EDITORnThomas FlemingnMANAGING EDITORnMomcilo SelicnASSISTANT EDITORnKatherine DaltbnnPOETRY EDITORnAndrei NavrozovnGONTRIBUTING EDITORSnJohn W. Aldridge, Harold O.J.nBrown, Bryce Christensen, OdienFaulk, Samuel Francis, Jane Greer,nE. Christian Kopff, John SheltonnReed, Joseph Schwartz, GarynVasilash, Clyde WilsonnEDITORIAL SECRETARYnLeann DobbsnEDITORIAL ASSISTANTnMatthew KaufmannPUBLISHERnRichard A. VaughannART DIRECTORnAnna Mycek-WodeckinPRODUCTION MANAGERnGuy ReffettnADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVEnGeorgia L. WolfnCOMPOSITION MANAGERnAnita FedoranSUBSCRIPTION MANAGERnCarol BennettnA Publication ofnThe Rockford Institute:nAllan C. Carlson,nPresidentnEditorial and Advertising Offices; 934 NorthnMain Street, Rockford, IL 61103.nEditorial Phone; (815) 964-5054.nAdvertising Phone; (815) 964-5811.nSubscription Department; P.O. Box 800, MountnMorris, IL 61054.nU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution by EasternnNews Distributors, Inc., 1130 Cleveland Road,nSandusky, OH 44870.nCopyright © 1989 by The Rockford Institute.nAH rights reserved.nCHRONICLES (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishednmonthly for $21 per year by The RockfordnInstitute, 934 North Main Street, Rockford, ILn61103-7061.nSecond-class postage paid at Rockford, IL andnadditional mailing offices.nPOSTMASTER; Send address changes tonCHRONICLES, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris,nIL 61054nThe views expressed in Chronicles are thenauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect thenviews of The Rockford Institute or of itsndirectors.nChroniclesnA MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN CUIIUREnVol. B, No. 1 January 1989n4/CHRONICLESnPOLEMICS & EXCHANGESnOn Thil Ochs andnthe Old ProfnAfter reading Jane Greer’s and R.A.nHill’s pieces, (October 1988), I’m remindednvividly of my 1968-70 uiiiversitynyears at the University of Washingtonnin Seattle.nOften late in the warm afternoons I’dnstroll across campus and meet a throngnof mostly college-age activists practicingnfor their “spontaneous” weekendnmarch. They waved placards, chantedncatchy slogans and walked briskly—allnin unison and as a show of strength.nQuite impressive. Even more so whennthe media constantly portrayed them asnrepresentative of where our society wasnprogressing: antiwar, antiestablishment,nand antihypocrisy. The media forgotn(and still do) anti- the liberty this countrynwas founded on and fought for thatnallows us to be anti-whatever.nOne Saturday my roommate excitedlynprepared for a march along thenfreeway to the city courthouse. Hendidn’t know what he was protestingn(war, or something like that), but he wasncertain it was some sincere cause. Afternhe returned he said he’d marched fornhomosexual rights, and the grand momentnhad been when some guys hadnurinated on the bottom courthousenstep. Later he took me aside and askednwhat it was homosexuals grooved on.nIn the spring of 1968 I eageriy waitednin the UW fieldhouse for the appearancenof Robert Kennedy, our savior.nNever had I seen a presidential candi-nCHRONICLESnis looking for its 1989nsummer intern.nExperience on a collegennewspaper or magazinenpreferred.nPlease send resumes to:nThomas J. Fleming, EditornChroniclesn934 North Main StreetnRockford, IL 61103nnndate show unadulterated compassionnlike him. His rhetoric seemed timelynand heartfelt; surely he was The Onenour country had been anticipating. Instood within an arm’s length of RFK’snentrance. He looked unheroically tired,nwas more gray-haired than I’d hoped,nand shorter than I’d imagined. Whennhe spoke, his ideas seemed to pour forthnvigorously, but then somehow disunitenbefore they reached my itching ears.nYes, I raised my hand and mouthednplatitudes at the appropriate pauses, butnsomething was missing. My politicalnbent was still in disarray when RFK wasnassassinated in June. After that I setnpolitics out to pasture.nMany demonstrators, even supposedlynsocially and politically enlightenedncollegians, were and are as naive andnself-serving as the authorities and publicnthey criticize. They don’t know or wantnto know that their peace parades havenalready been proven historically to encouragenand aid the real enemy. Theynmarch for a cause not so much becausenthey believe in that cause, but becausenthey believe in nothing but need somethingnto bring purpose to their existence.nLpve of God, country and familynis now fashionable only for so-callednsentimental reprobates—not for ourneducated, imperviously-intellectualnyouth, many of whom, statistics indicate,nwill not be proficient in readingnthis sentence.nAs George Harrison bemoaned nearnthe end of my higher learning debacle,n”Isn’t it a pity? Isn’t it a shame?”n— Gary SeversonnEverson, WAnAfter reading R.A. Hill’s piece, I foundnmyself rereading the magazine’s masthead.nFor a moment I thought I hadnread a transcript for the Oprah WinfreynShow, so overwhelming was thendesire to say, “Thank you for sharingnthat with me.”nThat the number of such “stories” isnperhaps incalculable doesn’t mean thatnany of them, Hill’s among others,nshould see the light of the printed page.nMost anyone who was a part of thenso-called Pepsi generation has a tale ofn
January 1975April 21, 2022By The Archive
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