My life story is a series of coincidences and synchronistic events. I have tried to remain open to what life offers and be ready to respond to opportunities, or, if need be, abandon one route to follow another. Since my younger days, I have had a life-long commitment to seeking wisdom and improving society. Over the past few years I have been able to carefully examine my own life and that of our generation. I have transformed my own life to be much more in line with the ideals of my youth. As my life history shows, it is never too late to change course. 

THE EARLY YEARS

I was born in 1952 (the year "beatnik" was first used to refer to the emerging counterculture.) My parents were well-off and I had many of the advantages America had to offer. I was the oldest of four kids. My mother stayed home while my father worked long hours as a physician. Like other baby boomers, we were afforded promises of prosperity and a wide range of opportunities for self expression. 

We were the first generation to grow up under constant influence of the emerging television and radio networks. My earliest memories involve watching the likes of Dobie Gillis, Sky King, Lassie, and The Swamp Fox. I also was a big fan of superheroes, especially the Green Lantern and Aquaman. Thanks to the new transistor AM radios, every night I would stay up late in bed listening to Dick Biondi from WLS in Chicago with all the hot rock songs and irreverent humor.

I was also subjected to full-scale indoctrination by the Catholic Church (serving nine years in such schools). As an altar boy, I was forced to kneel on marble and recite obscure Latin verses. The priests and nuns tried to indictrinate us with restrictive moral codes and outmoded paradigms that no longer fit the latest scientific and social realities. What turned me off the most was that creativity, so alive in the broader culture, was dead in the mainstream churches and schools. Hippies saw this mainstream society based on restrictive moral codes and selfish profit motives to be fundamentally flawed. 

I started to become a hippie -- at least in heart and mind -- in 1964 when I was 12. After seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, I began playing guitar, which I continue to enjoy forty years later. By junior year in High School (1968), I had adopted Timothy Leary's advice to "turn on, tune in, and drop out." Although still in high school, I had picked up many values and habits from the hippie culture. Like other optimistic young people, I truly believed that a new society was just over the horizon, based on peace, love, and expanded consciousness. 

Rock music of the sixties transformed my life as it did for many in our generation. I played guitar and sang in a series of garage bands. Music had an important influence on me, as did the chance to hang around with some older musicians. As we learned what was going on in California , many of us began actively questioning any authority that tried to limit our freedom. Somehow, I managed to finish high school in Elgin , Illinois (1970). I was then able to spend much of the following summer living in Ann Arbor , Michigan (a key Midwest hippie haven).

MY HIPPIE YEARS

I was lucky enough to have parents who could send me to college (which was also an important way to avoid the military draft). I attended the University of Colorado in Boulder , a key center of the counterculture. I flunked out after the first year but had the most amazing time of my life. My hippie friends and I spent a lot of time getting high, making love, and playing music in the mountains. I also traveled through the southwest and up to San Francisco to search out other hippie scenes.

In the fall of 1971, I moved to Chicago to attend broadcasting school. However, I was still not ready for school at that point, so I starting working in a "Head Shop" in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago . I kept playing music and expanding my mind, but my enthusiasm for changing the world was being destroyed by the repressive government. I started drinking too much alcohol and almost killed myself; fortunately, I was motivated to quit in 1974.

I returned to college with a strong commitment to learn about ecology and help protect the environment. I was able to remain true to my roots but was determined to change the system from the inside. Once again, I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends, playing music, and smoking weed. Given that I no longer drank alcohol, I was able to graduate with honors and a BS degree in Biology from the University of Illinois .

In 1978, I moved to one of the last remaining hippie strongholds in the country, Madison , Wisconsin . This is still one of the most tolerant and liberal places for hippies. I spent four great years there with my new wife, Cindy, who became active in the Mad City dance scene. I received an MS in Water Resource Management and another MS in Journalism. During my days in Madison , I was able to hang out in a dynamic hippie scene that is still active to this day.

I was ready to get busy educating people about the importance of environmental issues; this was in 1981. Unfortunately, our country had just been taken over by the right-wing regime of a Hollywood-trained actor (Ronald Reagan). He and his conservative cronies were cutting all the environmental programs and trying to stomp out any remaining traces of hippie culture. Since I was unable to get a job in my chosen field (environmental communication,) I took advantage of an offer to pursue my Ph.D. in Sociology at Iowa State University , which I received in 1986. I was able to start my research into how society works and how to change the system.

MY "GROWN-UP" YEARS

My two children were born in Ames , Iowa . They are now both in college and are a major inspiration for this work. They helped me reawaken my own sense of social responsibility. Like many other young people, they are very concerned about war, the environment, and our quality of life. Our children are rightfully worried that the world we are leaving them will be a much more dangerous place. Young people can remind us about our hippie goals of helping the world and ensuring a peaceful future.

I was fortunate to get an ideal job at North Carolina State University in a wonderful part of the world. My job is to examine the relationship between society, technology, and the environment. I have been fortunate to be able to create my own career. Over much of the past 20 years, I looked (and acted) like a straight member of the establishment, spending a dozen years rising through the ranks to become a full professor. I was busy building my professional career; I also focused on raising my kids.

As an interdisciplinary scholar for the past twenty-five years, I am in a position to integrate key lessons from the hippie counterculture into emerging models for a new world order. I know a lot about the topics covered on this site, from my professional research and personal experiences. Like many others from my generation, I have put forth great effort to attain personal growth and spiritual fulfillment. I know that you will reap the benefits of this constant searching, as I share what I have learned.

Like others hippies, I never subscribed to the protestant work ethic that says people must work hard and deny pleasure in order to reap a reward after we die. I grew up looking for ways to have fun and do meaningful work at the same time. There seemed to be no boundaries to the opportunities for creativity and learning. I still hate to do what I am told; fortunately, I have been able to follow my own path throughout my academic career. I plan to spend most of my time educating and inspiring concerned citizens to change the world for the better.