I always kind of cringe whenever Facebook notifies me that my brother has commented on one of my posts. I wouldn’t say we have a “bad” relationship, but it’s always been abundantly clear that he’s the older brother! The “alpha male,” aka “Mr. Type A.” And I’ve always been the “little sister.” The lesser. The Omega. But since I’ll never, ever acknowledge that I’m actually “lesser” than him (perish THAT thought), there has always been a bit of “rivalry” between the two of us! From my toddler days of wresting with him on the living room floor to our teenage years when I’d have to tag along on some of his dates with his girlfriend (hey I got to see free movies out of the deal) to our adult years when we have social media in which we can occasionally bicker? We love each other, for sure – but we’re still brother and sister!

In this case, I posted a picture of someone dressed as Santa posed by an electric car, and one of my Facebook friends commented, “It’s good to see he cares about the environment.”

My brother just HAD to put in his two cents!

Just a reminder, nearly 2/3 of electricity generated in Michigan last year came from coal and natural gas…

And I  put in my two cents:

We’re trying! Big solar farms are also popping up in our area. One is just steps from our house. Also, what would that breakdown have been 20 years ago?

And his retort:

Here’s 9 years ago, from wikipedia… Michigan’s energy mix in 2009 was 66% coal, 22% nuclear, 8% natural gas and 3% renewables.

And then I attempted to appeal to his emotions (which is my typical M.O.)

OK! Now listen to Tesla Girls by OMD! Maybe Mom should have protested a little harder at those anti-nuke rallies. Hey didn’t you go to a nuke rally with her? I had to stay with cousin Mickey that day.

Yes, my brother did indeed attend an anti-nuke rally with my mom in the late 1970s. I believe it was at one of the Fermi plants in Monroe, MI.  In a weird twist of irony, my mother’s reasoning for not bringing me along (I think I was 7 or so) was that there would be too much profanity at the rally. Specifically chantings of “Hell no, we won’t glow!”

Me and my mom at Cedar Point in 1976. She was BORN to be a hippie as this is what her hair does naturally! I would have to use a flat iron to come even close to this. And she still wears her hair like this now – and still doesn’t have any gray hairs (so jealous)!

Enter the irony. I was to stay with my older female cousin Mickey that day – and she wound up teaching me to swear! I would later hone those skills while on a junior high bowling league (true story)! She also took me to a gas station and bought me a bag of Munchos and a bottle of Coke. She also played some of her novelty records for me and showed me her human-sized Barbie head that could be used to apply makeup and style the hair. She had to have been about 16-17 on the day she “looked after” me.

Angelo’s Coney Island, formerly located on Davison Road in Flint, MI. Now it’s the headquarters.

You Might Be The Child of a Hippie If…

Me with my in-laws at the Wheatland Music Festival in Remus, MI (2009). My husband is also the child of a hippie (his mother legally changed her name from Rhonda to Willow in the late 1990s). She’s on the right.

• You have had more than one article of tie-dyed clothing in your life.
• You have ever tie-dyed clothing yourself.
• You still wear tie-dyed clothing.
• You  have ever regularly attended a folk music festival.
• You have ever participated in vegetarianism.
• You get all excited when certain “Freedom Rock” songs come on the radio (including but not limited to Woodstock by Crosby Stills and Nash and Ohio by Crosby, Stills Nash and Young, For What it’s  Worth by Buffalo Springfield  or Peace Train by Cat Stevens- among others.
• You secretly wish the world could be more like the world described in Cat Stevens’ Peace Train. “I’ve been crying lately…thinking about the world as it is…Why must we go on hating? Why can’t we live in bliss?” Indeed…why can’t we? 😦
• You have ever referred to your planet as “Mother Earth.”
• You have ever participated in a turtle rescue.
• Your mother packed your sandwiches for your school lunch in wax paper bags instead of plastic because paper was “biodegradeable.”
• You learned about the concept of recycling as far back as the 1970s.
• You and your brother would fight over who got to sit in the “big beanbag” at the food co-op board meetings your mom attended once a month
• You have ever eaten a homemade carob chip cookie
• You have ever eaten peanut butter bought in bulk at a food co-op (and have eaten enough of it to know it’s completely disgusting, LOL).
• You can recite the plot of Alice’s Restaurant without resorting to looking it up on wikipedia
• You have ever intentionally listened to Alice’s Restaurant in its entirety
• You get excited for the opportunity to take junk from your house to a community recycling event (added this line item April 23, 2022).

On that note, why don’t you all listen to Alice’s Restaurant on Thanksgiving? And listen to your favorite “hippie” songs on Earth Day!