MadMenWoodstockMomma

I was working at City Service (citgo) and we were not permitted to wear pants. I had recently purchased a sewing machine and was making some of my own clothes. Pant suits were in vogue, so I whipped up a pant suit and showed my boss. He thought that would be acceptable, so I started a petition in the office.

All the secretaries signed it. Then the CEO signed it and we were all permitted to wear pantsuits, but the pants and tops had to match.

This was a major victory. Also, before this women were still wearing girdles, so once pantyhose was introduced it changed everything (laughs).

In my heart I'm still a hippie.

I was married in 1971 (a hippie wedding) and we were still living in Brooklyn. A lot of our friends were transitioning into doing cocaine and we didn't want any part of that. So we bought a small house on long island and we had an organic garden, continuing to live with a back-to-the-earth philosophy.

I don't know how to answer this because we still had natural childbirth with our children (look up "birth without violence"), had that garden for many years, joined a food co-op, drove many many different volkswagens, and lived the good life.

I didn't go back to corporate. I became a special education teacher. So again, there was that philosophy of helping your fellow man.

Absolutely, without a doubt, especially when you're 20 years old. Even at that age I didn't mix business and my personal life. There was a lot of flirting going on but I ignored it.

The drinking went on from 11 AM until they left the office. The bosses would usually go out for drinks afterwards too.

Working downtown was always dark, and the streets were narrow. I always found that to be more of a party atmosphere than when I later worked uptown. So I'd say it was even wilder than Mad Men.

How big a deal was the cold war?Were you/your peers ever afraid nuclear war might actually break out?

As a young child many of us were in a constant state of anxiety because there were a lot of drills and we had to go under our desks. That was pretty scary for kids. I don't know what was scarier, the nuns at Catholic school or nuclear war.

Also were guys in the office massive jackasses like in mad men?

Yes, most of them were. I remember a boss asking me out for lunch... it was my birthday, and I said ok. They always had liquid lunches and I never did, but I did that day. I had two martinis at Franz Tavern in the financial district. I was as drunk as a skunk and we walked back to the office. He walked right into his office and continued to work. I said to the other secretary "Where am I?" It was amazing that they could function while drinking so much liquor.

How far were you in the crowd?

We were closer to the porta-a-potties, so pretty far back. But we could still see and hear stuff.

It was scary to see so many people at the same time. What was crazy about the whole scene was that there were so many people. When we realized our ticket was of absolutely no value, we just saw hundreds and hundreds arriving without tickets.

When you were sitting in the rain, there was no place to go to the bathroom. We were literally sitting shoulder to shoulder and the guy next to me had to take a piss. He just whipped out his schlong and pissed right there, letting it stream down the hill. We were such a mess that it just didn't matter at that point.

Was your hippy phase just a fad? Most teens at the time just followed the fashion.

I think there's a misconception about what a hippie was. I continue to this day to embrace the hippie philosophy, which is all about love and caring for your fellow man. I wish I had the ability to have other people embrace that philosophy.