An online project of students at University of California at Berkeley studying 1960s counterculture and its lessons for people today.
Interesting that the Berkeley students noticed the feminist aspect of Sylvie Sunflower. I wrote it in response to a letter I received from a woman friend who noticed how stereotypical the gender roles were in the illustrations of Living on the Earth. That letter was my feminist awakening!
I set forth to break that obsolete mental pattern by writing and illustrating Sylvie Sunflower. It did not go unnoticed! The book was center-folded into a 1973 issue of Ms. Magazine as part of Letty Cottin Pogrebin’s series, “Stories for Free Children.”
My dear friend, Professor Greg Castillo of the School of Environmental Design in the School of Architecture at the University of California at Berkeley, co-taught this class! He said, “This [website] was a great student project.”
Buy the “Alicia Bay Laurel – Live in Japan” CD here.
July 23, 2018. Just coming off the press today is my 8th album, a collection of recordings by audio engineer Yasushi Yamaguchi from my concerts in Japan. Three of the recordings were made on August 8th, 2015, at a peace concert in at Hiroshima Nakaregawa Church, at ground zero in Hiroshima, during the week of the 70th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
The album also includes a duet with legendary Japanese traditional singer, Ikue Asazaki, and a live rendition of my song Ukulele Hula with the Inoue Ohana Band, during kumu hula Miho Ogura‘s debut performance of her original choreography created for this song.
Also, I recorded a medley that evolved onstage over three years of concerts in Japan, often with interpretive dancers, blending the four chants of the solstices and equinoxes from the book Being of the Sun, both the book and the songs a collaboration with composer/author Ramón Sender Barayón.
My cover drawing, Amaterasu Seen From Mori Tower depicts the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu appearing over Tokyo as a cloud lifting the sun from the eastern horizon across the bay. The orange and white Eiffel-Tower-like Tokyo Tower, a television tower, stands directly between Mori Tower, a residential sky scraper in the Roppongi area, and Tokyo harbor. The art gallery that sold this drawing is in the building next to Mori Tower. However, I sell greeting cards with this image in my online store.
Listener feedback for Alicia Bay Laurel: Live in Japan
Charming! A wonderful CD, light and lyrical and still timely and deep. I especially liked the crowd singing along parts. Such cosmic threads run through your life and music and art. Wow!
Sophia Songhealer Singer/songwriter and recording artist/producer Clearlake, California _____________________________________________
Alicia,
Thank you very much for sending us your new CD: Live in Japan.
Your voice, so pure and warm, makes me feel at home.
With so many people suffering from cruelty of wars, and new totally devastating nuclear war still looming, your message reminding people of the beauty of life, and the warmth of peace is more meaningful than ever.
Ikue Asazaki’s voice is so soulful!
Kenichi Iyanaga Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Tokyo University _________________________________________________
Wow, the CD looks and sounds great Alicia.
Nice balance, guitar solo works, and you sound great.
Paul Metzke Jazz/blues guitarist New York City, NY ___________________________________________________
Alicia Bay Laurel is back in Japan and Okinawa. In this [track “Imagine”], she sounds like an angel in a church at ground zero in Hiroshima. Can’t stop listening, so beautiful, and a special time, place convergence for peace. Thank you!
Jean Downey Attorney, Professor, Journalist and Activist Winter Park, Florida ____________________________________________________
Thank you for sending me your new CD. I am really enjoying listening to it right now! I was surprised to hear how good your Japanese pronunciation is. You sound so Japanese! I love your voice on “Imagine”. And I love the sweet face of Amaterasu on the jacket! Great CD!
Mayu Jensen Translator, graphic artist, and singer/songwriter Nagano Prefecture, Japan _______________________________________________________
Six small but powerful tracks — as relevant today as when the songs were first written — speak to the depths of our souls and the heights of our spirits. Alicia Bay Laurel’s soulful renditions are the perfect balm for our troubled times, making Live in Japan another timeless gem in our collective treasure box.
