Last spring, a few of my students were able to do a Google Hangout with Fred Mindlin. He is an Oxford educated Anthropolgist. He discussed some topics with us such as Black Bear Ranch, and he gave us is first hand account on what daily life was like when he lived there for several years in the 1960’s and 70’s. He talked about how the new technology of propane and hydrolectricity helped to change their way of life.
He gave us a first hand what it was like in the Haight-Ashbury hippie movement in San Fransisco, and how that movement still has remnents today in our current society. He discussed how he was there to study the Hippies and their culture. He compared the 1960’s culture in England where he lived for a while during his Oxford days, and the 1960’s culture here in the United States.
We discussed how the 1960’s culture dealt with the deaths of JFK, MLK, and RFK. He talked about how the impact of these deaths and the Civil Rights Movement had affected him, and how he contributed to the fight during the Civil Rights Movement.
Overall, my sudents had a great time. It was difficult at times since some of my students had to go to band and orchestra practice, and some didn’t make it from another school until after the session was done. But for the most part, the students who were here the whole time learned a lot the 1960’s. The aspect that I liked about this session was they heard a perspective from a participant from that era that they wouldn’t have gotten from reading a text book.
Ramblings of a Gifted Teacher 