Where Are You When We Need You, Lamont? 3 of 7

The Ohio National Guard murdered four students at Kent State, and I snapped. I joined the marches, not because I necessarily believed in the politics of the peace movement or its organizers. I didn’t really trust their motives (old ‘cold war’ conditioning), especially the ones I had known personally, mostly Maoists. It was my rage over all the murders, and the helpless futility I felt at the deaths of Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, and others. They were called O.D.s, but what is death by overdose? The use of drugs (legal or illegal) is a process of suicide (in many cases), and at some level, the addicted user must know it.

For several years my dreams were chemically induced, from THC and LSD to Psilocybin Mushrooms and crushed Peyote buttons that we called Organic Mescaline. Don Juan the Yaqui medicine man became my confidante.

During this period my first marriage came and went. The only good that came of it was my first two children, now grown. When you have a bad relationship, you develop astigmatism in your social eye. It takes a thick lens with strong correction to remove the distortion. I had tried the lens of fundamentalist Christianity during that marriage, insisted upon by my then-wife, but my sight only became more distorted, and I finally resorted to surgery — divorce (from both).

(Continued)

–LE