今だからききたい Ima dakara kikitai
大地の音色 Daichi no neiro
今だからききたい Ima dakara kikitai
心の響き Kokoro no hibiki
今だからききたい Ima dakara kikitai
アリシアの唄 Alicia no uta
(it’s hard to translate the Japanese into English… Literally, it would mean, “Because it’s IMA (now), we want to listen to the tones of Mother Earth/Because it’s IMA, we want to listen to the vibrations of the heart/Because it’s IMA, we want to listen to Alicia’s songs” But it sounds much better in Japanese!)
Carole Hisasue Former Radio and TV Personality in Tokyo Now Organic Farmer and Activist in California ___________________________________________________
Your voice is heavenly! Your music too. As a die hard Beatlemaniac, I am not easily moved by new versions of Beatles/Lennon songs…but you moved me to tears.
I grew up in Israel listening to the Beatles…it’s how I learned English! Of course, the most important thing I learned from their music was to imagine a world renewed by hope and faith and youth. I remember when they broke up and the acrimony that followed. My ideal was shattered…but, of course, we all have to grow up. Now I’m a grandma and I worry about the future for my grand kids. Hearing you sing these classics with the same spirit as the originals restores my faith in the dream. Thank you and, of course, you may post my comments.
I sing answer song to LAST NIGHT I HAD THE STRANGEST DREAM. ♪ If it’s a dream, please don’t wake me up. where is that ? Costa Rica ? Andorra ? No ! That is Japan ! We vowed never to go to war again.
Tetsuya Hikida Musician, singer/songwriter Niiza, Japan _________________________________________________
The back cover of the CD, with Kensuke Ishii’s photograph ofIkue Asazaki and Alicia Bay Laurel after the show, both costumed by Kaoriko Ago Wada, the designer/owner of the Little Eagle organic fiber, fair trade fashion company.
Drawing Amaterasu Seen From Mori Tower and graphic design by Alicia Bay Laurel Photos of Alicia Bay Laurel and Ikue Asazaki by Kensuke Ishii Costumes worn by Alicia Bay Laurel and Ikue Asazaki created by Kaoriko Ago Wada, owner/designer of organic fiber/fair trade fashion company, Little Eagle Digital layout by Hoshi Hana
Recorded at an all-day peace concert produced by Kaoriko Ago Wada, designer and owner of the organic fiber/fair trade fashion company Little Eagle, at Hiroshima Nakaregawa Church, located at ground zero in Hiroshima, on August 8, 2015, during the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was the final song of the concert, and everyone was swaying together in a circle, a garland of 1000 paper cranes draped around all of our shoulders, folded in prayer and remembrance for those that died in and after the bombings.
Lead vocal and melody guitar: Alicia Bay Laurel Harmony vocal and harmony guitar: Takuji Lead (electric) guitar: Paul Metzke Plus the entire cast (including the Lily Choir and the Inoue Ohana Band) and the audience at the event, all of whom joined us in singing the second time through the song.
Last night I had the strangest dream
I never had before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
The room was full of men (and women!)
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again.
And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful prayers were prayed.
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing ‘round and ‘round
And swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground.
2. Yurikago No Uta/ Lullaby Yurikago No Uta (Cradle Song): Words by Kitahara Hakushu, Music by Kusakawa Shin
Recorded at a June 6, 2015 concert and fashion exhibition produced by Kaoriko Ago Wada, at Café Slow. This restaurant and performance venue in a straw bale and cob building in Kokubunji, Tokyo, was created by and for the people of the Slow Life movement, which values creating things by hand and growing one’s own food, both to help preserve nature and to nourish one’s spirit. Yurikago No Uta/Lullaby was the final song of the show, at the end of (my idol!) the legendary singer Ikue Asazaki’s set. I thought she was going to sing Yurikago No Uta both at the beginning and at end of the piece, but, to my surprise, when I paused for her to begin singing it the second time, she motioned that she wanted me to sing it instead! So, I jumped in on the second line and sang it to the end.
Lead vocal: Ikue Asazaki Lead vocal and melody guitar: Alicia Bay Laurel Lead guitar: Atsushi Tanaka
Yurikago No Uta
1) Yurikago no uta wo Canary ga utauyo The canary is singing a cradle song.
