Stp Family

Hi Saftypin

Funny you should comment on the "Hippie" ideal and types. There were actually some back then that were not really hippies at all just hanger on and were into the 'COOL THING" of the time and represented nothing. as you may recall the STP unspoken philosophy was to take advantage of these "PLAYERS" as some of us really had to survive and some things had to be stood up for and you needed to count on your partner/brother/sister to make sure you progressed through each day sometimes. We were accused of taking advantage of some of these type "PLAYERS" back then and sometimes we got a bad rap for wrong reasons. I as a young urchin of 16 and on the street had to be able to survive while I mentally challenging almost every moment of each day and apathy did not compute for me! A LOT of the Folks who were hangers back then really could enjoy life with the EYES WIDES SHUT and I needed to keep mine open all the time.

We also did our our stupid things but at least we were not just blowing smoke to be "COOL". There were those days when we may not have represented peace and love as that was NOT what was needed at the time!! Everyone who has made it to here has figured out how to survive and I KNOW that those of us who were living on the streets or part of disperate (not DESPARATE) famlies were not interested in the COOL JERK mentality at the early beginnings of our Journeys.

BUT I do think that Peace and more so LOVE is what has made it able for me to hold fast to the good and shed the bad and make the best of every minute when we try!

WOW that was a wild post sorry there Saftypin!

MUST BE THE MEDS!!

 

Sorry ChrisWah if this is a little obnoxious posting my ugly self right in the middle of a serious discussion but I get such a kick out of this computer stuff, that every time I figure out how to do something new I get like a little kid and show off what I've learned to everyone whether they're interested or not. Obviously I learned how to post my picture in one of these chat sites and now I'm showing off my new "skill."

Hey ChrisWah. I knew a lot of run aways kids/men &women when I was in the city. One of the few ways I have always been fortunate is that I was not a runaway. I lived at home until I was legal (eighteen) and then I went off to college. Wasn't until I dropped out of college that I had to start facing life on my own. Sorry that you had to do it at such an early stage in your life, but it seems like you turned out alright. You got thru it!

I knew some of those people you spoke of who were just "hangers on" with "Cool Jerk mentalities" who "represented nothing" (I already made mention of some people I lived with on first street that I don't care to remember) but I took them a little more seriously than you did. To me they represented danger and generally they were the ones who took advantage of me, not the other way around. They were like cloak and dagger people dressed up in hippy clothing and acting like hippies too, and I think they considered themselves the real hippies, and I think most people agreed with them and still do. Sad in a way isn't it. If you have a better perspective on it, which I'm sure you do, let me know what it is.

I couldn't put my finger on it but I detected an undercurrent of anger in your post. If it was directed at me, I can understand why. You probably read my previous posts and couldn't figure out whose side I was on. I'm on your side believe me, but there are differences of a opinion, squables and fights even among people in the same family. Brothers sometimes fight with brothers, brothers sometimes fight with sisters, siters fight with sisters, fathers fight with sons, sons fight with mothers, daughters fight with mothers and fathers fight with daughters so a little anger between people who aren't even part of the same family ought to be understandable.

I can't figure out how to rap this post up or tie it together so I'll just end it.

Sorry about the typos or what ever you call those things that were in my last post. I typed the post up in my word processor first and then cut it and pasted it to the site. So I went back and edited it, just those weird doohickies that were in it. I think it might be a little easier to read now. I have to learn to stop doing that.

Take care brother or cousin as I would prefer to say.

 

Hi y'all just popped in to make a comment or two,or three

I was 16 when I hit The Haight too. Hitched a ride from conservitive Anahiem Cali right smack up into Haight Ashbury 1966. I have no idea why I came.. I was just called, or pulled in that direction. I said goodbye to my family and friends , left the husband that beat me while I was tripping on LSD-25 ( he died in nam right before our divorce was final in 67) Hopped on the first 18 wheeler that was going to San Francisco and began my life without the pregidists that came with being different from the other people around you.

I did not think about why I was going. I just knew that's where I had to be to live my life the way I chose to live it. I was seeking Spiritual Enlightenment, asking the ultimite question of Being. I was confused aboutmy purpose as a woman, I sure did not want to live in Babalonia and be stuck in a housewife/slave situation the rest of my life, being subservient to the superior male bull shit.

