Motley Blog

Two things made my name right from the start as a red-shirt freshman at the 1200 student liberal arts residential campus of Hampshire College. First was getting Hepatitis, contracted on a Mexico Trip, within about a week of starting. I'd had sex the first night at school, and boy, I'll tell you, she wasn't happy - and rightly so.

Second thing was a bit of artistic writing, a fake suicide note (which I thankfully photocopied) posted on my dorm room door prior to leaving for the weekend. The Dean of Students was pretty steamed, was on probation for the year, though technically I'm not sure he had cause. No big deal, or so I thought.

As I recall it was the Brandeis place on the Cape - though I'd best check on that before dropping Supreme names. John Mitchell might recall better than I.

Two more great stories from that year, one more I'll tell here. See also this one.

Through my involvement with Hampshire College's pioneering divestiture policy I was able to attend several of the very early meetings of the trade organization, the SRI Forum. Below is a letter to John Watts, a Texas born investment banker/lawyer and a Hampshire Board member. It concerns the board's selection of an investment adviser, post their divestment decision. This letter introduces my John Watts story, below.

I don't know Mr. Watts 'business' profile, but another Hampshire Board member, Gerald Levin, ended up running Time Warner for a time. Purely speculation, but presumably this guy had a hand in it. He's perhaps best know on campus for giving a graduation speech shortly after the Reagan era fall of the Berlin wall. Quote "The wicked witch of the east, socialism, is now dead". No mention of who the wicked witch of the west was, or is, but I'd suspect he had something in mind.

I'd been warned about Mr. Watts, presumably because of actions regarding some of the first generation divestiture activists. I only recall one conversation with him. It was about a mountain area in Northern Mexico that we had both visited. (Creel, Chihuahua - a base of Pancho Villa's).

But my big mistake was suggesting Dan Evans, former president of Evergreen, to replace the outgoing College President. Mr. Evans was a Senate Colleague of Brock Adams, a parent and also a Board Member. Speculating here, but I'd guess that Evans' quick departure from the Senate was Brock's doing (in hindsight, rightly) and Evans in Adams' career ending scandal (in my opinion likely wrongly).

I've got a theory about some of this, with some additional evidence - more current. Not sure if it all would hold up, but it is something that could be investigated.

In the spring of 1984 I drafted a proposal for 'alternative' business education at my school, Hampshire College. This followed up on my earlier work in the field of Socially Responsible Investing - something documented in the Hampshire College archives.

Though some of the radical folks hated me I did establish good relationships with a few board members - I have a great story about hanging out with the IBM R&D V.P. and also met Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams. But my best working relationship was with a gentleman by the name of Yerger Johnstone, a Vietnam era colonel and managing director of Venture Capital for Morgan Stanley. (He married a woman of more left leaning persuasions, assumably for love.)

The below letter is from another Board Member, the respected NY Nuclear Activist Cora Weiss, concerning a forward of that proposal from Yerger.

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Unfortunately this is an idea I didn't follow up on - lost over the summer, and the following year. Ms. Weiss's points are accurate - including competition from the Yale School of Management not too far South. Her points about individuals managing their own work do highlite an important distinction about just what actually constitutes 'business'.

Her definition of business as exploitation is unfortunately too close to the truth. My belief though is that business in a democracy is not based on corporate units but rather individuals making decisions on how to best apply their time to their own 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness'.

I tried to post a claim on Wikipedia for inventing the Rave. It survived an initial challenge but would later be pulled down. The producing group operated under the name 'Deviant DoubleSpeak', aka the Doctors of Dental Science, DDS. Several events were attempted, only one was funded, 'SpringFire, a Bachnalian Firefest'. The general idea was 'participatory entertainment' with volunteer 'actors' mingling with the crowd with a very loose impromptu oriented 'script'.

Raves are implicitly associated with the drug Ectasy. This event didn't have that connection, however it was within a year or two of when it first started showing up on that Campus, likely one of the first. I think the claim to being the first Rave has some relevance as part of a tradition of partying that includes the Grateful Dead and Warhol type loft events. I actually have never tried that particular drug, a minor regret.

The best evidence of this connection likely comes from an even more memorable event a year later closely following the themes of this one, organized by a participant.

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FWIW, I don't think this was the proposal that was funded. I do believe this group did an event themselves, a bit more arts oriented, in the same theme. Very well done.

BTW, Phil and I would probably make a pretty good director/producer team, should anyone have the backing.

Below is the AP story about a tragic incident at my Alma Mater, Hampshire College, a protest suicide on closed circuit campus TV. I had never met Mr. Hermann, but the rest of the cast and crew were all friends, a de facto artist collaborative, if you will. The group is best known for the roots grunge band 'Supreme Dicks'. I was the 'manager' of said group - as much for fun as anything, but I did do one good event for the group (co-organized with Phil Jackson, the show's production manager). NYC marketeer John Mitchell would later make a similar effort, even booking them on a short European tour.

Though the tape of the incident was sought after by the 'Faces of Death' folks it was confiscated, under threat, by the Campus Administration. I don't know if my experience at Hampshire was listed in Mr. Hermann's speech, but it was certainly part of the general problem.

FWIW I'd guess the tape does still exist somewhere.

Here's the poster for the memorial for Andrew, modeled after that same event Phil and I co-produced. See also this story.

This is a picture of me from early spring, 1985. Like the recent Evergreen riots in Olympia a party resulted in some anti-police action. In this case a cruiser didn't get rolled and burned, rather just 'keyed' - scratching a paint job with a set of keys.

Standing next to me is John B. Mitchell, a great friend.

In hindsight, I have to wonder if the on-campus, unarmed, security force blamed me for that. Not the case, though I was certainly known to play a prank or two.

This posting marks the start of some biographical and portfolio items - these will be filed by original date, so won't show up on the home page. They all can be accessed easily from the Biography/Portfolio Category page.