Homecoming Princess | 1968, June
Leslie had one of those big tooth smiles that makes you want to find a van and coax her in and drive her to the end of the earth and stay there with her.
She was attracted to smart, badboy types, maybe because her father had some badboy (alcoholic, divorced mom and remarried), maybe because living in the suburbs was like breathing in a plastic bag, maybe because being middle class in 1965 meant having to deal with the Vietnam War, how wrong it was, and how she and every other middle class kid was culpable. She had an older brother who’d already served time in the brig; he wouldn’t fight.
Leslie’s mom said that when she was little she had a good sense of humor and was “feisty.” Besides her older brother, she had two younger siblings, adopted Korean war orphans. The family went to church, went camping and hiking (they lived right near Eaton Canyon Park), and sometimes drove to the beach. Dad was an auctioneer and mom taught at the church school, even though she preferred just being a mom. Leslie put up with high school—Monrovia High, ten miles from where she was born—a smart kid who did just enough schoolwork to keep a low profile. She was more into doing than studying: Campfire Girls, Future Teachers, Church Choir, Band (Tuba), Job’s Daughters, student government and homecoming princess, twice.
Leslie: “I liked winning, and I always won.”
She was 14 when her parents divorced; she survived but missed her dad and got a boyfriend who’d been expelled from from high school. Beatlemania was getting old, and drugs were around, LSD and pot, so she got into that—and school got even lamer. She lost interest in books and needlework, got pregnant and had an abortion, which was not an uplifting experience, and moved in with her father after graduation. She started thinking maybe she should be a nun—a Catholic one. Then she and her boyfriend Bobby got involved in the Self-Realization Fellowship, which taught enlightenment through mediation, yoga, and celibacy. The SRF needed a secretary so she went to secretary school and learned to take 160 words a minute shorthand and type 60 words a minute.
Bobby: “A beautiful human being, great self-image, socially active. She was aggressive. She knew what she wanted, and she got it.”
06/03 Andy Warhol is shot in his studio in NYC. He survives. 04 Four hundred graduating students walk out on Commencement Day ceremonies at Columbia University. Over one thousand police officers are present; many are disguised in graduation robes. Seven million students will protest on U.S. campuses in 1968. 05 Robert Kennedy, riding two presidential primary victories, is shot in San Francisco. He dies the next day. 08 James Earl Ray, the suspected gunman in the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., is arrested. 12 Theatrical release of Rosemary’s Baby, directed by Roman Polanski. 13 LP release of Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison. 14 In relation to draft protests, Dr. Benjamin Spock and four others are convicted on conspiracy charges. 16 Parisian police reclaim the Sorbonne University. In May, a student strike led to a general strike of ten million. 18 Theatrical release of Monterey Pop, which documents the 1967 Pop Festival (90,000 attendees). 19 The Libre Community of artists is founded on 360 acres in Colorado. 21 In Booneville, California, Susan “Sadie” Atkins is one of five arrested in a narcotics raid. Ten days later, she’s released, re-arrested, and re-jailed. 24 Authorities dismantle “Resurrection City,” a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People’s March on Washington. 24 Montreal’s St. Jean Baptiste parade erupts in violence. 29 “Tip-Toe Thru’ The Tulips” by Tiny Tim peaks at #17 on the U.S. charts.
07.01 Publication of the 32-page statement, “Toward a Female Liberation Movement” by Beverly Jones and Judith Brown. The text begins with a “shattered” layout of text snippets. One ex.: “Turn on the electricity and see her glow. It’s American Woman, 1968. She’s better than a robot: she’s self-programming.” 01 The Boys Town Choir appears as a part of the “National In the Rockies” convention. An album of a Tokyo performance is in the works, and the album Christmas with the Everly Brothers and the Boys Town Choir is scheduled for rerelease. The Boys Town of this period will be plagued by accusations of abuse and pedophilia. Manson describes routine rapes in state care; in 1952 he was charged with having sodomized another boy. 07 The Realist publishes the essay “The Yippies are Going to Chicago” by Abbie Hoffman. 11 LP release of Waiting for the Sun by The Doors. 15 For three consecutive nights, club-swinging police march through the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco. Since the Summer of Love, 1967, the neighborhood has festered. 17 Following a coup d’etat, Saddam Hussein becomes Vice Chairman of Iraq’s Revolutionary Council. 17 In Chicago, Operation Breadbasket boycotts A&P stores. 18 LP release of Anthem of the Sun, by the Grateful Dead. 23 Five-day race riot in Cleveland, Ohio. 24 At the Newport Folk Festival, Arlo Guthrie first performs “Alice’s Restaurant.” 25 The birth control pill is condemned by the Pope. 27 Three-day race riot in Gary, Indiana. 28 In response to police brutality, the American Indian Movement (AIM) is born. 30 Virginia Slims market tests the advertising campaign “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby.”