It was like a call to the wild, something deep inside me, something trible was beconning me to come and fulfill my destiny. Like I said I was 16 and really didn't know shit except how to keep my mouth shut and be still and listen.

I as grew into the Haight, I became part of it. The people with their bright colors flying brilliantly as waves of smiling faces past you on the street Love built. The Love was thick in the air, as people hugged and laughed with joy and splendor at being alive and celebrating each moment in harmony with the universe.

It did not matter from where you came or who your daddy was, it was a gathering of the souls who wanted change in their lives and could not agree to what policy was or the standard of living.

We were all family wanting the same things, to be free to choose what ever it was we wanted to do with our lives. We did not want to harm or be harmed. But as things go in life not everyone shared that feeling of Love and Unity.

Altho we canged so many things we did not change the Hippies, or the fear that Babalonia held against us. They felt threatened by our Love, Peace and Hippie Beads. They did not understand why we would want to live in hovals and dress absurdly contradicting the Normal behavior of their world.

They wanted to conqure us, but could not fight the Spirit within us.

If you knew anything about the biginnings, you know it was a scam.. at first it was to take what you needed and leave the rest.. some got greedy and wanted it all.

Look at The Pranksters and Diggers. They pressured and intimadated the merchants into giving them free products to feed the mases then taking it and dumping it in the panhandle like slopping the hogs and laugh at the hungry people eating it off the ground.

It came to take what you can get instead of sharing and giving. Thats when the Love died on Haight Street and you had to relay on your 'family' if you had one.. iffen ya didn't you had better get one.

It got to where a sister could't walk up to Haight to the store without being hit in the head with a brick and mugged for her foodstamps. Yeah.. it was time to start fighting back and protecting ourselves from all forms of attacks. Even from within.

If we did Play anyone it was bc they were offering.. we never mugged anyone. They always got what they wanted too.. The experience of a life time.

We all used one another.. drawing off of each others energy. It was always give and take. When the babies started coming and there was not enough to share, people went their own ways for the survival of their families.

What ever our lives plans are we are doing them. We did what we did in The Haight and around the world and grew from the doing/being of it. What we do now is what will shape our future.

Lets bring the Love back home.

Bright Blessings
sh

 

LOL Saftypin you look good man I noticed the tie on the chair in the background!! for those special meetings??

NO ANGER here sorry if it came off like that I was trying to relate how back then there were so so many DIFFERENT type of folks who liked to hold up the "HIPPIE" banner when it suited them so to speak! lol

Alls good made it to here now need to make it to tommorrow lol

All is good here!

SH I can so so relate to your post (execpt the divorce part) as I left at 16 from a Retired Marine corp/Turned Control Data VEEP household In the Extended burbs of Washington D.C. without any idea where I would end up. I did go back to see how things were and tell my mom I was alive after about 2 years (18 now so I was LEGALLY of age lol lol lol) on the road only to have my sister ask me to please take her on the road with me ASAP. She had been put into the REFORM SYSTEM of the State of Maryland by our Dad and was out and at home after 3 months in Waxters and two in MCC ( Juvie prison ) being at "HOME" then was almost as bad a JUVIE PRISON. We left the next day and I brought here out to Boulder and from there to the Haight where she stayed and I went back up to ORYGUN. That was why I asked if you remembered her the RED HEAD named CANDY she lived in the houses Upper (across from Dunkleys as I recall) Cole, Lower Cole St House by the Oak street house and I am sure she was in the Underhouse for a while too, for like the next two to three years at least it seems as I recall. Cody her son was born there.

Do you remember the Last two years I think it was when the WHITE Panthers were now in the house???


peace/love

ww

 

Chris, I had to flee The Haight with CPS snappin' @ my heels in 73'. I had been in Ash Valley for a visit and on returnin' to GE, underhouse, it was abandonded and torn part when me n Jomie got there. I groped around in the dark till I located our room and me n Jomie crawled into a broken bed and went to sleep, we were tired from the trip down from Orygun.. the lights were out and I couldn't see anything. I didn't know where everyone was at or why there was no light and things were all ascatter.

