I reverted.

I was a '68 hippie, and a '69 draftee. I reverted.

After my stint in the U.S. Air Force, I went back to protest lines; I went back to school. I wonder where all of the people went, but I hope they did well for all of us.

When I was enrolled in Education 302 at Southern Illinois University (SIU), I was assigned, as a requirement of the class, to observe a class being taught in Murphysboro High School near SIU. I was to observe and report on an Automobile Repair Shop class for an hour, one day/week for one semester. After one week there, I was approached by a coordinator who told me I had to be clean shaven and cut off my "long" hair to be in the high school. I paid zero attention to the "suggestion" because I had no focus on that kind of control. 

The next week, I was called (extracted) from the class to the principal's office, where I was told that I disobeyed his order. This guy, looking like a jarhead Marine with his "buzz cut" told me I was not welcome as a "guest" in "HIS" school, and I was ordered to leave and never return. This was in 1974; after I was discharged from the US Air Force; a year in which the students, teachers, and other employees of the school district could NOT be ordered to dress or groom in a fashion that the administration would approve. Student teachers or observers could. (I'm a guest? Do you have guests to your home bring their own food and clean the utensils?)

I was told that I was "the only one" who resisted this order, and that I jeopardized the program (Education) for all who resisted! Doctor Billy G. Dixon told me that, without Ed. 302, I would NEVER complete my teaching degree - I was the only problem. Doctor Michael Jackson, my Ed. 302 professor, reported (at my request) that my classroom performance was a grade of "A." My English Professor was quite involved with civil rights, and immediately took up my case. The bolt I needed appeared in the form of Larry, who lived less than a block away and was also banished from Murphysboro High School (and Ed. 302) for excessive hair, then but not excessive attitude. Larry and I shared our stories, and because he was treated differently and assigned to Carbondale High School, I included him in my assault.

My case was eventually settled by my being assigned to Cahokia High School as a Student Teacher, and being allowed to "make up" my Ed. 302 "deficiency" by my teaching for a month. What a bunch of shit - Cahokia was 90 miles away, and I had to split with Kat and get an apartment in Granite City. I made a great friend in the process, though. 

Weird shit that works. I am willing to help any person in any similar situation against arbitrary power.