What were your parents reaction to your involvement in Peace marches and civil protests?

I can't really separate out my mom's attitudes about our protest activities from her general style of parenting, which IMO was pretty cool and which I KNOW was unusual among our peers' families.

My mom (single parent by then) always took the position that kids needed space to grow up, and a chance to use our own brains. That meant, also, that if we got into trouble of any kind, we were expected, when asking for her help, to have a plan for what she'd do and what we'd do. Her tacit support for us was always present as long as we showed some sign of having thought about what we proposed to do-- from bringing kids home who'd been thrown out of their house, to staying all night at a cast party in high school, to going to anti-war activities. As long as we told her what we were doing, and listened if she had concerns/ghuidance, we pretty much had not only her OK but the use of the one family car to do it, and precious gas bucks from her tiny budget to get there and back. As a result of this forward-thinking attitude, my mom always got the truth from us, unlike so many of our friends who regularly lied to parents to keep the flak down.

As far as war positions, I really don't know what her own position was. She'd grown up in a middle-class, professional family, but now that I think of it, her own mother was ahead of her time as a career woman in business. That must have been a big source for my mom's independent-thinking streak, and I think she votes Libertarian nowadays. I think she always thought gummint was pretty stupid and untrustworthy, as a starting point, but then I remember her feeling that way about anything that took itself too seriously. I also remember that finding silly thinking hilarious was a family tradition.

She didn't ever say much about her politics-- it was her business, and I don't recall her ever forcing her own ideas about anything down our throats.

But then, we really were pretty tame, and like I said, she is pretty neat.

~Susan