I soon found out when the pigs came bustin' in n draged me n Jomie off kickin' and screamin' to City Prison. When they released me five days later, I had to find Jomie, found him in Child Haven and my and a good sister took re-posession of Jomie and CPS didn't like our method so I had to take Jomie and flee.. we later returned and found GE dismantled there came a transition where the White Panthers.. Oak Street House was headquarters for WP, around 74ish then a certian person had showed up that got involved with the Black Panthers and wanted control of GE the food cooop, the recycling center on Haight Strret and all the holding GE had... there was a big rucus and the BPs cut the dude loose and Kid and The Hole In The Wall Gang ( Haight Strret House) ran him outta dodge in 74/75'. I had left the city again with CPS hot on my trail and moved to AZ for a time and had my daughter.

I came back to GE in 77 and most of the old timers were gone to.. well, you know.
Every thing had changed.. there was new unfriendly faces in our once close knit family. The Harmony had gone and been replaced with negitivity. again I fled from the relentless CPS, this time never to return.

I was not lettin' cps take my babies bc they didn't agree with my lifestyle.

I moved back to where my roots were and have been livin; a quiet life here on the farm, with my loving flamily all around me and grand babies by the score. I have been blessed.

Bright Blessing to you my friend.

saftypin.. all is good..

sh

 

Yep that was the end of any peace and love and when the WP thing started rolling big. Everthing I mean everything changed and I stopped comming by to see who was around when I hitched into Haight.

That time line makes a lot come back to mind for me too. I had left the Haight/Orygun/Boulder to go back east Winter of 71. When I took Candy back out it was now 1972 we were in Boulder till that Winter then to the Haight where she met up with the flo and stayed that was 73. So you missed her time there as Cody was born into all the wild changes that were happening then so now I see why your paths did not cross a lot! Sheila and I were tight and my sister was not that close to Sheila.

Sheila and I went up to Orygun never being more than visitors to the Famlies houses. Sheila and I went from Milo/Tiller to over the Mountain and I got the 108 acres on Little Cow Creek ,One of the tributarys of the S. Umpqua Greg and Daisy came over the Mountain with us. Then Sheila wanted to get married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We had our one son Ryland at the time whom you may have seen as an infant??

We went back to D.C. area for her mom to marry, things were now way different. I took my bus for one more run left it in Orygun (that is when we let Butler Live in the bus and we went to Hawaii) pregnant again. Then back to SETTLE for a while in Orygun. Did not visit the Haight as often at all after that. Life had changed the kids were comming now (being born we had delivered Caleb our second on the farm in Milo) and we were pregnant with our third (who became Tiller) and now I was a farmer. and it was 1976. A LOT of the GE and others were comming up to Orygun. I had the 108 acres and the Little Blue House in Tiller on the way up to AV about 3/4 mile up from the turn before the bridge to the Forest Service on the river. My Bus was semi-permantaly-parked at the Whrilpools about 5 miles below AV.

Made a few more trips after that to the haight but is was changed and I now had my LIFE FAMILY (Me Sheila the Kids) and the few of us in ORYGUN who were called the WAH family now. My efforts went into that as a life! A new trip had begun on the long amazing/strange/happy/sad/growing always journey!!

 

Hippiestead, I know this is old, but I just got here. I know Tommy well. Uh, nobody "came" and got him, some of us actually live in Austin. Unfortunetly also, Tommy is very sick, he is wet brained to the point of not bein able to remember what ya sd to him 1 minute before. It's very sad.He also has no clue he has a tumorous cancer in his belly.So, thats the up side of no memory for him, he feels no pain from it either. Amazeing! Sorry to share bad news, by the way, Hi I'm lovione! Where are ya these days? I cruise alot myself.

Peace,Light & Love,, *

 

Thank you for the info Lovione even as sad as it is...last time we saw Tommy he was doing so well, it was a big enough change that a lot of us Drag folks thought that some kind of magic had happened....Tommy & his batoosy eyes <OO> one of Tommy's running mates from the Drag, Malcolm, just passed away recently...not much of the old crew left

What's very cosmic here is that we haven't been checking Back to the Garden very much lately...we mostly post on the Rainbow forum, or more correctly Cinnamon from the hippiestead (me). JuJu has been too busy with his music & digital art to forum chat. I pretty much run our MySpace page these days too, same moniker, hippiestead In non-cyber terms we're out in Bastrop County these days, found a little slice of paradise where they don't bitch about the bus (& don't bitch about the 4 other busses we've accrued since buying our 2 100ftx300ft pieces of land) JuJu still sells on the Drag if the weather is right but we sell tie dyes now instead of jewelry.

