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Chapter 5 Summary
The Promised Land (1967–1970)
The couple embark upon a series of adventures in Northern California while seeking a commune to call home. Although each commune eventually fails, they learn much about themselves in the process and gain insights into human nature, group dynamics, and economic realities.
Sodja recounts several humorous anecdotes that could only have occurred in the ’60s, including almost getting arrested and befriending antiwar, pot-smoking GIs. In 1969, when Berkeley is under marshal law and occupied by the National Guard, the author joins street protesters and witnesses police brutality and tear-gassing by military helicopters. Taking part in antiwar protests for the first time as participant rather than organizer, he sees the fruition of the antiwar movement. Protests are now too massive to be ignored by the US government.
Both the reliance on LSD to resolve marital conflicts and the growing stress of living on the edge contribute to the breakup of the author’s marriage. Unable to locate a self-sufficient commune, he runs out of money and must find a job to survive. Though the author is no longer a political activist, he is informed of continuing FBI inquiries into his activities and interception of his mail, which is later confirmed in his personal FBI files. The chapter ends with the author balancing the positive accounts of drug experimentation with the more sobering experiences of acquaintances who became casualties of excessive drug use.
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How Many Roads? Copyright © by Howard Sodja 2002