Street Cred

One thing about a liberal arts school in a forest in California is that there are a number of die hard liberals and environmentalists. To an extent it's cool because activism and passion are important. On the other hand, there is a level of hypocrisy and judgement present in any exchange with neohippies. Apparently if I loved the world I would not be running the water until it gets hot and certainly not eating chicken soup. However, I can absolutely hold my own in a discussion of green building, sustainability, permaculture, alternative energy sources or the global environment. I think that the neohippies kind of respect me because I have solar panels in my backyard at home and an electric car and was raised in a commune. I only know one other girl who was raised in one, and she has even more street cred than me because hers was rural and also didn't form during her junior year of highschool.

I have conflicting feelings about the hippie subculture at UCSC. I love the support and power and feeling of optimism. However, the way no one wants to cite things or analyze or find things out from reputable sources is a huge turnoff. Also some of them are kiund of judgy and mean. I think discovery channel said that vegans who don't take B12 supplements can get like that. (If you were a hippie you'd file that little nonfact away as truth and use it later to win an argument.)