Categories > Cartoons > Daria > 1960's Daria
While Daria's personal and professional life develops, the world around her isn't doing quite as well: the spring of 1968
0Unrated
1960s—Chapter 10
By Dr T
Happiness & Horror
-60s-
A ‘Daria’ fanfic, so no claim to original characters, etc., just my plot twists & OCs. Based on an image from the last ‘Daria’ episode/movie, ‘Is It College Yet?’
-60s-
On Christmas Day, Tess Barksdale regarded her three daughters and three granddaughters, and considered.
Superficially, her two older daughters might seem very similar. Each was a major player in their home areas’ social scenes. Rita had always been closest to her mother. Granted, Rita’s home area was also Tess’ home area, and Rita might only hold on to the dominate position for her generation so long as Tess was there to boost her. There was no doubt that Rita’s marriage was shaky at best – her husband was a notorious womanizer and his legal career would barely make them lower middle class on its own (fortunately, he had a bit of family money). Still, he had social and political connections – the only reason he had even the career he did. He was more of a facilitator than an active lawyer. Rita’s daughter was a nicer, less ambitious version of her mother – and her husband was a poor imitation of Erin’s father. Even after several years of marriage, there was no sign of children – Brian was likely too busy sowing wild oats to bother with his wife that often.
Amy of course was the outlier of the daughters – fiercely independent, unmarried, and while something of a mover in her own spheres in New York, those were not the New Yorkers that Tess Barksdale cared about in the slightest. Amy had moved away from her mother and her mother’s values far more than her middle daughter had ever contemplated.
Tess and Helen, however much they had in common (or actually because they had so much in common), fought far more than Tess ever had with Amy. Helen’s husband had none of the social connections that Rita’s had – but he was a much better husband, with greater family financial stability as well as a decent salary even by Tess’ standards. Tess well-remembered the talk Helen had had with her the previous year. It had made her realize that Helen was likely correct – it was unlikely that the family estate could be passed down intact and be maintained at its current level.
Which was worse? Having the plantation, which had been in her late husband’s family for over 240 years, pass out of the family as a whole, or have it slowly become rundown and sold off piecemeal, like many of its neighbors?
Tess looked at her other two granddaughters. Superficially, Quinn might be a decent candidate if the estate were to be passed on whole. She was certainly the granddaughter with the most interest in social status. There were, however, several problems with that. While hardly unintelligent, at least at the moment Quinn was easily one of the most superficial people Tess knew – and she knew many superficial society people! Another problem was, she was the youngest of the three granddaughters. It was unlikely she would get married for at least another two and a half years and very likely longer, and who knew who she might marry? It would have to be someone with their own money who not only could manage the estate but who would want to; Quinn certainly would never be able to manage the job even half decently, even if she wanted to.
Daria was also likely at least two and a half years from marriage, although like Helen she suspected Daria might be drawn to this professor. She certainly disapproved of Daria’s hippie singing, but she had made good connections from her work that summer. While Tess disapproved of Amy’s decisions, she had made a good career; Daria should be able to do at least as well. In addition, Amy reported good things about Daria’s novel, and Tess certainly approved of that proposed genealogical course the upcoming summer. In fact, she had offered to pay for Daria’s summer school on the basis of it and supply material for it as well. Hopefully, it would bring Daria closer to the values of the Barksdales and related families.
Tess hoped she would have time to make a better choice than what she appeared to have at this time. She would change her will to reflect the current realities, and hope she could change it again – if Brian straightened up, or if Quinn grew up, or if Daria became more conventional.
-60s-
Returning from her grandmother’s, Daria did not go to Jane’s. Instead, she went to Marcus’ for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. There, they gambled on the effectiveness of the Pill a bit, and made love multiple times without using condoms, although they would use them most of the time during Daria’s undergraduate years.
Daria did go to Jane’s on January 2nd. They were able to move back into their dorm on Thursday the 4th. Daria made a trip on the 3rd, moving what she had at the Lanes’ to her bedroom at Marcus’, which now had a dresser. That weekend, she moved some of her clothes from her dorm to that bedroom as well, and she also distributed her new clothes between the two. Marcus was happy to encourage the move. The apartment over the garage was basically empty, other than a stove. Between the three of them, they would furnish the apartment over the semester, with Jane and to some degree Daria moving things into it by May.
