1965/1966/1967
Editor’s Note: What follows is nearly a book-length memoir (145k words) of these three years, written by Michael Folz, who draws on his prodigious memory to deliver “cinematic detail” and period-accurate dialogue about that time. Below is a scrollable version, all in one webpage.
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Hi Michael and thanks, for you and your impeccable skill as both observer and participant.
I’m very impressed, Michael. I didn’t know you then, and I’m not sure we’d have been on the same planet if we had met, but your book here on 1965,66,and 67 spoke to me. Your recall is just incredible. You remember names (I looked up many of your Yalie references in my Old Campus from 1965), dates, places, dialogue, events, emotions, insecurities, etc. You present them in such a way that I really was re-immersed in that three year period. What a trip! I rediscovered certain essentials of being a Yalie, at least one of the class of 1969 vintage, in most of your chapters. You brought back the whole experience of hitch hiking. You adroitly tied the period together with references to the cultural introducion of the popular songs of the time, the appearance of “yogurt” on the scene, the jargon that emerged. etc…..I even recognized many of the locations, especially New York City, from my own experience.
My heartfelt congratulations on your achievement here, and my thanks for sharing it with me (us).
Herb Stiles
Mike, while we were never good friends, you made my years at Yale much more interesting and lively. Your story reminds me a bit of a line in Alan Watts’ autobiography (In My Own Way), which reads: This will not be so much the history as the mystery of my life, [written] to entertain both of us.
Back when we were freshmen, most of us (myself included) didn’t ask self-challenging questions (“What is it I’m doing here at Yale?” or “Why am I here?”) because we were following the path expected of us. You asked these hard questions, stepped outside the usual comfort zones of Yale life, and searched for an authentic life outside the traditional college world. Despite some rough edges, I always sense that you had a genuine desire to open others up to experiences and states of consciousness beyond the ordinary.
I remember that night in October 1967 on the Long Island Sound beach. It was an intense glimpse into the mystery of awareness-knowing-being, and an experience of being swept along the universal wavefunction. So thanks for that chemical adventure.
Think of the best writer you ever encountered when in a class or in a dorm at Yale. Think of the best storytelling that you have heard since leaving Yale: prose that was so compelling and precise that it drew you in to the story from the first paragraph.
Can you remember what the transition over a weekend was like as you left your young life behind and came to the Old Campus as a new student for the first time?
Our classmate Michael Folz has written a piece that he posted at https://yale1969.org/1965-1966-1967/comment-page-1/#comment-394
that starts with that weekend transition. I started reading it last night. It is a remarkable piece of writing. It is not just about what was happening to Michael, inside his private life, but he describes the way this important period was carried in new directions by the music we were all listening to at the time.
Michael, this is very well done. And I can’t believe that it has been posted for nearly a year without my seeing it. I learned of it because of Victor Krynicki’s comment about the piece on March 6.
So, Yalie, go to the link and read some of this. You will thank me for it, and more importantly, thank Michael for sharing this excellent work with us.