Growing Up In 1971

 (Note.  On July 10, I wrote "Growing Up In 1961."  The story continues around 1971, with more to follow.)

My college years at Rutgers began in September, 1969.  And it was quite an eventful month.  On September 27, 1969, Rutgers played Princeton in the 100th anniversary of college football game; the first game being played between Rutgers and Princeton in 1869.  (Rutgers won that game, more in the style of rugby, by a score of 6 to 4.)  It was a home game for Rutgers, so, of course, I went.  It was thrilling to have TV cameras there, which was not a common occurrence for Rutgers at that time.  I remember it as a perfect fall day.  And the game ended with a perfect result, with Rutgers shutting out Princeton 29-0.

Perhaps not surprisingly, I was exposed to left-wing ideology for the first time.  Not only by some professors, but by fellow students.  And I became all in.  It was not how I was raised.  My parents were classical liberals.  That liberalism has nothing in common with leftism.  But the Vietnam war was raging and I attended various peace rallies at Rutgers.  I was also at the peace rally in New York City at Bryant Park, on April 22, 1972, organized by the National Peace Action Coalition.  (As an aside, Bryant Park is where the New York Public Library is; and other than the Library of Congress, it is the largest library in the country.)  Anyway, John Kerry spoke at the rally, although I have no recollection of him being there.  I do recall the headliners - John Lennon and Yoko Ono. 

But prior to that rally, in the spring of 1970, were the protests against the bombing of Cambodia.  It was an effort by the US to end the supply lines to the Viet Cong.  It was quite a tumultuous time as that spring, on May 4, 1970, 4 students at Kent State University in Ohio, were shot and killed by members of the Ohio National Guard.  Students there, and across the country, were also protesting the expansion of the war into Cambodia.  After that shooting I remember thinking that any of us at these protests could be targeted. 

At Rutgers I grew a full beard and a Jewfro, although it was already thinning at the top.  As a freshman I lived in what was called the "language section" of one of the dorms.  As I recall, it was a new experiment at Rutgers.  Students who scored at least a 600 on the foreign language SAT in either Spanish or French, were eligible to live there.  My foreign language was Spanish.  The idea was to encourage the day to day speaking of those languages.  I am not sure how often that occurred, but I do recall each of us having been called by our name in that foreign language.  I, of course, was Miguel.  

During my sophomore year at Rutgers my parents and brother moved from New Jersey to California.  I believe it was at the end of the school year when a friend at school was also flying to California, as his family also lived there.  A group of the guys from the language section drove us to the airport.  At the ticket counter was this sign:  "Warning - carrying a concealed weapon is a federal offense."  It was the era of plane hijackings.  Another Spanish speaker from the dorm saw the sign and joked:  "Hey Miguel, you better hide your gun."  So here I was with a full beard and a bushy head of hair, and I'm called "Miguel," at a time when there were hijackings to Cuba.

My friend and I walked down to the gate and were waiting to board the plane.  Suddenly a man in a three piece suit walks up to us and asks our names.  Then he takes out his badge and says:  "Federal Marshal, you two come with me."  He immediately asks which one of us has the gun.  It took me a few seconds to remember what my other friend said about hiding my gun.  Clearly, the man at the ticket counter reported us to the Marshals.  I explained to the Marshal that it was a joke.  Said the Marshal:  "Does it look like I'm laughing?"  He then frisked my friend and me and went through our carry on baggage. 

After seeing that there was no gun anywhere the Marshal told us that he could still arrest us.  Or he could let us go on the plane.  I think he saw two terrified college students, and let us go with a warning.  After the plane took off, I opened up my carry-on and took out the latest edition of the student newspaper, the Rutgers Targum.  Although not an Ivy League school, Rutgers was an all male college, with our sister school being Douglass, which was across town in New Brunswick.  Back to the Targum.  What was the front page headline I saw?  "Bomb scare at Douglass College."  I could not believe it.  I knew the airlines had Marshals on virtually every flight.  I knew if I said the word "bomb" on the plane I would definitely be arrested.  I immediately closed the paper, put it back in my carry-on, and sat with my hands folded on my lap for the rest of the flight.  Without saying a word.  

It was not constant politics at Rutgers, although it may have been the dominant activity.  But it was the beginning of video games, which we could play at the Rutgers student center.  And I went to concerts at Rutgers.  I recall Arlo Guthrie and Sha Na Na playing at Rutgers.  And George Carlin came and did his routine.  I still remember one of his lines, pretending to be the hippie dippie dippie weatherman.  His forecast?  "The weather for tonight is getting dark, and getting lighter towards the early morning hours."  I have no idea why I remember that.  

I was not a hippie.  I was not a joiner; so I never joined any groups such as SDS, Students for a Democratic Society.  But when I left Rutgers in 1973, I definitely departed as a man of the left.