Nen neko Nen neko Nen nekoyo Sleep well, child, sleep well, child, sleep well, child.
2) Yurikago no ueni Biwa no m yureruyo Biwa (loquat) is swaying above the cradle.
Nen neko Nen neko Nen nekoyo Sleep well, child, sleep well, child, sleep well, child.
3) Yurikago no thuna wo o Kinazumiga ga yusuruyo The squirrel shakes the rope of the cradle
Nen neko Nen neko Nen nekoyo Sleep well, child, sleep well, child, sleep well, child.
4) Yurikago no yume ni kiiro no tuki ga kakaruyo. Yellow moonlight shines on your dreams in the cradle.
Nen neko Nen neko Nen nekoyo Sleep well, child, sleep well, child, sleep well, child.
This is the only track in this album that was not recorded at a live event. Instead, it documents a medley that evolved onstage, often with an interpretive dancer, during my performances in Japan in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
Lead Vocal and Zither (Evo Bluestein Sparrowharp): Alicia Bay Laurel
Summer Solstice Chant:
You have reached the highest in our heavens
And the widest span of our horizon
As we traverse the summer side of the sun
We are in the joy of your attendance
Upon this half of our mother’s breast
Autumn Equinox Chant:
Once again the night is equal to the light
On the autumn side of the sun
We have gathered to make light
For the darkness approaches
Thank you for the bounty of the summer
Thank you for the fullness of the harvest
Winter Solstice Chant:
Our half of the earth has tipped away from you
And we are on the winter side of the sun
When we are in cold and darkness
We see you in candle flames and fires
We have stored your energy to feed us
Until the day you warm us through our skin
Spring Equinox Chant:
Today the darkness gives way to daylight
Wakening from winter on the spring side of the sun
How the narrow path of sunlight has widened
As our hemisphere returns to the light
Plant we now our gardens
Blossom now the love in our souls
4. Down by the Riverside African-American Spiritual from the early 1800’s, in public domain
Lead Vocal and Melody Guitar: Alicia Bay Laurel Additional Vocals: The Lily Choir
Also recorded at the peace concert produced by Kaoriko Ago Wada at Hiroshima Nakaregawa Church on August 8, 2015, during the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Singing “Down by the Riverside” raised our spirits at many an anti-war protest rally during the US invasion of Vietnam in the 1960s and ‘70s. As is customary when singing this lively song, I made up a few verses of my own. The audience joined in with me and the Lily Choir as well.
Verse 1
Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the river side
Down by the river side
Down by the river side
Gonna lay down my sword and shield
Down by the river side
And study war no more
Chorus
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
I ain’t gonna study war no more
Verse 2
Gonna walk with the people of peace
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Gonna walk with the Queen of Peace
Down by the river side
And study war no more
Chorus (same)
Verse 3
Gonna hold hands around the world
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Gonna hold hands around the world
Down by the river side
And study war no more
Chorus (same)
Verse 4
Gonna lay down that atom bomb
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
(spoken) “Gonna disassemble that atom bomb!”
Down by the river side
And study war no more (spoken) “we don’t need those things anymore!”
Chorus (same)
Verse 5 Gonna lay down my attitude (“my attitude” means “my anger” or “my cynicism”)
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Down by the river side,
Gonna lay down my attitude
Down by the river side,
And study war no more (spoken) “I don’t want to fight anybody!
Lead Vocal and Melody Guitar: Alicia Bay Laurel Harmony Vocal and Ukulele: Kathie Inoue Lead (electric) Guitar: Keni Inoue
Recorded July 25, 2015 at Surfers, a restaurant, bar and performance venue on a cliff overlooking the ocean, just outside the town of Zushi, Kanagawa. At this event, kumu hula Miho Ogura premiered her original choreography for my song “Ukulele Hula,” in performance with five of her students. I wrote “Ukulele Hula” soon after beginning to study slack key guitar in the Hawaiian village of Hana, Maui, in 1974.
Verse 1
I’m dreaming to the sound of ukuleles
Playing all night long for a wedding of our family.
In paradise, everybody is lover,
And the more you let go the more that comes back to you.
