DSC_0081.JPG, originally uploaded by david parmet.
I’ve been in a Jack Keroauc state of mind lately. This year I re-read On the Road for the first time since I was assigned it in High School (side note, I’m amazed that at any time, an American High School assigned On the Road as required reading). And now I’m reading Dharma Bums.
What strikes me most of all is just how much freedom we’ve really lost since Keroauc’s Sal Paradise criss-crossed America with nothing but a few dollars, a back pack and his thumb to guide him. These days even the simple act of stopping on a city street to take a picture can get you a sideways glance from a police officer. And you can forget carrying a backpack into a building or public space.
Today, at a political event (more about that in another post) I unexpectedly found myself standing next to another stalwart of the anti-establishment 40s and 50s, folksinger Pete Seeger.
He was gracious and happy to hear that my Mom was a bit of a folkie and that I grew up listening to the Weavers and (better yet) he was delighted to pose for a picture with the Twin Princesses and the Boy Genius. He even helped rope them into looking at the camera instead of at him.
After the political speeches ended, I was ushered off to take a picture with various other office holders and potential office holders (I told you it was a political event). Behind me, the band struck up a familiar tune. And I watched my children standing in front of the stage, hearing the same voice I heard when I was their age singing “This Land is Your Land.”
On the way home I explained that the man they met was not only famous for his songs, but for teaching us all that ideas like peace and justice are not abstractions but important goals to be fought for. That if one person was suffering injustice, we all were. Finally I had to resort to ‘he’s the Dan Zanes of my generation.’ But I think the Boy Genius got it.
Then I pooped in a Wallace and Grommet DVD and drove home through the dark night, wondering who my kids would point to as their inspiration.
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