| In the mid 1960s I was reading Ralph
Waldo Emerson, Allen Ginsberg, Sacred Books of
the East, and attempting to read The Prophet by
Kahil Gibran but the illustrations seemed much
more interesting. I was listening to The Fugs,
Peter Paul and Mary, Donovan, Bob Dylan, The
Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Jefferson
Airplane, Hendrix, The Doors, The Cream etc.
There were also the Cold War, Vietnam War, human
rights movements, sexual liberation taking place
and an antiwar movement that I was involved in. I
took a stand on important issues and was called a
hippie. Thus I joined the 2% of young Americans
between the ages of 15 and 25 that formed the
1960s Hippie Movement. In 1970s, at about the time
when the Vietnam War was over a gay liberation
movement swept across major American cities and
the world. It was a time for celebration because
the war was over, many folks got their rights and
our goals were reached. There were many house
parties and celebrations, for example where I
lived in Chicago and across the country. But by
the 1980s things slowed down and changed a lot.
Many baby-boomers felt burned out and the economy
also burning out. And then, I became unemployed.
So, I decided to join my Mom on the Old
Continent, who relocated there earlier instead of
moving to Arizona or to Florida as other American
retirees did. I never planned to stay there for
long, but one thing led to another, and I got
sucked in by the spirit of another brewing
revolution in Poland. I suppose, in a
subconscious way, that spirit may have lured me
there so I could witness another major revolution
- the Solidarity Movement; the fall of the Berlin
Wall; the end to the Soviet Union, and the Iron
Curtain. Yes, I believe it was that spirit of
change that I tasted back home in Chicago, a town
that had a long history of revolt dating back the
Haymarket
Square,
the 1937
Memorial Day Steel Mill Riots, and the demonstrations
during 1968
Democratic National Convention that gave rise to the Yippies. It drove me back to the
Old World, to Amsterdam and to Poland. All of
that in an inexplicable supernatural way...
I believe we're
always on a frontier of a better world. And that
dynamic process of changing the world in our
times began with the French Revolution, and later
with the 1960s freedom movements in America. So
lets move on in that spirit of peace, love and
freedom, and make this a better place to live for
all by updating our worldviews in a gentile and
peaceful way from time to time, when necessary.
Below are some
photos from 1960-80s. More albums are in the
photo galleries on top of this page. But please
move on to the next pages where you'll find more
stuff.
|
Quality of the photos was reduced due to download time constrains
My first guitar. Chicago 1966 
Paul McCartney and his first guitar ("The Beatles Anthology").
In 2003, I found out that 
By 1969 my guitar looked like this when I hit the road.
Finally, I sold it in Europe when hard pressed for cash. 
Wisconsin 1976
Chicago's Lakefront 1979
With Tantra Yoga Guru friends from India, Planet Earth 1992
Krasinski Palace in Warsaw, Poland. December 2010
