Life for a middle-class kid in the suburbs of the SF Bay Area was pretty good, with wonderful memories.  I never bought into the hippie thing.  I thought it was simply an excuse to defy authority and, quite frankly, get laid without strings attached -- free love and the like.  I still think so. But like the hippies, I didn't want to go to Viet Nam.  I was having too much fun and didn't want to get killed.  (In truth, the having fun part was the real motivator, because dying wasn't a real clear concept to me then.  It is now.)  Full-time students were exempt from the draft, but the day of reckoning -- graduation day -- hung over our heads.  Some remained exempt by attending grad school.  Some went to Canada.  I joined the reserves and stayed out of Viet Nam.  Admittedly, what annoyed me most was the National Guard's requirement to keep my hair cut short.  The close crop just wasn't stylish, and, well, you know -- I liked...(Read Full Article)