So, hag thanksgiving sameach folks. I am sitting here digesting and remembered a thanksgiving story. Among my favroite songs, Alice’s Restaraunt, is about the events surrounding a thanksgiving dinner in Stockbridge, summer of 1967. They were in the midst of a war as well and the song is a roundabout protest piece. The next year, in 1968, Arlo played the song for a crowd of progressives who were protesting the DNC conference in Chicago.
The assembled radicals, hippies, yippies, and intellectuals marched peacefully. The problem was, well how to say this, uh, the cops and national guards thought peaceful marching was boring so they wailed on the protesters. And boy did they. All hell broke loose and heads were pounded in. Lot’s of the protesters were arrested and the Chicago 8(later 7) were put on trial.
Arlo testified, and after him was Art Waskow. The circumstances led to some changes in his life and he has a good (short) retelling of that heady day. It is interesting as all his stuff is, pretty much, and uncharacheteristically to the point. Check it out here.
Even as there are so many problems in the world, it’s worth taking a minute and cosidering what we have to be thankful for. Which, to be corny, is always a lot more than we think there is before we really focus. Happy thanksgiving to all!