There is even a full-on theater, Granola Funk, featuring music, skits, comedy, like the parody of "The Dating Game", which I enjoyed, all without lights, mics or electricity of any kind. There are even Rainbow stars, like Fantuzzi, the Neyorican Berkeley-ite and world-traveler, who sings and leads bands.
Of course, in any anarchist gathering some discord will fall. But Rainbow's main problem, the "tweekers" and "dirty kids" (speed freaks and dumpster-diving, train hoppers) prefer camping with each other, often near the parking lot, minimizing their disruption.
A guy in a "Hillary for Prison" T-Shirt appeared once at the Library, complaining he'd been shouted down elsewhere, to which Librarian Josh responded, “You can say whatever you want here.” But when he tried to Trump-bait us, we didn’t bite, returning to our discussion of 5th century Indian Tantra as he wandered off.
And so, post-modern hippiedom is doing well. Apparently undaunted by the onslaught of machines, conservatism, over-communication, money culture and absence of personal connection, they revel in the ease with which they can live on the road or off the grid while periodically plugging back in for tech, info or income downloads.
Their worldview was well articulated by a hand-drawn poster I saw tied to a tree: “Pray For Peace, Learn From All. Carry “Home” with You. Love Yourself. Help Your Neighbor. We Are Family. We the People Need to Be the People, And Work to Create a Better World, By Making Your Own Life Better First. Find Your Happy. Be Your Self. Move if You Have to But Live Your Live. Fill the Now with Good Things.”
To which I might add: "Protect the tribe but don't tribalize. 'Search out knowledge, even unto China,' as Muhammad said. Civilization is the sum of the tribes' ideas not blood. Keep tools current but bear in mind psychology, sex and other basics are as unchanged through time as through space or race. Know that we are in turbulent times but they can hardly match the '60s, let alone the '40s. Maintain the balance—female/male, nature/tech, play/work—and we'll be fine."
In this way, perhaps, San Francisco might reintegrate its storied history with its unprecedented present to foment a flourishing, front-edging and content-producing culture, as over 50 years ago.
Doniphan Blair is a writer, film magazine publisher, designer and filmmaker ('Our Holocaust Vacation'), who can be reached . Posted on Mar 21, 2019 - 10:06 PM