by Peter Coyote
Since there is only one culture now and we are all in it, each of us has the opportunity to press for positive change at every point where we live, eat, work, play, and shop. Each of these portals offers a jiujitsu-like leverage point where consciousness and political power can be leveraged to create more wholesome, fair, and environmentally sustainable alternatives to free-market nonsense. I call it Ceremonial Exchange—the effort to make each life choice reflect the deep knowledge of interdependence and reciprocity we now understand to be the fundamental universal truth. We can invent options, if they do not exist, so that our social institutions and collaborations begin to aggregate and achieve power. Such work is often invisible, attitudinal, and cultural rather than directly political, but it cuts deeply and its effects, once embedded in the society, are more enduring than the political fashions of the moment.
Change is always slower than the imagining of it. Knowledge of that simple fact is the immutable watershed between youth and older age. Young men and women move in a different time scale than their elders and their impatience fuels accelerated change. What they lack is the breadth of experience to anticipate where some of those changes might lead, and the length of time it may take to produce results. Changes from within the culture will not appear as radical and dramatic as alternate lifestyles once did; however, they will be more enduring.
Paul Hawken’s fine book, Blessed Unrest, suggests that if the world is considered a single body, the global aggregation of small efforts to save the environment and insure social justice is a gigantic force mimicking the body’s immune system’s response to threat. The millions of souls pressing for positive change may collectively recalibrate the planet towards a condition of more dynamic, healthy equilibrium.
Personally, I strive to be less angry at the indulgence which has created this perilous moment. My Buddhist practice informs me that greed, anger, and delusion arrive along with each human being and that I must remember that I am as much the problem as the corporate executive I fantasize throttling. Meditation offers me the tools to keep society safe from me on the street, and there is always more that we can do on a personal level to root indulgences out of our own lives.
I would like to see counter-cultural grit and entrepreneurial dedication to new thinking and paradigms reemerge, integrated with the social-networking models and the potential of the internet. I would like to see again people pouring into the streets, expressing outrage at the deceptions perpetrated on them and the horrors perpetrated in their names. Impoverished Zapatistas are doing it in Mexico. Bolivian Indians are being shot attempting to eject the corporations stealing their water. Nigerians, Ecuadorian Indians, Tamils, Nepalese peasants, Tibetan Monks, people without shoes and food are standing up to corporate oppression and asserting the primacy of their humanity and their right to exist without being exploited.
What I do not see often are the children of the richest, most entitled, indulged, entertained, diverted, and distracted culture on earth abandoning their toys long enough to band together and demand that the political system be cleansed and passed on in wholesome good order.
I am partial to the colorful, highly visible style of my compañeros from the Sixties, but finally I see no essential contradictions or discontinuities between their values and those of many of today’s young people. The best are trying to wrest normalcy, social justice, livelihood, and a clean environment from corporate control and the culture’s lunatic impulse to transform the entire biosphere into money. I am happy to pass on to my children this record of a time when their parents gambled much for them. Despite our errors I hope they will be proud of their lineage. When I finally disintegrate into the ethers and drop my tattered banner, I hope that one of them might be moved to snatch it up and wave it defiantly. After all, what is a life but the acting out of an example, making it available as a model for others to inhabit? In the end, we did what we did not because we thought we would win, but because it was the only way we could conceive of being fully human, fully interdependent and reciprocal with our fellows and the rest of Creation. I hope our examples will not be overlooked, or unfairly impugned, as today’s young people press forward to claim their power and protect the earth for the quick, the green, and the living.