Refrain 1
So, surrender to the beautiful island,
And she’ll give you everything that you need.
Verse 2
Feasting on a sun-ripened papaya,
Playing all day in the waves along the sand,
Breezy afternoon and a sunset on the ocean,
Sailing away on a song of Bali Hai.
Refrain 2
Let me make you feel good; that’s what we’re here for:
For ecstasy, delight and bliss.
Verse 3
It’s so balmy, such a balmy evening,
To melt in love in a tropical paradise.
Let’s swing and sway to the sound of ukuleles
Like the gentle green fronds of the lovely coconut tree.
Refrain 1, again
Surrender to the beautiful island
And she’ll give you everything that you need.
Verse 1, again
I’m dreaming to the sound of ukuleles
Playing all night long for a wedding of our family.
In paradise everybody is a lover,
And the more you let go the more that comes back to you.
Lead vocal and melody guitar: Alicia Bay Laurel Harmony vocal and lead guitar: Takuji
The opening song of my set (and the closing song of Takuji’s set) at the peace concert produced by Kaoriko Ago Wada at Hiroshima Nakaregawa Church on August 8, 2015, during the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thank you, John Lennon, for this anthem to the new paradigm of reunion with nature, loving, sharing, and peace, arising as the old paradigm of dominion over nature, hate, greed and war falls out of favor.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today ahaa haa
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace yoohoo ooh
You may say I’m a dreamer,
but I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
All we are saying
Is give peace a chance
All we are saying
Is give peace a chance
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world yoohoo ooh
After Greg posted a link to his essay and I read it, I thanked him for the attention he gave to Living on the Earth in this paper.
He replied, “Although the Whole Earth Catalog gets all the scholarly attention, Living on the Earth conveys much more about counterculture feeling. One is all head-tripping, the other goes straight to heart and soul.“
I said, “Thank you, Greg. To me, the illustrations convey that blissful feeling of connection – as tribal family and as one with nature and spirit – that most of us did not experience growing up, but acquired in the first 30 seconds of psychedelic voyaging.“
Greg Castillo was the curator of the 2017 exhibition Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia, which included some slightly used copies of Living on the Earth that people could read while lounging in the Relaxation Cube.
Here is the link to buy (for $3) a pdf download of the entire publication, titled “Work,” which is edition #6 of the UC Berkeley Department of Architecture’s publication, Room 1000. Greg’s piece about hippie handbuilt structures begins on page 49 (below).
I wrote this essay at the request of curator Neil Kramer, with whom I co-founded the (now defunct) online Hippie Museum. I still find it posted on various sites around the Internet – evidently it struck a chord with other people who lived in those times.
What Did The Hippies Want?
by Alicia Bay Laurel
November 19, 2001
We wanted intimacy– not a neighborhood where you didn’t know anyone on the block, or you competed, kept up with the Joneses.
A hunter-gatherer or early agricultural community meant that people lived, worked and sought deeper contact with the holy spirit as a group, and they all knew one another, from cradle to grave.
I used to call my hippie friendships “a horizontal extended family,” as opposed to the ancient tribal extended family, which was multi-generational, and therefore, vertical.
We wanted a culture which acknowledged the human body, not just for sex, but to hug each other, to be naked without shame, to revere the body with natural foods, beneficial exercise, herbs, baths, massage, deep understanding. This was not part of the culture from which we came. We wanted a culture that thrived on gift-giving. We hitchhiked, shared our food and drugs, gave away our possessions. People who could afford to buy land invited others who could not to live there.
We opened free stores, free clinics, free kitchens, not just in the Haight, but everywhere we went. We wanted be living proof that God(dess) was taking care of us and therefore there was no need to hoard.
We wanted to live without the constraints of time. We wanted to wake up each day and decide what would be the most fun to do that day-–or just find out as it went along. We wanted to go with the flow, follow our bliss, be here now.
This was in complete opposition to the culture from which we came.
We wanted new ways to value one another, rather than by wealth, status, looks, achievements, machismo, as our culture of origin had taught us, and continues to teach us through the media. We wanted to value one another for being lovable and real.
