,

This was a fantastic dialogue with the Radio hosts in Burlington! It was so great to hear all of you express, in different ways, how we, as humans, are leaping into the next level of consciousness. At least a few brave souls are charging ahead and articulating a clear vision of why it’s necessary to do so. I haven’t heard the other shows, but it seems, by the reaction of the the hosts, that you kind of surprised them with the direction you were taking. The evolutionary impulse was really bursting forth. I could hear it in your voices.

You have all clarified for me something that I was very aware of, but never put a name to— “neo-hippie” ism.

I remember speaking with Joel last August, as we sat on the “no cars allowed” street right in Burlington, watching all the young and not so young people walk by in hippie regalia. I said there’s something that is attractive to me about the way they looked and also something very repellent. The attraction part was identifying with my own past, (having spent a few of my college years in the Haight Ashbury in San Francisco in the ’60’s), feeling young and hopeful, courageous and rebellious, willing to break out of the old boundaries and create a new world. That was the “leading edge” at the time and boy, did we know it! It was an explosion of consciousness which rattled the powers-that-be and reverberated across the country and around the world. It happened so quickly and was out of control, but it was real.

But that was then. And when I looked around at the people, (okay, the neo-hippies) on the street that day last August, I could see that they had adopted a “life-style” which seemed to be very hip and cool, but it just a parody and had no real substance to it. It was ultra post-modern and reeked with narcissism. The crest of the 60’s wave had slid into backwards into a trough and what was once edge with a purpose was now sickening-mainstream-comfortable.

So, to hear you, (as offspring of the green meme, transcending the swamp), speaking from your own experience about some of the important issues of this age, with the all-important evolutionary perspective, is truly inspiring! Perhaps some of those neo-hippies who might be listening will hear something different in your voices, something very positive and think “Mmmm? What’s all this about?”