University of Virginia Library

College Field Trip

It seemed to be the summer of the college field
trip. Day after day the influx increased. By the final
weeks of August, it was difficult to distinguish
Haight-Ashbury, the Mecca of Hippiedom, from any
college campus across the nation.

But aside from the new population and the new
faces, life went on in Haight-Ashbury this summer
much like it did last winter and fall. It is not difficult
to assess the hippie life, although most magazines
seem to have trouble. It is a life of excitement
and boredom, of uniqueness and routine, of pleasure
and discomfort, of invention and conformity.

The hippie is not so unlike your roommate, nor
is the Haight so unlike the college campus it appeared
to be.