Mill Valley, California
April 2009
1. National Constitutional Center Survey, 1998.
2. National Assessment of Education Foundation, 1990s.
3. National Science Foundation Survey, 1995.
4. Shipler, David K., The Working Poor. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
Index
Note: Some individuals’ names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Ace of Cups, 123, 136
actors:
in CETA program, 329–31
in commedia dell’arte, 12, 32, 35, 36–37
imagination as tool of, 72–73
“life acting” concept of, 64–65, 66, 67, 72
parallel reality of, 33–34, 65
Stanislavsky technique of, 37
Actors’ Workshop, 8, 9–10, 11, 16, 227
African Student Movement, 125
Albion, Inga, 136, 147–48, 150
Albion, John, 136, 147–48, 150, 216, 219
Alli (child of Samurai Bob and Judi Quick), 275
Allegra Joe, 136
Allread, Artie, 134
Allread, Charlene, 134, 136
Allread, Gary, 134, 136
Allread, Holly, 134
Allread, Marsha. See Thelin, Marsha Allread
Allread, Sidney, 136
Allread, Susie, 134
Almodóvar, Pedro, 5
Alpert, Richard, 75
Altamont, 120–24
Anderson, Chester, 86
Angels. See Hell’s Angels
Angus (speculator), 281–82
Ansen, David, 191
Antonioni, Michelangelo, 149
Apple Records, 163–65
Arcata house, 130
Archer, Sandy, 13–14, 37, 55, 58–59, 227
Ariel. See Coyote, Ariel Low Owl/Lowell
Arlene (Slade’s target), 178
Artists’ Liberation Front, 77, 117
Asawa, Ruth, 335
Atomic Energy Information Group (AEIG), 297
Baleen, Carol, 304
Ballard, Roy, 95
Barbara (uptown woman), 280
Bare Minimum, The (free fishing boat), 108, 217–18
Barger, Sonny, 122
Barzhagi, Jacques, 333
Batman, Billy (Jahrmarkt), 101, 108, 323
Bat People, 108, 145
Bay-Laurel, Alisha, 209
Bean, Bennett, 65
Bear, Chloe, 261
Bear, Colleen, 261–62, 268
Beatles, 160, 163–66
Beinfeld, Harriet. See Korngold, Harriet Beinfeld
Belafonte, Harry, 44
Ben Eagle, 215
Bennet, Les, 220
Bennett, Willis, 223
Benton, Anthony, 6, 18, 20
Benton, Duane, 134–35
Benton, Jessie, 6–10, 16–20, 67, 167
Benton, Thomas Hart, 6–7, 20
Berg, Aaron, 227, 231
Berg, Ocean Rush, 227
Berg, Peter, 18, 19, 71, 237, 276, 319
and Altamont, 120
and Caravan, 216, 224, 227, 229–30, 245, 253
children of, 227
and Diggers, 34–35, 77, 81, 86, 89, 91, 95, 98–99, 145
and guerrilla theater, 33
and Mime Troupe, 32–35, 82, 144
and Olive Pits, 57–58
and Planet Drum, 321, 324
and Trip Without a Ticket, 89
Berman, Wally, 101
Bernstein, Anne, 55
Bess, Eva “Myeba,” 132, 148–49, 150
Big Brother and the Holding Company, 97, 135
Binjo (Red Rocker), 246, 247, 258
Bisson, Terry, 65, 191, 192, 245, 246
Black Bear Ranch, 130, 147, 148–58
and Caravan, 216, 220–23
creation of, 143, 148–50
daily life at, 92, 131, 150–53, 157
and Forest Service, 157–58, 251
sociological studies of, 153
and timber cut, 250–51
Black Elk Speaks (Neihardt), 71
Black Man’s Free Store, 95
Black Panthers, 88–89, 95, 100
Blake Street Hawkeyes, 4, 5
Blasenheim, Nina. See Minault, Nina Blasenheim
Blau, Herb, 8
Bloomfield, Michael, 204
Bob, Samurai, 137, 274–76, 298, 299–301
Bobbie, Texas, 299
Bolton, Arthur, 340–41, 342
Boone, Julie, 236
Boyd, Doug, 170
