http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-moulden/old-hippie-becomes-new-ra_b_136793.html
Julia Moulden
Posted October 25, 2008
Don Stannard-Friel didn't have to go far to create a New Radical role
for himself. Don is a professor of sociology and anthropology at
Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, a leafy suburb of San
Francisco. Today, many of his classes are conducted in the inner city
-- the infamous Tenderloin district.
After we were introduced, I realized that Don would be the only "old
radical" in my book: his life parallels the major events of a
generation. A kid from New Jersey, he moved to San Francisco "at the
end of the beatnik period and the beginning of the free speech era."
In 1966, he got married, became a father, and moved to
Haight-Ashbury. He was studying at San Francisco State College when
"all hell broke loose." As his political consciousness was awakening
-- and while going to antiwar demonstrations with his baby on his
back -- he began to study sociology. "My professors were using the
cultural revolution taking place all around us as their material, and
they were doing ethnographic studies -- going into the field with
us." While working toward his Ph.D., Don worked in a psychiatric
hospital, and he became part of the mental patients civil rights
movement. Over the next decade, he completed his degrees, got
divorced, and remarried. "We had a hippie wedding in Golden Gate Park
and lived communally for a number of years. They were wonderful times."
After several decades of teaching, Don was feeling the need to clear
his mind and refresh his spirit. He took a break and headed for the
Tenderloin district where he'd lived as a poor student. He wanted to
really get to know the community and write about his experience. When
he was ready to return to teaching, he realized that this time it
would be different. It would call on every part of him -- the young
activist, the curious student, the experienced professor, and the man
who knew and loved this difficult part of a world-famous city. Don
designed a series of courses that would take his students into the
community, interacting with local people so that they could learn
from them and help them at the same time. It's the ideal intersection
of what he had to offer and what his young charges wanted. "It's
perfect or this new generation. They're not interested in political
action like we were. These kids were raised on community service --
it was part of their curriculum from when they were quite small. They
want to do things, to make a difference. It's quite a shift from my
generation."
His students love what is affectionately known as "Tenderloin U." and
all that it has to offer, such as a street retreat, where they spend
up to a week with a homeless person. Even kids who don't show much
enthusiasm for traditional studies who up for Don's classes. "It's
hard for suburban students to get into San Francisco and find where
we're working each day. But they do it without fail." As you might
expect, the idea initially wasn't popular in all quarters; there was
considerable resistance from Mom and Dad. "I had parents calling me
and saying 'I'm spending $35,000 to send my kid to university, and
you're taking her to the Tenderloin?'" But now that it's working so
well and students are so enthusiastic, there's widespread support.
Like other New Radicals, Don discovered that relationships paved the
way for his new work, giving him street credibility. He lived here as
a young man, some 40 years ago and, more recently, spent time getting
to know people in the area. "Someone will look at me and say, 'Who's
this white guy with his white beard?' and I'll mention someone I
think they might know. Either they relax immediately, or they check
me out and figure out that we're here to help."
Don has also developed a good working relationship with the local
police, something this former hippie never imagined himself doing.
For instance, the police are part of the Tenderloin Hallowe'en party:
they bring food for 400 or so children each year. "When I was young,
it was all about 'we've got to change the world through revolution!'"
Today, he's more open to other people's points of view, and he talks
to his students about what he now believes is true: that it's all
about making a difference in a single person's life. "I tell them,
when you change a person's life, they change others, and the people
they touch do the same. it becomes a geometric progression. it
doesn't take long before you're changing thousands of lives, all
because of that one person."
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Please share your thoughts by commenting below, or by emailing me at
julia@wearethenewradicals.com.
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