free speech. free love. free. free. free.

i find myself being more and more drawn to this seemingly mythical idea of what life was like. past tense. 

i find myself overcome with utter and absolute jealousy for the people who rocked out their teen years in the 60s and 70s. the entire sub culture that was these decades just taunts me.

recently my room mates and i spent a night evolving ourselves in a history playback, spending the night watching movies like dazed and confused.

for those of you who dont know (shame on you.); dazed and confused is a movie based on the lives of high schoolers in 1976-it takes place over one day and night, following these kids, illustrating life in the 70s...and all the freedoms that came with it. each time i watch this overly prodigious movie, i find myself questioning the so called "rules" of today. even some of the events that take place in the movie that i dont so whole heartedly agree with, i realize would land a teeny bopper in the clink in this day and age.

take for example; the pledge. in the movie the football team is required to sign a piece of paper that says they wont drink or do drugs. as IF that would surfice for todays sports teams. now its drug tests and interrogation, possible exemption from the sport for so much as taking a hit of a tiny little spliff.  dont miscontrue my words, i agree drug testing for performance enhancing drugs is more than required in sports, it equals playing field and calls out our true atheletes for their true abilities. but for anyone who dabbles in the more herbal of "drugs" can tell you, firing up a joint isnt going to get you jacked or help you throw the winning TD-it may, however, make you wanna watch the lion king with a box of wheat thins at 4pm on a sunday afternoon. in this film, they simply ask that you dont rage-fair enough, but would not fly in the over dramatic and rule abiding society that is today.

secondly, initiation day is represented so predominantly in this film it makes me almost FEEL the ketchup in my earlobes from my own grade 9 experience. for those who are hazy on the concept of an initiation day, its a sort of ritual where the senior students almost somewhat 'pick on' the freshman, or grade nines in a welcoming yet abrasive way. i will never declare it hazing as i feel it puts a negative connotation on the experience and it was anything but that. most schools in my area have ruled out and against any and all forms of an initiation day, or what my school so stealthy called it " Your Day " as our world has become a time of over abundant zero tolerance. yes-i believe in the steps taken to prevent bullying and all the harassment that one can take on in high school, however, my initiation day was probably one of the many highlights of high school. did i get mayonnaise in my hair? yes. did i get tied to a goal post and covered in honey? yes. was i required to bob for apples..in a sardine water filled blow up pool? yes. do i feel hostility or shudder at the thought of these events? no. i embraced them. just as those in the times of dazed and confused did.

maybe i just love that freedom so much i dont see the benefits of the rules put into place but 

ask your parents, aunts, uncles-they will tell you how full of life and optimism the 60s and 70s contained. they didnt coin the term "the good old days.." for nothing. my parents regale the tales of how good life was and i see a distinct sense of pride and over consuming joy on their faces when they do so. not to mention, my mom says, the music was bitching back then. yes, she did in fact use that word-to my horror.

sometimes i just wish the societies of today could remember when times were simpler, in the 'living life to the fullest' sense. times when opening a brew on the road didnt get you a $145 dollar fine, or a time when we didnt treat our cell phones like children-caring for them as we would our young, i still have a heart attack every time i think ive lost my phone. much to my dismay-im completely and whole heartedly dependent on that thing.

i will, however, credit our generation with the 'go green', eco friendly efforts but i will forever tip my metaphorical hat to those who bent the rules, spoke freely, made the most unreal music the world has ever heard, lived for the moment and gave us all something to envy.