We valued spiritual depth, which we referred to as “heavy.” We admired one another for being happy. We admired those who offered selfless service or peaceful resolution of conflict. We wanted a spirituality that actually caused you to grow as a person, not one in which people attended religious gatherings for social status. We wanted to be guided by our own Inner Spirits, rather than by priests.
We thirsted for the spiritual awareness and grace we experienced on psychedelics, without psychedelics, or in addition to them. Many hippies would spend their last cent on a weekend workshop that promised to “change your life forever.” That was how so many gurus found followers in those days.
We wanted to live in harmony with the earth, the plants and animals, the indigenous peoples of the earth, with each other, with ourselves. We were the fuel behind the rapid expansion of the environmental movement. We experimented with living arrangements that we thought would harmonize with nature. We sought out indigenous tribal elders as our teachers.
We wanted to make the things we wore and used with our hands, grow our food and medicine, feel all kinds of weather – all the experiences our modern urban lives had excluded in the name of convenience and comfort. We wanted to live on the road, have adventures, build things that hadn’t been built before, and live in them.
We wanted to live our mythic selves, give ourselves names that resonated with our souls, dress in costumes that expressed our dreams, do daring deeds, dance as if no one was looking, decorate our homes with magical things, listen to music that took us out of ordinary reality into altered states of awareness.
We wanted to see life without violence. We wanted media that contained truth. Some of us risked our lives to find out what the government was doing and let the underground press know. We wanted to talk about things in print that we were not allowed to discuss in our culture of origin.
We wanted to live without stupid, arbitrary rules, either for ourselves or for our children. Some of our children, as adults today, say they wish we had been more protective of them, or offered more structure. We only knew what we endured, being as culturally different from our culture of origin as Chinese are from Italians, and punished for it, and wished to spare our children these experiences. However, some portion of kids raised by hippie parents grew up to be hippies themselves. At that point, one can say, a new culture was born and continues.
The entire cast and the audience of the all-day peace concert at Nagaregawa Church, at ground zero in Hiroshima, during the 70th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on August 8, 2015, stood in a circle around the circumference of the church , surrounded by a garland of 1,000 folded cranes (in memory of those that perished in these attacks), singing together “Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” in both Japanese and English.
“Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream” is a visionary peace song written by the late folksinger and peace activist Ed McCurdy in response to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and copyrighted in 1950. I first heard it as a child on Pacifica Radio, the pacifist radio network created by the US peace movement during WWII, and which is still broadcasting from many cities around the United States.
I sang it at Nagaregawa Church, at ground zero in Hiroshima, two days after the 70th memorial of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, on August 8, 2015. I would like as many people as possible, all over the world to sing it, in many languages. I read that it has been recorded in 76 languages, so I can safely assume that world peace is a very much beloved idea. At Hiroshima, I sang it in English and Japanese, so I am offering the words here in both languages.
Here are the lyrics in English:
Last night I had the strangest dream I never dreamed before I dreamed the world had all agreed To put an end to war.
I dreamed I saw a mighty room The room was full of men And the paper they were signing said They’d never fight again.
And when the paper all was signed And a million copies made They all joined hands and bowed their heads And grateful prayers were prayed.
And the people in the streets below Were dancing ‘round and ‘round And swords and guns and uniforms Were scattered on the ground.
Here is a translation of the lyrics into Japanese created by the wonderful singer/songwriter Maiko Kodama in 2013.
Here is a guitar chart in the key of G, the key in which I sing this song.