Brand, Stewart, 298
Brautigan, Richard, 78–79, 323
Brecht, Bertolt, 10, 82
Breslin, Jimmy, 104
Broderick, John, 39
Bronson, Joanna (Rinaldi), 137, 138, 284–85, 288–89, 307, 309–10
Bronson, Kathleen, 307
Brown, Edmund G. “Jerry”:
and arts council, 4, 333, 334, 341, 343
and Department of Education, 345
election loss of, 344
and legislature, 341
Brown, Lynn, 144
Bruce, Lenny, 49
Brustein, Robert, 60
Bryceland, California, 257
Bullington, Bryden, 111, 181
Butcher, Brooks, 77, 323
Butterfield, Paul, 204
Buttons (Cockney), 163
Cadillac Ron, 281
Caidell, Bill, 262
California State Arts Council, 4–5, 332–45
and Asawa, 335
and Bolton, 340–41, 342
Coyote as chair of, 339–44
and Governor Brown, 4, 333, 334, 341, 342
and Hodge, 338–39, 342
and Jackson, 335
and Mackendrick, 334–35
and Mathieu, 335
and Purifoy, 337–38, 342
and Snyder, 332–33, 336–37, 341
and State-Local Partnership, 343–44
and Valdez, 335–36, 343
Caravan. See Free Family Caravan
Carey, Martin, 303, 321
Carey, Susan, 303
Carl (Julie’s lover), 236
Carla (dancer), 205, 243, 244, 249–50, 253
Carlino, Lewis John, 242, 244
Carlino, Natale, 242
Carl Street house, 130
Carol (Gypsy Trucker), 217, 243
Cass (Jim Koller’s ex), 194, 195, 215, 225
Cato Indians, and peyote meeting, 253–61
Cedar, John, 220
Cerruti, Nino, 3
CETA (Comprehensive Education and Training Act), 329–31, 332, 334
Chatwin, Bruce, 19
Chen Ke Liang, 158
Chesbro, John, 93
Chipita, 215, 255
Chocolate George, 96, 97–98
Chogyam Trungpa, 253
Chris (chauffeur), 265
Christianson, Muniera, 329
Ciranjiva, 140
Clancy, Elly, 315–16, 317
Clancy, Jim, 285, 298, 316
Coburn, James, 149
Cohen, Allen, 133–34
Cohen, Leonard, 105
Cohon, Benjamin “Jack,” 23–24
Cohon, Morris, 22–31, 61–62, 156, 313
background of, 22–24
brokerage firm of, 264–70, 271, 272, 278–79
and Coyote’s childhood, 26–29, 238–39, 240–41
and daughter, 27
death of, 237–41, 242
health of, 235, 266–67
Jewish identity of, 25–26, 30
at Olema, 207–9
and Turkey Ridge, 60, 240, 269–70, 276, 285, 286, 296, 298, 299, 308, 315–16, 318
violence of, 24–25, 26–27, 62
wake for, 242–43
Cohon, Peter. See Coyote, Peter
Cohon, Ruth Fidler, 24, 62–63, 271
and Coyote’s childhood, 27–28, 238–39
and Coyote’s visit, 268–69, 276
finances of, 29, 265, 267–68, 269, 273, 277, 280, 315
and husband’s death, 29, 237
and husband’s health, 235–36
at Olema, 207–8
and Turkey Ridge, 268, 274, 315
Cointelpro, 111
commedia dell’arte, 12, 32, 35–37
Communication Company, 85–89
Comprehensive Education and Training Act (CETA), 329–31, 332, 334
Condrin, John, 45, 51
Conner, Bruce, 101
Cook, Bill, 343
Corey, Mary, 191–92, 247, 304
Corso, Gregory, 54, 126, 281–82
Coyote, Ariel Low Owl/Lowell (daughter), 78, 159, 215, 223, 304, 305, 320
birth of, 179, 184–85
and Caravan, 227, 231
in Englewood, 268
at Huerfano Valley, 225
at Mount Tamalpais, 224
at Olema, 192, 194, 201, 207
in San Francisco area, 313, 314, 317, 331–32
at Turkey Ridge, 270, 274, 292, 293, 301
Coyote, Nick (son), 347
Coyote, Peter (Cohon):
and Actors’ Workshop, 8, 9–10, 11, 16
adopted name of, 66
