California-rooted author and new journalism maven Joan Didion, who died Dec. 23, 2021, delivered a commencement address at UC Riverside in 1975. In subsequent decades, excerpts have frequently been quoted in major media, including in a New York Times review of her book “The Year of Magical Thinking” and again in a Times story on the day of her passing.
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Marijuana was a symbol. Long hair was of course a symbol, and so was short hair. Natural foods were a symbol – rice, seaweed, raw milk, the whole litany. I found myself in situations during the late ‘60s where my refusal to give my baby unpasteurized milk was construed as evidence that I must be “on the other side.” Probably an undercover. In fact, it meant nothing except that I had grown up around farms and I had known children who got tuberculosis and brucellosis from drinking raw milk.
Thank you for posting, that was a fascinating read and very relevant to the world today. This part is happening right now: