Woodstock memories: Saturday 15 August 09

...like I said, I wasn't there, would like to have gone, yet the fact remains, I didn't get there, but, I did see the traffic jams that it generated south of it. And the rain...

I saw more pictures of the crowd on the news last night; pictures on the news showing the field, today, green, and beautiful.....

So, "Woodstock" has become a cultural item--something of great significance--an icon--one of those things that everybody seems to know about--a major event in the history of our country. Efforts to re-create the spirit of the concert never quite succeeded--in that way, Woodstock was unique--nothing else even compared.

There's been a lot of talk about the fact that the crowds were largely peaceful, that there was almost no violence, despite shortages of water, food, shelter.

As a social scientist, I analyze such images as the scenes from Woodstock, and sometimes I see some interesting things that are beyond the "obvious". I'm going to look at the new documentary soon, at least I believe it's an update, improvement, of the original movie made from the time of the concert. It should be interesting to find out what I see, or think I see....

Lila