army deferment of, 74
on arts council, 4–5, 334–44
in Canada, 51–55
as CETA artist, 329–31, 334
childhood of, 24, 25–30, 238–39, 240–41, 265–66
family background of, 23–24
as father, 223, 225, 304, 305, 347 (see also Coyote, Ariel Low Owl/Lowell)
and Jessie, 6–10, 16–20
and Magic Theater, 345
and Marilyn, 312, 331–32
and movies, 4, 345–46
and Sam, 84–85 (see also Ewing, Eileen)
sister of, 27
and Wall Street, 271–73, 276–82, 308
and withdrawal, 28–29, 268–69
See also Diggers; Cohon, Morris; Cohon, Ruth Fidler; San Francisco Mime Troupe; Turkey Ridge Farm; Wills, Nichole
Crane, Les, 82
Crazy Kevin, 226, 228, 231, 252
Cromwell, Oliver, 68
Crosby, David, 4
Crow (dog), 268
Cunningham, Imogen, 330
Cutler, Sam, 120–21, 123–24
Dachtler, Doc, 229
Dachtler, Shelly, 229
Daggett, John, 148
Darm, Peggy “Sigh,” 274, 276
Darvin (in Orleans), 223
Dave (from San Quentin), 218–19, 220, 223
David (from Triple A), 250
Davis, R. G. (Ronnie), 16
and arrests, 54, 55
and Artists’ Liberation Front, 77
on commedia dell’arte, 36–37
and Mime Troupe, 13–14, 17–18, 32–33, 34, 36–37, 51, 57, 59, 94 (see also San Francisco Mime Troupe)
and Minstrel Show, 39, 45, 47, 51, 54
Dead-Ox Canyon, 229–32
“Death of Hippie” parade, 135
“Death of Money, The,” 96–97
Decroux, Etienne, 16
Dee (Sweet William’s partner), 125
Degelman, Charlie, 243, 315, 329
de Kooning, Willem, 143
Detata, John, 134
Deukmejian, George, 344
“Devil Dance” (Coyote), 250
DeWilde, Brandon, 100
Diane (Eileen’s friend), 172
Dick the Burglar, 182–83
Digger (mechanic), 136, 227
Diggers, 34–35, 57, 63–66, 68–73, 84, 86–91, 94–102, 272, 280, 349–51
and Altamont, 120–23
and anarchy, 34, 68, 202
and anonymity, 70, 71, 82, 94
and authenticity, 64, 99, 350
and Black Panthers, 88–89, 95, 100
> Communication Company, 85–89
counter-culture created by, 64, 73, 95, 111, 140, 349–50
donors sought by, 82, 104–5, 132, 149, 151
and Easy Rider, 100–102
ethical concerns of, 109–10
and feminists, 86, 132–33, 247, 288–89, 304
festivals of, 78–79, 91, 94–95, 96–97, 135
Free Bakery, 92, 130, 217
Free Bank, 70, 117, 131–32
and freedom, 69–70, 77, 81, 94, 106, 136, 141, 179, 202, 258, 350
free fishing boat of (Bare Minimum), 108, 217–18
Free Food, 70–71, 80, 117
Free Stores of, 80, 89–91
and Haight-Ashbury, 75–83, 89, 93
and Hell’s Angels, 95, 96–98, 110–12
houses liberated by, 147, 149 (see also specific locations)
and ideological analysis, 70
Invisible Circus of, 78–79, 146
and “life acting,” 64–65, 66
in Los Angeles, 98–102
negotiations of, 104, 194
in New York, 103–6
original movement of (England), 68
reputation of, 93, 98, 99, 160
and socialist tradition, 68
sociological studies of, 153
and Trip Without a Ticket, 89, 93
and video camera, 227
See also Free Family; Free Family Caravan; Olema commune
Di Prima, Jeannie, 150
Disciples of Thunder commune, 188–89, 190
Doctor Feelgood, 161–62, 166, 169
Doubleday, Vicky, 167
Doyle, Kirby (Radio Doyle), 146, 150, 153–54, 323
Dragon Lady (Mai-Ting), 227, 244, 249, 253, 255–56
Duncan, Robert, 8–9
Dylan, Bob, 104, 106, 326
Eagle, Ben, 215, 255, 256