PRAISE HIPPIES

Hey, Dan: Here's the letter that you probably knew I'd send after your
comment, "...higher than all the dirty hippies at Hempfest rolled into
a big, dirty ball" [On Screen, Dec 16].

I'm not a hippie, and it would take a blind man with bad case of pink
eye to think that Hempfest was mostly populated by hippies. You'll
find more hippies at Folklife or Bumbershoot. So why the tiresome jabs
at Hempfest? The mean-spirited comments about Hempfest and hippies by
you and others at The Stranger mislead readers to believe that only
dirtbags go to the event and that ordinary pot smokers should stay
away, when the opposite is true.

But really, the issue isn't with Hempfest. The issue is that you're
using the word "hippie" as an insult. The word can be positive or
negative depending on how it is used. If you had instead written, "the
dirty Indians at Salmon Days" or, "the dirty blacks at the Bite of
Seattle," you'd expect a public indictment for the offense.

Even though the hippie lifestyle may not be the cultural affect that
you and I choose to embrace, people should be entitled to be hippies
without unfair ridicule. Without hippies the world would still be far
more backward, more Victorian, and more, in a word, fucked. So praise
the Lord for hippies, even if their social groove doesn't jive with
your and my lifestyle as clean, stylish, and sharp-tongued faggots.

Dominic Holden

Director, Seattle Hempfest