If you are an English-speaking person, and want to learn Maiko’s Japanese lyrics phonetically, here is how they go:
Kee noh yoh roo kee myo oh nah
Last night I had the strangest dream
Yoo mei woo oh mee tah
I ev – er dreamed be fore
Sei kah ee gah seh nn soh oh
I dreamed the world had all agreed
Woh yah mei roo oo yoo mei
To put an end to war
Oh oh kee nah heh yah deh
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Oo oh zei gah
The room was filled with men
Nee doh toh tah tah kah wah nai
And the paper they were signing said
Toh sah ee nee ee shee tah
They’d never fight again
Nah nn woh koo noh sah ee nn
And when the papers all were signed
Gah koh pee ee ee sah rei
And a million copies made
Tei woh tzu neh gee ah tah mah woh sah geh
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
Ee noh ree sah sah geh tah
And grateful prayers were prayed
Too oh ree noh hee toh bee toh
And the people in the streets below
Wah oh doh ree dah shee
Were dancing round and round
Jyoo toh ken toh goon poo koo
And guns and swords and uniforms
Wah soo tei rah rei tah
Were scattered on the ground
Kee noh yoh roo kee myo oh nah
Last night I had the strangest dream
Yoo mei woo oh mee tah
I ev – er dreamed be fore
Sei kah ee gah seh nn soh oh
I dreamed the world had all agreed
Woh yah mei roo oo yoo mei
To put an end to war
Here is the concert poster for the peace concert at Nagaregawa Church in Hiroshima, a combination of the cover illustration from Living on the Earth, and a graphic layout by Kaoriko Ago Wada, the fashion designer and owner of the Little Eagle organic fiber, fair trade clothing company, who coordinated the event.
May 13, 2011. Today the t-shirt and towel that I illustrated (both designed by Aiko Shiratori of environmentalist non-for-profit arts organization Artist Power Bank in Shibuya, Tokyo) were posted for sale on their Kurkku shop website. Both items are fundraisers for the survivors of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, and will be sold at the annual music festival Artist Power Bank produces each summer to raise money for its projects.
Tokyo fashion designer Aya Noguchi and I had been collaborating for five years when the earthquake-tsunami-nuclear meldown disaster struck on March 11, 2011. We agreed to collaborate on a garment to raise money for the refugees now stranded in emergency shelters, both of us donating all of whatever we gained from this project.
The jersey shirts are half cotton, half lyocell, a wood pulp fabric, also known as tencel. Aya intentionally made a diagonal hem at the bottom, and blended illustrations and text from Being of the Sun with a newer drawing of a bird from a notebook of drawings she commissioned from me in 2009. She added applique daisies to the finished shirts after silk-screening on the art.
Today I meet Liane Wakabayashi, the artist who will host my bookmaking workshop on October 18th. She wanted to meet me and see what I do, and rode up to Fujino on a train from Tokyo. We instantly become good friends. She’s from New York, and tells me she’s one of a half-dozen Jewish women married to Japanese men living in Japan. Maybe we are cousins. Behind us is the entrance to Steiner School’s brand new auditorium.
We head over to Fujino’s Steiner (Waldorf) High School, which meets in a geodesic dome built by the staff and students a few years ago. The high school students commute an hour by train from Tokyo, where the former Steiner High School has closed. I am about to meet the 12th grade English class (7 students) that day. The elementary school students use the building in the background, which is a former public school that closed due to shrinking population in the mountain town. The Steiner staff refurbished it, and the number of students is steadily growing.
One gets the feeling this is no ordinary high school.
Today I am teaching lesson #1, “Instant Books,” from my friend Esther K. Smith’s fabulous book, How To Make Books. An instant book can be folded from almost any size oblong piece of paper, with a slit cut in the middle so it can be refolded to be an eight page book, or a six page book with front and page covers. This is the cover of the instant book I made during the class.
I am not allowed to photograph the students, so I sketch them in my instant book. These seventeen-year-olds were raised on origami (Japanese paper folding) and instantly grasp and master the simple but ingenious design of the book.
The kids brought stacks of magazines, mostly fashion magazines, to cut out and write about the photos, hopefully in English. They relish the task of cutting out photos that appeal to them, and chat happily in Japanese while they are doing this. So, I use a few of the magazine images, to represent the presence of this alternate reality in our classroom. Yay recycling!
I daub on a little watercolor paint to add texture and color to my ink drawings. After we are done with our books, we will unfold them, scan them, and make color copies for each of the students and the staff in our class. Hooray for self-publishing via computer. The power of the press is in the hands of the artists! Later that day, Esther emails me from New York City, to suggest that the scans be posted on the web, as a sort of international publication that people can download, print and fold. She collects instant books.
I copy an idea from one of the projects in Esther’s book, of using photographs of eyes to add emphasis to the idea of reading and observing to the back cover of my book.
