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Hippie Without a Flower
Free your body
Free your mind
Free your soul
Feeel yourself
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James walked down the hall at school and stopped at his locker. As he fiddled with the knob to get it open, Jacob walked up.
“Hey. What ya doin’ after school today?” Jacob wondered.
“Not sure. Was thinkin’ of goin’ to the game but I dunno. Why?” James replied, hoping that Jacob would have something more interesting in mind.
“Well. Actually, me and John and some guys were gonna go down and hang out by 23rd if you wanna come,” Jacob answered. “We could hang out down there and find somethin’ fun. Call me later.”
James watched Jacob walk away into a crowd of people, closed his locker, and started home. He had had such a busy week at school and was excited that the weekend had finally arrived, especially now that he had a plan for the day. After his shower and lunch, he called Jacob and decided to meet at the liquor store on 23rd street.
When James arrived, Jacob, John and two others he had seen around were already standing around talking. As he joined the circle, he heard his friends discussing a plan they had made and wondering what they had thought of to do, inquire, “So. What’s happenin? Did you think of something to do?”
He listened, surprised that his friends would have such an idea and at first reluctant as they told him that they were going to add their own marks to the school wall, which had recently been covered in graffiti. Although at first resistant to the idea, the urge to join them slowly grew on him as they glamorized their idea with thoughts about “being cool” and “being the heroes of the popular guys that also graffiti.” He finally agreed and they went out to buy what they would need and kill some time until it was dark.
As they hopped the fence into the school wall, James’ mind was filled with mixed emotions and thoughts. He debated about what he was doing, knowing it was wrong and wanting to turn back, yet not wanting to be a coward in his friend’s eyes. He thought of the consequences if they were caught, as well as the harm that they were doing. Yet, at the same time, he felt a nervous rush. It was the same feeling he used to get in preschool when he and his brother would sneak cookies from the jar in the kitchen, hoping their mom wouldn’t see them. The same rush he got in school when just trying to get a “little help” on a test without the teacher noticing but at a bigger scale. It was that anxiety that made you sweat and grit your teeth but at the same time had you high and full and energy.
They jumped down the inside of the fence and made their way to a wall of the school where they started to write words and draw pictures of their choice. It was a kind of fun regression to childhood, drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, thinking of new random things to write, while joking about them and laughing. It was lively, playful time, jumping around and analyzing each others pictures, the anxious energy keeping them going the whole time. Yet slowly, the energy slowed down as they not only got a little bored with doing the same thing for too long, but also almost forgot that they weren’t innocent children at play and lost the fear of getting caught. Suddenly, they heard a shout from behind the English building, “Get over here! Stop right there!” and they all grabbed their things and started to run. James clutched the blue bottle he was holding and ran as fest as he could. Their energy was back as they flew over the fence and hid down a dark alley. They had heard the man’s footsteps trailing behind them for a while, but now they had died down and they thought they were safe. As they sat panting in the alley, James’ unsure thoughts started popping into his head again but the excitement from the run and from not getting caught soon took over and he found himself blurting out, “Wow. That was close. But hey, we did it. Next time, we should bring bikes.”
The next day at school, James passed the wall where he and his friends had left their mark, and heard several people talking about it. Some were laughing at the jokes, some were saying “how incredibly rude that was,” but most importantly, he heard the popular guys talking and trying to figure out who had added to their artwork. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem as happy with it as they had been supposed to and were rather mad, which disheartened James a little. “On the other hand,” he thought, “at least they acknowledged us and if they’re going to be mean about it, so will we next time.”
James sprayed his last line onto the brick wall, dropped the empty can of sky blue spray paint, and started to run, just as the cop car rounded the corner. He saw its bright flashing lights and heard the shrill siren chasing after him as he ran down the block. As he noticed the car getting closer and his feet getting weaker, James knew that he couldn’t get much further and ducked into a small doorway, behind a trash can, where he hoped the cops wouldn’t see him. James clutched the wall and peered around the corner to see the car zoom up and screech to a halt just a few feet from where he was. He gritted his teeth, hoping that they wouldn’t seen him but with no luck. A uniformed officer stepped out of the passenger’s side of the car, aiming a gun straight at James and yelling for him to put his hands up. He stepped over to where the young boy was standing, clamped the cold metal cuffs around his hands, and led him to the car, shoving him into the back when they got there.
Captain Bluntschli, a rich, Swiss soldier, demonstrates one going towards socialism, not worrying so much about social classes anymore. He doesn’t boast about his good fortune and uses his intellect and understanding to get ahead instead. Although Bluntschli may be the richest person in the play, he doesn’t reveal this until the very end. Before this, Bluntschli actually tries to keep his wealth hidden, replying to Raina when she asks about his hotels, “Hotels nonsense. If you only knew! Oh, it’s too ridiculous!” The other rich characters, the Petkoffs and Sergius, all often make their wealth known. They brag about being the richest people in Russia, as well as showing off with their clothes and home. Bluntschli is the only one that keeps this hidden and doesn’t try to use it to excel. In fact, before his secret is revealed, Shaw displays him as a helpless man, up to Raina’s mercy in her bedroom, implying that he is also not well off. In order to move ahead in life, Bluntschli rather uses his mental attributes than the material ones he owns. He is obviously intelligent in dealing with the army as he can immediately able to solve Petkoff and Sergius’ problem and his offering to “shew you how to manage that” shows his kindness, willing to help even those that almost killed him. He also shows his understanding of people and true love with Raina. He is able to see under her fakeness, something which
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Malibu
City Coucil
-The elections are nonpartisan.
-The elections are done at large.
-There are five members on the city council.
-Each member is elected for 4 years.
-A council member is allowed to spend 2 terms (8 years) in office.
-Elections are held in even years, the last one being in 2002.
-The elections are based on plurality with the top 3 vote-getters winning. ??????
Mayor/City Manager
-There is a mayor and a city manager.
-The mayor is elected for one year. There is no real limit on the terms he/she may serve but they are supposed to be changed yearly. The election is nonpartisan and based on majority, with the top vote getter becoming mayor first.
-Whether the mayor is weak or strong depends on the mayor and his/her incentive to do things. He/she can be removed by a vote of the council, naturally after one year, or if they die.
-The city manager can be removed by a vote of the council.
-The mayor is rotated annually between council members. The first mayor is the person who got the most votes in the elections, the second is who got the second most votes and so on.
-The city manager is selected by the council.
-The city manager runs the staff. She selects the department heads, who in turn select the people.
Structure