Daria was looking forward to this semester even more than either of the previous two, if not all three. She had had some apprehensions before her first semester and had been a bit desperate to get to any real college, even a basic state college. That had colored her outlook for starting college. She had been more comfortable with her life entering her second semester, but she had still felt uncertain of her place, despite having made such a friend in Jane. Of course starting that tentative relationship with Jane right as the semester had started had also worried her.
The summer in San Francisco had changed Daria a great deal; she was even more independently minded, less bound to conventions (although far from divorced from them). She had returned to LSC because it had seemed the best option available, not because it was a goal or even a step to a particular goal. Now she had a stronger focus than she had even had before.
She was now fully determined to be a writer – this had been part daydream, part desire, part goal; now it was her clearest goal. Daria looked over the requirements and decided to stick to her education degrees for the moment – even if she became a professional and well-published author, it was still possible she would need to work. That might change if a BA degree in English was offered, as was being discussed. The idea that she would become a housewife for her ‘day job’ was unappealing, even if the idea of marriage was more palatable now than she had ever conceived of it before.
Daria’s writing and her relationships with Marcus and Jane were her top priorities, followed by her classwork, followed by her relationships with her father and Aunt Amy, followed by her music – anything else was an extra at best (like her relationship to her mother and most other relatives), or extraneous (like Quinn).
While many like her parents would consider Daria a hippie – she dressed a bit like one most weekdays and she continued to perform her music (part folk, part psychedelic) in full hippie dress – but the only other stereotype she partially fit was in her bisexual love life – even most who believed in ‘free love’ considered any same sex sexuality as totally unacceptable for men, although it wasn’t quite as frowned upon for women. She did not smoke pot or take other drugs, she worked very hard, and off campus when she was with Marcus in public she often dressed and acted almost as ‘properly’ as her mother would have wished.
Jane was not thrilled by the schedule Daria had come up with so she could fit everything into her week that she needed to, as this partly carried Jane along with it. Not that Jane wasn’t a hard and disciplined worker, but that applied mostly to her art. Rooming with Daria had forced Jane to study harder than she otherwise would have, and this continued to an even greater degree this semester. If Jane didn’t value her time with Daria (in general and also of course their ‘special evenings’) so much, she would have wished Daria would spend more time at Marcus’ house.
Just to get a bit of relaxation, after their Tuesday/Thursday swimming class (they were required to take three phys ed classes, and this was their first), Jane convinced/forced Daria to spend time in the sauna attached to the women’s locker room after the class. Jane used the time to relax and plan her artwork. Daria was forced to physically relax, and soon learned to mentally relax a bit as well. Between the sauna, the basic yoga she and Jane still practiced, and her various music activities (guitar/some singing and violin for the orchestra) Daria was able to have enough mental downtime to not mentally or physically burn out. This extra bit of exercise from the swimming also helped Daria (and Jane) stay trim, something many college students have trouble with during at least part of their college career.
Some of that Daria had already worked out by the end of her first week, but most would develop over the first part of the semester. Daria was uncertain how much to reveal to her aunt when she wrote Amy after that first week.
Dear Aunt Amy:
Well, once again it is the start of a semester. I think I will be busier than ever, but I do think I can cope with things. Hopefully there will be good news soon from your friend, the literary agent!
I am carrying a full load of 18 credits this semester, 4 of them for education. The Secondary Education Methods I can understand having to take, but a class in Audio-visual Techniques? It makes a tiny bit more sense now that I have seen the syllabus – for one thing, we have to learn how to thread nine different types of film projectors and how to splice a broken film, learn various film strip and similar projectors, basic recording equipment (I wonder how many schools even have those!), plus the various mimeograph and similar processes, etc. Still, it seems a waste to spend this much time on it! Both professors are rather boring but at least seem competent.
My English classes should at least be interesting: Modern English Poetry and American Poetry. The subject matter of the first is slightly more interesting, the instructor of the latter seems a bit more passionate, but both seem good so far. I am also taking Intro to Philosophy. The instructor is middle-aged, knowledgeable, and well-spoken with a dry wit – the current adjective for him would be ‘mellow.’