Here’s one of the student books I love, a new twist on the fairy tale of the princess and the frog. I get a kick out of the way she used magazine fashion models to depict the characters in her story.
She’s pretty clear about why she wants a man in her life, and who he should be.
But when the proposal arrives (almost immediately!), who brings it? A little bug-eyed green guy from another planet! But our heroine is not daunted.
For her positivity and willingness to look past mere appearances, she is rewarded with a commitment from the man of her dreams.
So, they live happily ever after.
Here is Liane’s book. She is welcoming me to Japan and suggesting I wear comfy shoes. I agree; one does walk a lot here, taking trains instead of driving.
Here is a book of legs and shoes, with lots of excellent English words in it. The students were still working on their books at the end of our allotted two-hour period, exclaiming loudly that they did not want to stop creating their books to do other schoolwork. I therefore consider the workshop a success. Happily, their regular teachers agreed.
After the class, Liane and I enjoy a beautiful lunch prepared by Jun on the verandah of Setsuko and Jun’s house with Setsuko and Yuko Urakami, the teacher of the 12th grade English class who kindly organized my visit to the school. I want to connect Yuko with the staff of the Haleakala Waldorf School on Maui, where I taught music and creative writing, part time, for a school year in the 1980s. The students in the two schools could become pen pals on the web, and maybe even visit one another. Those purple fruits are giant figs from a tree next to Setsuko and Jun’s house.
Yuko made a book, too, called “I believe in…” She believes in the power of flowers, in hand crafts, in “a bit of luxury” and good food. Amen.
I first met Art Kunkin at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in 1965, back when it was still a fundraiser for KPFK, my family’s radio station of preference. I was 16. The following summer he offered me my first job, doing graphic layout at the Freep. To my mind, this was the hotbed of hipdom in Los Angeles. I thrived.
Later that year, I wrote a note to my friends on the staff about some place I was traveling, and, unbeknownst to me, they published it in the Letters to the Editor. My first publication! Joan Didion saw my letter and published it in the Saturday Evening Post in her Points West column about the underground press [titled “Alicia and the Underground Press”]. The Freep actually launched my career as a teenaged author. Blessings upon you, Art!
It was only a couple of years later that Alicia wrote, illustrated and designed the boho sustainable living guide Living on the Earth, the first paperback book ever on the New York Times Bestseller List.
Alicia Bay Laurel currently tours as a singer/songwriter with three CDs released (psych folk, Hawaiian slack key, and jazz/blues). You can find her books and CDs, her events schedule, and her popular blog, at https://aliciabaylaurel.com.
Page 57 of Living on the Earth, with the Diggers’ recipe for mass quantities of bread baked in coffee cans to serve
for free at their 2 PM soup kitchen in the panhandle
of Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, in 1967.
I was living in San Francisco the year before (1966), and, in my 17 year old eyes, it was all magic, artists and musicians, color and innovation.
I was visiting family in Ann Arbor, Michigan when the media created the Summer of Love. In March 1967, two articles about the hip scene in the Haight Ashbury appeared, one in Time Magazine and one in Esquire. Before that date, none of the freaks I met in Ann Arbor had heard of the Haight; after that date, all of the freaks I met were planning to go. Multiply that times everywhere freaks were.
When I came back after a winter of wandering, the Haight was crowded and sodden with hard drug users and dealers, winos, panhandlers, young runaways, and various religious orders trying to recruit converts. So, I settled in the houseboat haven at Gate 5, Sausalito, which, in 1967, was all magic, artists and musicians, color and innovation. Soon I began working out of my own art studio there.
I met Peter Coyote in the Haight Ashbury Free Store one day and learned about what the Diggers were doing that summer. Now THAT was magical: The response of the resident artists and musicians to the wave of human misery that was the Summer of Love breaking over the Haight Ashbury. They fed people at 2 PM, daily, they opened “free stores” that gave away donated clothing and furnishings, they started a free clinic that still operates. It was compassion in action. May the Diggers be forever celebrated in the history of Bay Area counterculture.
Alicia Bay Laurel 
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