Whew, Celtic Bard, you did your best to put an old curmudgeon in his place. OK, what I said was stereotypical, and yes, I have no doubt there are exceptions. My big mistake, posting late and tired, was to miss out the vital words "the majority of" before the word "students". With those words added, I have to confess that my other statements are consistent with my own experience.

There is another issue vis-a-vis students, in the UK at least, and that is the question of grants and money in general. If you are up to your ears in debt and/or strapped for cash, keeping a low profile (or working in McDonalds) probably seems like a good idea.

Read through your own post, Rebecca, and grant that you concede my point in a number of your comments. You sound like one of the exceptions - keep up the good work.

Here in the UK Roy Bailey and Leon Rosselson still carry the torch forward, as does Jeremy Taylor in some of his new writings, but when do they ever get a hearing on any form of mass media (medium?)? Seldom, if ever, and when they do, it's usually one of their less controversial numbers.

I'll check out the Robb Johnson material, keep an ear open for Mick Ryan and Janet Russell, and beg for the tune to the Buddy Tabor song posted above.

I'm always on the lookout for good material, protest or otherwise.

How about a Protest Song session on PalTalk sometime?