The Hippy, traditionally, is a flower/sandal wearing creature from the 60s who took a bit too much weed/LSD for their own good and wandered around on mostly pointless, and on the whole self-indulgent, 'spiritual' journeys involving, if they were lucky, a fair bit of sex, suitable music and some more drugs. The drugs, music and flowers/sandals were perhaps less central to the essence of the Hippy than a desire to 'open their mind' (as well as yours, and your genitals), and to rid themselves of all of this hateful, oppressive social conditioning.
The 21st Century Hippy has of course evolved from this rather child like, party orientated beginning. A good example of the home of the modern Hippy can be found at the aptly named 'Reality Sandwich' site:
http://www.realitysandwich.com/awakening_cosmic_serpent_part_2
On the evidence of this site the 21st Century Hippy has gone quasi or pseudo scientific, technological, and ecological, as well as increasingly psychological and health orientated; the overt emphasis on drugs, sex, flowers, sandals and music have more or less disappeared, but what remains is an emphasis on the 'spiritual', and a tendency towards 'mind\soul opening' somewhat self-indulgent and individualist experiences and journeys. What also remains is a strong tendency towards hopeful speculation, involving the somewhat mysterious 'psyche', 'soul' and such like, all of which points endlessly to a better internal and external world that seems to remain just out of reach.
What also remains is a somewhat pretentious self-seriousness, which can apparently post articles without any irony entitled things like: 'Shapeshifting the Future', 'Synchronicity, Myth and the New World Order', 'The Possibility of a Telepathic Utopia' and best of all 'Awakening the Cosmic Serpent, Part II'. This is combined with a strong element of escapist dreaming, true to the traditional hippy roots- a particularly good example is the 'Ayahuasca Monologues', an event which you can attend in LA, in which a series of experts (including Dream Rockwell) will bore you with their stories of taking hallucinogenic natural drugs in the jungle, justifying it with the pretence of spiritual awakening, healing and such like.
The UK equivalent would presumably be a Happy Monday's Reunion in Foyle's Bookshop called 'Tales of my Acid Snake', in which LSD trippers congregate to bore each other to death with their out of brain experiences. As my mate says LSD, like most drugs, is actually a very self-orientated, solipsist experience and like most hallucinations and dreams the trip, and the memories, tend not to be of interest or relevance to anyone else. To excavate some kind of grand purpose from such trips it is thus necessary to fly all the way to South America, camp out in the jungle, and wrap it up in Ancient Healing, Spiritual Enlightenment and such like. This is of course only a 'Path' open to people with a fair amount of disposable income- going on the same journey in a Council Flat in Barking presumably wouldn't have the same allure to these people.
The over-riding suspicion is that these on the whole well educated, distinctly middle class people are simply entertaining themselves- their concern is to keep boredom, and despair, at bay with a constantly evolving, mostly imaginary, set of experiences and ideas united by some sense of spiritual and psychic journey.
At any rate this dangerous Hippy mentality struggles to easily penetrate the Sandwich realm, as the Sandwich is distinctly real and so not a great medium for hopeful, imagination fuelled speculation- 'The Possibility of a Telepathic Sandwich Utopia' or 'Awakening the Cosmic Sandwich' would not make good Hippy articles as the inclusion of the Sandwich grounds the concept in a day to day, functional reality which the Hippy is constantly trying to escape from, and forget.
However, a 40 year old woman was recently taken cycling by her husband around Cape Cod (a bit of coast some miles East of New York), where she came upon this Sandwich:
"I ordered a sandwich called “The Hippie”: hummus, Swiss cheese, avocado, baby spinach, roasted red peppers,
tomato & onion on your choice of bread, all for $6.39. No onions for me, thanks and put it on a wrap. Delicious!"
http://www.abetterbagofgroceries.com/2010/06/the-hippie-sandwich/
Arguably this Sandwich is a better window into the reality of the Hippy, or one version of it, than all of the spiritual/psychological meanderings of 'Reality Sandwich'- it is healthy, vegetarian, indulgent, looks to the East (in this case the Middle East in the shape of Hummus) and is somewhat over-blown with too many ingredients lacking the simplicity of true Sandwich. It suggests a middle class pre-occupation with food as both an experience and a conscious lifestyle/consumerist expression of identity, all of which runs against the grain of the Sandwich as a quick, tasty snack and suggests it has become an end in itself, somewhat fetishistic. This in turn smacks of middle class existential crisis.
A similar example can be found on this US Radio Website:
http://www.thetakeaway.org/2010/sep/08/lunchbox-20-sandwich-theories-and-remixes/
They have interviewed a middle aged journalist mother about 'how to create the perfect lunch box'. They are concerned with what to do with the Sandwich once the kid has got bored of 'PB and J' (Peanut Butter and Jam). The answer is the 'Pan Bagnat':
Pan Bagnat
Time: 15 minutes plus 20 minutes weighting
- 2 anchovy fillets, minced (optional)
- 1 very small garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 8-inch round very crusty country loaf, or small ciabatta, halved
- 1/2 kirby cucumber or 1/4 regular cucumber (see note)
- 1 medium-sized, ripe tomato, sliced
- 1/2 small red onion, sliced
- 1 jar (5 to 6 ounces) olive oil-packed tuna, drained
- 8 large basil leaves
- 2 tablespoons sliced pitted olives (preferably a mix of black and green)
- 1 hard-cooked egg, peeled and thinly sliced
She goes on to give lengthy instructions as to how to make it. This woman has clearly been infected with the contemporary, bourgeois version of the Hippy philosophy in relation to Sandwich making. She has completely lost sight of simplicity, and snack-ness, and has gone over-board on indulgence, and complexity, treating the Sandwich as an important end in itself, as if it were some kind of great meal, or badge of identity; She has embarked on the Sandwich Journey as some kind of Spiritual Path, she has Awoken the Cosmic Sandwich Serpent- just reading the list of ingredients is like some kind of Ayahuasca trip, lost down the river of no return in the Jungles of the Sandwich. This woman is the Colonel Kurtz of her generation- she has sailed so far down the river of nothingness that her Sandwich Soul has gone mad, but her mind is clear.
There will come a time when we, the few, will have to go to the 'Ayahuasca Sandwich Monologues' in LA, or New York, or London, or Tokyo, and we will have to, like Kurtz, sacrificially put these lost souls out of their misery. Perhaps with a Ham Sandwich.
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