Woodstock grabs my attention on the television screen. It seems to be
                   one event that catches the attention of a diverse audience: the liberated
                   generation of the sixties, and the mock-liberated generation of today. The
                   original Woodstock was, in this instance, used to advertise Jeeps. (A
                   preppier cause, I can not imagine). What happened to idealism? What
                   happened to morals? Why are we driving Jeeps?!

                   Before I go off about money and selling out, I'm going to recognize that
                   these issues are struggles for everyone. However, the same generation
                   that tells me to "get a real job, because you won't make any money
                   writing," is the generation that never even had one, until necessary.
                   Apparently they think that ever since then, getting a job is a necessity.
                   Okay, so I can't argue, but still... where and when did this idealism
                   exactly disappear?

                   Was it when The Beatles broke up, and the world saw Paul McCartney in a
                   suit that wasn't sub-psychadelicized in the slightest? Was it the constant
                   killing? And why this onslaught again? It seems that this Republican regime
                   is now an accepted part in a political cycle that always manages to break
                   the bank and promote the type of conformity (religious and otherwise)
                   that sells an awful lot of Jeeps. And all using Woodstock imagery.

                   This makes the media even more confusing for my generation, and those
                   younger than us. How in the hell are you supposed to explain how
                   Woodstock sells Jeeps? There's no other answer than this: the people
                   changed. If one generation can change so fast, what about this one? I'd
                   hate to think that it's all downhill from mock-Woodstocks, full of violence
                   and $7.00 bottles of water. Can the worst get worse?

                   Looking for a job, I parked my bug in front of Starbucks. I've got to say,
                   it's an odd feeling walking into a joint like that wearing the hippie garb
                   that I do. I wasn't going in for an interview anyways, just an application.
                   But there I was, the essence of Woodstock, innocence, love, and music...
                   the figurehead of liberty, resigning herself to begging for work at
                   Starbucks. I'm Liberty, for sure, spending $20 a pop on eBay "vintage
                   Sixties items." I'm Liberty, looking through a Delia's catalog for something
                   that looks authentic. Liberty that can't sew an American quilt, that can't
                   deliberately damage, picnic on, burn or step on an American flag for fear
                   of a society that edges on arresting her. Liberty with nothing left to
                   protest, other than the war on the same drugs that were introduced to us
                   by our government and parents. I am the generation taught to make
                   money; to go to college and not marry young. I am the generation
                   scorned for making too much music and not enough profit. If the answer,
                   my friend, was blowing in the wind, it was a nor'easter of change. And
                   this time, there's nothing to fight for, only ourselves to fight with, and
                   even less to keep us where we want to be.
 

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