rison cult spread to an entirely new generation.rnIt thrives today, spurred by admirersrnand imitators in New Wave bandsrnfrom Berlin to Los Angeles. Their anthemrnis the graffiti on the tombstonesrnleading to Morrison’s grave: “Kill yourrnparents,” “The Lizard King lives,” “Breakrnon through to the other side,” “It’s betterrnto burn out than fade away,” and “Irnwill see you after my death and we willrnf— a long time.”rnIn Douglas Coupland’s novel ShampoornPlanet, the protagonist, Tyler Johnson,rnasks a young woman named Chynarnwhy she is visiting Morrison’s grave.rnChyna hands Tyler “an unsolieited butrnmuch appreciated beer” and explains,rn”Because knowing my idols are deadrnmakes death a lot less scary place.”rnTyler is an ambitious 20-year-oldrnReagan youth who was raised in a hippierncommune by his now-divorced 60’s-erarnparents. He lives in a decaying PacificrnNorthwest city and aspires to a careerrnwith the corporation whose offices hisrnmother once firebombed. The highlightrnof Shampoo Planet’s six-month chroniclernof Tyler’s life is his pilgrimage to PerernLachaise and the ongoing party besidernMorrison’s grave. “Kind of puts the funrnback in funeral, doesn’t it?” observesrnMike, a 20-year-old from Urbana, Illinois,rnas he buries a joint of marijuana inrnthe soil next to Morrison’s tombstone.rnDaisy, Tyler’s younger sister, pleadsrnwith him in a letter to swipe a flowerrnfrom Morrison’s grave. “A group of usrnshortly left the cemetery,” Tyler writes,rn”beers in hand and me with a daisy forrnDaisy in my backpack.” The flowers Irnobserved on my visit remained on Morrison’srngrave, perhaps because two Parisrngendarmes are stationed at the tomb tornmaintain order. Barbed wire was addedrnto the iron fence surrounding PerernLachaise, a 34-year-old pied noir fromrnthe Comoros explained in French, tornstop the flow of young Americans illegallyrnentering the cemetery at night tornvandalize and party next to Morrison’srngrave.rnOne of the most popular T-shirtsrnworn by young Americans in Europernthese days features the slogan “Kill yourrnidols” superimposed over the crucifiedrnhead of Jesus Christ. The shirt is popularrnat Morrison’s grave and outside NotrernDame and Sacre Coeur in Paris. In Italyrnlate one afternoon, I counted half arndozen near the walls of the Vatican.rnThat morning, I had been awakened atrn5:30 A.M. by a Muslim praying feverishlyrnin the next room.rn—Greg KazarnSECESSION, or at least political subdivision,rnis looking increasingly attractivernto many Americans. Both ideas werernlong considered outre, even unacceptable.rnBut as the Civil War, our last suchrngreat experiment, recedes into history,rnthe cries to break away, or at least tornbreak up, are growing louder.rnCALIFORNIA: Lalaland is the homernof full-spectrum crackpotism and GovernorrnMoonbeam, plus the State Commissionrnon Self-Esteem (I kid you not).rnBut its establishment has finally come uprnwith a good idea: subdivide Californiarninto three states. Such a plan has beenrnintroduced by Assemblyman StanrnStatham (R-Oak Run) and endorsed byrnAssembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-SanrnFrancisco) and Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy.rnThus, support for the plan includes bothrnrural and urban elements, both Republicansrnand Democrats. Although Libertariansrnsupport the freedom to subdividernor to secede, there are as yet none inrnthe California legislature.rnThe advisory measure to subdividernCalifornia will be on the November 8,rn1994, ballot. In 1992, voters in 27 of 51rnnorthern and central counties voted inrnfavor. That’s an unprecedented 87 percentrnvote of approval. Maybe the timernhas come.rnThe time almost came on several occasionsrnin the past. California was barelyrna state in 1850 when proposals to bisectrnor trisect it arose three yearsrnrunning. They were ignored. Five yearsrnlater came a plan to create the state ofrnColumbia out of north-central California.rnIt met official silence. The planrngrew into trisection to form the states ofrnShasta (north), California (central), andrnColorado (south). Again, no action.rnThen, in 1859, the proposed “Coloradans”rnvoted 75 percent to partitionrnoff. Those in power yawned. (Thernname “Colorado” was used 17 yearsrnlater for the state surrounding Denver.)rnAs late as 1939, northern Californiansrnand southern Oregonians tried to form arnnew state. But still, neither their legislaturesrnnor Congress would listen.rn”California has become too large andrntoo complex to be managed efficiently asrna single unit.” That official statementrncame from the State Assembly’s Officernof Research. There are more Californiansrn(roughly 32 million) than there arernCanadians (28 million). The GoldenrnState is three-fourths larger than thernEmpire State (New York) and almostrndouble the size of the Lone Star Statern(Texas). Its population exceeds the 22rnsmallest states combined. One of everyrneight Americans is a Californian.rnNEW YORK CITY For years, there’srnbeen talk of New York City secedingrnfrom New York State. If you’ve ever livedrnthere, you know that NYC is even morernsocialistic than Upstate, if that’s possible.rnBreaking off NYC, Long Island, andrnperhaps Westchester County to creaternanother state might make sense.rnThe Big Apple itself faces seriousrnbreakaway sentiment in Staten Island,rnthe least populated, most pastoral of itsrnfive boroughs and the only one withoutrna subway. (The others are Manhattan,rnthe Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn.) Inrnfact, Staten Island is somewhat closer tornNew Jersey than to the rest of “the City.”rnFurthermore, it’s connected to “Jersey”rnvia three bridges but is tied to NYCrnonly by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge—rnthe longest suspension bridge in thernworld.rnGiven the option, 65 percent of StatenrnIsland’s voters favored secession lastrnNovember. Thus, Staten Island—officialrnborough name, Richmond—couldrnbecome New York State’s second-largestrncity, replacing Buffalo. However, thernstate legislature and the governor mustrnapprove such a move. Since the governorrnis Mario Cuomo, this is dubious atrnbest.rnMIDWEST: Illinois has toyed for yearsrnwith the idea of cutting off Chicago andrnCook County from Downstate. So far,rnno real action. And residents of Michiganrn—which is already in two large geographicrnmasses—have discussed politicallyrnseparating the “U.P.” (UpperrnPeninsula) from the highly populatedrnand labor union-dominated LowerrnPeninsula. But secessionist sentiment, asrnyou might expect, is not strong in theserntwo former fighting states of the blueeoatedrnUnion.rnFAR NORTH: The incumbentrnAlaskan Governor Wally Hickel wasrnelected in 1990 from the Ala,ska IndependencernParty, whose main platformrnwas to secede from the United Statesrnand form an independent republic.rnSince elected, though, Hickel has ignoredrnthe strident calls of his AIP copartisansrnfor secession. Even sadder, thernAIP’s founder, Joe Vogler, mysteriouslyrndisappeared in June 1993 while walkingrnin the woods.rnAPRIL 1994/9rnrnrn