I met Abbie one time in 1988 in
Chicago at the
68+20 Conference at the
Chicago Ampetheater, the site of the '68 DNC. Abbie was there to speak along with others from the
Chicago 7(8) including
Dave Dillenger and if I remember correctly
Bobby Seal.
Abbie had been my greatest hero up until that point, having read
Revolution For The Hell Of It and all his other books, he had inspired me to begin smoking
pot, get involved with
No Business As Usual (a group protesting nuclear issues and
US Imperialism, and listen to the
Beatles and
MC5.
When we met I asked Abbie to stop by a round-table I was involved with called Youth Revolution Today, that was happening at the conference. He said "no" and didn't smile... He said he had a plane to catch. I was crushed... I asked him to sign my original edition of
Steal This Book, which he did, but when I tried to get him involved in a conversation about the
Youth Movement of the 80's and how to battle the
Regan/
Bush right-wing he simply skipped answering and moved on to the next person...
He had a broken leg at the time and even during his hilarious speech to the convention he seemed a little down.
Like I said I was crushed by his refusal to address our group or participate in our round table. Oh well I thought, I guess he's just a busy man.
I was at a
Rainbow Gathering two years latter on the
4th of July, tripping on
LSD and meditating, when I heard he had committed suicide. I was blown away, and thought it couldn't be true! That it had to have been some kind of government assassination. Latter on that night as I came down I thought back to meeting him and how sad he seemed...
I thought yeah, maybe this guy was manic depressive enough to kill himself.
Now nearly 13 years latter I think back on it all and I wonder what Abbie would think of the current state of affairs in the US with
Bush the younger... or what he might have thought about
Bill Clinton... I bet he would have gotten a laugh out of the whole
I never inhaled deal and the
Monika Lewinski hummer.
To Abbie Hoffman up in heaven somewhere:
Man I hope you're having fun these days chilling with
John Lennon and all your other dead and gone friends. Say hi to Jerry for me. Man we miss you and your zany
Yippie! spirit down here.
ciao,
NL4e