 

Very Cool for you. I am a S. girl, dont get down to the drag much these days. I was at Malcolms service in Pease Park. Lots of folks runnin around ol Bastrop these days. I am gonna have to make it to the gathering myself this yr. Ya ever hit the barn dances?
Marias Taco xpress for hippie church?

 

Hey Ya Snoopy,

Ol Buzz has a pretty cool thing goin on there! The pics on a site Josh & Butler put togethor, got messed with, so nice to see some photos that were deleted!

 

Leather Mark was at Malcolm's service...we were ther in spirit

Me'n'JuJu are pretty reclusive these days, we're so far from everything that we only go to town once a week and cram everything into that one day. I almost never go to Austin on the Saturdays that JuJu sells at the Drag but I do go to Bastrop's Pine Street Mkt Day & Smithville's 1st Satuday with him. Yeah lots of folks in Bastrop Co. & we're scattered about all over the place!

 

Howdy y'all! Just happened on this site--looks like there's a few people I know floating around here too!

I grew up with STP Family after running away from home at 13 in 1973. Like others here, I'm also in touch with a few family and friends of family from the old days.

It's screwed up about Tom Rush being so messed up now. He was doing good for awhile in 1999/2000. My wife and I were the ones who "kidnapped" him and took him to Oklahoma in 1999 for the STP Family Reunion at Patti's place. After the reunion Tom stayed with us in Austin for a couple of months and quit drinking. He was doing real well, and did real well for around 11 months. Then he hit the streets again. I've known that guy since I was 13--I hate to hear how sick he is.

 

Wow, so y'all were who Tommy was with then!!! He really did look good after he quit drinking. <oo>

 

Yep, that was us. LOL! He wasn't real house broke after so many years on the streets. There were a lot of things we had to teach him about living in a house and with a family. One night at dinner when he went to reach his hands in a bread bag I casually asked him if he'd washed his hands, and you could have heard a pin drop. The kids (Ariel was 10 and Carena was 6) just looked at him. He paused with his hand halfway into the bread bag and said "This morning." Everyone just looked at him and didn't say a word. Then he said "I ain't used them for nothing..." Again no one said a word, and he got quietly up, went to the sink, and washed his hands. He grew a lot living with us, we took him to meetings with us, and he learned how to stay clean from alcohol. But after a few months he went to the VA Domilicary (sp?) in Temple, then a few months after that he decided it just wasn't worth it and he went back to drinking. Last time I talked to some Washington family they said he was pretty sick, and almost any day I expect to get the news that he's gone.

 

BTW, in answer to the question about Butler, he did pass away a few years ago.

 

Hi ya'll,
Like I sd it is sad he is sick, but then again he doesnt know it. A strange blessing indeed. After Tom left Tx. he went to Wa. and everyone there did some kind of time and energy giving to him. He did go to the 2001 gathering in Idaho, and I was drivin the bus for our brother Oklahoma, Tom sat behind me, goin down the lewiston grade,while pullin on my hair, singing, he loved to sing, " lil baby wanna be" takes gump for me to admitt that so publickly for all of you who have no clue to who I am, JOHN, u know! And I have a million other stories, but yes he looked wonderful for 11 months thanks to Lil John and his family. Tom is very loved by a whole lotta people. Including me,, I love you Lil John,,, now lil John here has been a very good and busy brother. I personally thank love for him! Well, I never seem to have the time to really get busy here, still babysittin!! Love to all, I will be in touch soon Hippiestead,,, love and light,,

 

more Tommy stories please! In person stories would be nice too...we have a strange schedule in April tho...April 14th we'll be in Smithville for Jamboree & on April 28 we'll be in Bastrop for Yesterfest..the 7th & the 21st should be Austin days but weather can change everything, this Sat, should be an Austin day but not with a 70% chance of rain.

 

Hippiestead, would love to meet y'all and share stories! Our April is pretty crazy too, we'll be out at Old Settlers Music Fest April 19-22.

 

Old Settlers? It's ringing a bell but not quite loudly enough. Where's that & do they have arts & crafts vendors? Little John, you or luvione are welcome to private message us...just left click on hippiestead & you'll see the private message option

 

I don't mean to butt in but how did you all come to congregate in Austin?