Peace
High School: Grades 9–12
Story
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Peace
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Julia admired herself in the mirror. She and her little sister Lydia had made new purple and pink tie-dyed shirts. They had just pulled them out of the dryer and were modeling them for each other. Julia had graduated from high school and would soon be leaving home to go to college. She was trying to spend a lot of time with Lydia in an attempt to make the coming separation easier. Lydia, who was only 11, lost interest in their shirts as they entered Julia's room.
The posters on Julia's walls distracted Lydia from further preening. The posters of rock groups mesmerized her: the Beatles, The Doors, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix. One poster declared, "Make Love, Not War." Then there were sort of cartoon-like posters. One poster had a drawing of a hippie wearing striped bell-bottoms and love beads. Out of his head came exploding rainbows, stars, and flowers. The colors on this poster were psychedelic; the oranges, yellows, greens, and purples vibrated, pulsed, and jumped off the paper. There were also some buttons that Julia would let her borrow and wear on occasion. One was a black button with a peace sign emblazoned on it. Another showed a rifle with a soldier's helmet on top, which read "Out Now." Interspersed among the posters were newspapers. Not newspapers like the Chicago Tribune, but the kind you couldn't buy on a newsstand. Julia told Lydia these papers came from the underground press. Lydia was curious about them but had trouble reading the prose. She often asked Julia to read them to her.
Today Lydia noticed a new underground newspaper taped up which had a button stuck in it that said, "Yippie." She pleaded with her older sister to start reading. "I won't interrupt, I promise."
Julia began reading out loud in a kind of breathless, stream-of-consciousness style: "Join us in Chicago in August for an international festival of youth, music, and theater. Rise up and abandon the creeping meatball!"
Lydia pretended to be eating spaghetti. Julia tried to ignore her and keep reading: "Come all you rebels, youth spirits, rock minstrels, truth seekers, peacock freaks, poets, barricade jumpers, dancers, lovers, and artists. It is summer. It is the last week in August and the NATIONAL DEATH PARTY meets to bless Johnson. We are making love in the parks. We are reading, singing, laughing, printing newspapers, groping, and making a mock convention and celebrating the birth of FREE AMERICA in our own time."
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Lydia was on a roll: she started waving her arms around while making a peace sign and dancing. Julia stifled a smile and continued: "New tribes will gather in Chicago. We will be completely open; everything will be free. Bring blankets, tents, draft cards, body paint, Mrs. O'Leary's cow, food to share, music, eager skin and happiness. The threats of LBJ, Mayor Daley, and J Edgar Freako will not stop us. We are coming! We are coming from all over the world!"
Julia knew Lydia would be unable to resist the reference to "Mrs. O'Leary's cow." Sure enough, Lydia started to moo.
"The life of the American spirit is being torn asunder by the forces of violence, decay, and the napalm, cancer fiend. We demand the politics of ecstasy. We are the delicate spoors of the new fierceness that will change America. We will create our own reality; we are Free America. And we will not accept the false theatre of the Death Convention. We will be in Chicago. Begin preparations now! Chicago is yours! Do it!" 1
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