The only history course I could fit in is The Civil War and Reconstruction. Not Grandmother’s favorite period! I’m sure the class will be interesting. The professor dresses like he’s from the period, although I doubt he’s even 60, but he is said to really be an expert.
The first Thursday performance went well, especially my set. Jane is taking printmaking this semester, and has plans for some better signs for them. Please let me know how you are doing.
Take care and love
Daria
In addition to all that, Daria was quite pleased at the moment that Marcus had joined the viola section of the college-community orchestra. Granted, they couldn’t really interact very much during the rehearsals, but at this stage of their relationship Daria was still happy just seeing him.
-60s-
In terms of the classroom and classwork, the long stretch between the start of the semester and the start of the Easter break (April 5) was overall fairly normal for the most part. The world outside the classrooms, however, was more than a little disturbed. In Vietnam, the Tet Offensive pointed up major problems in many US military claims over the preceding months. Even if the US and allied forces contained it, it still sent shock waves through both pro-and-anti-war factions, as did rumors of other problems and possible expansion of the war into neighboring countries.
There were numerous civil rights protests and anti-war protests (and some protests that were both), and many of them were on college campuses. The two biggest in the US were when 28 protesting HBCU students in Orangeburg, South Carolina, were injured and three killed, when police shot at them. Howard students held a 5 day sit-in. Students in many other countries were protesting as well, especially in Poland and France.
Like many campuses, perhaps most (despite the news reports of college unrest), LSC was comparatively calm. The Thursday evening programs in the dorms continued, and Daria kept up her participation. While few if any students were agitating for the type of protests or sit-ins that were threatening to become more common, there was a growing feeling that they should be doing more. Many, perhaps even a majority, of the students were not particularly politically active, and there were a small but significant number who would be against such student action in any event. Recognizing all this, calmer heads successfully pushed for not considering any real action until after the Easter break. Instead, there was growing attendance at the Thursday music performances, and the cartoons and editorials in the campus paper veered a bit more leftist.
-60s-
Friday March 8
Daria and Jane were kissing passionately on Jane’s bed early in the afternoon. Their last class of the week (other than Daria’s orchestra rehearsal from 4:00-4:50) had ended at 11:50. Both Jane’s American Government class and Daria’s Intro to Philosophy had had mid-terms, and they were relaxing after lunch with what they sometimes referred to as a cuddle session.
Jane had just managed to ease Daria’s bra off and was about to indulge in relocating her kisses lower than before when the phone rang. “Better not be James, or yours,” Jane muttered, forcing herself to get off the bed (and off Daria), but giving Daria’s left breast a gentle caress as she did so.
“Mine is in class,” Daria retorted softly.
“Yo….Hi, Amy!” Jane merely held the phone out. Daria got off the bed and made her way across the room – the wall phones were on the front wall next to the door.
Jane watched as Daria took the phone. “Hi, Aunt Amy. Why the early call?” Daria’s eyebrows went up. “Really? Who?...Really!? Did they say how much?” Daria looked pleased. “When would they…already?”
The call did not last much longer, and Jane had to tease when the two finally ended the call, “Bad news?”
“As you heard,” Daria retorted.
“The book has a good deal?”
“Not upfront – that is, I don’t get any advance, and I don’t get much sales money upfront – only a hundred. However, I will get a slightly higher percentage of sales, and I keep the paperback rights for separate sales. And best of all, if they get my notarized signature back by next Friday, it should go on sale by the first week in June.”
Jane came over and gave Daria a hug. Daria put her arms around the taller girl’s neck, pulled her close, and kissed Jane more strongly than ever. When she released her, Daria almost growled, “Get the rest of those clothes off; I’ll get Mister Cylinder and you’re about to have more orgasms than you’ve had in a week over the next hour.”
It would certainly be the most orgasms Jane was ever given in any given seventy-minute period at least.
Jane was left both satiated and both slightly exhausted and dazed. Daria left shortly thereafter, and her adrenaline lasted her throughout the afternoon and orchestra practice. Marcus noticed her following him afterwards, and so they ended up in his office. Noting that his outside window (an opaque one, fortunately) was closed and knowing there wasn’t one in his door, and that there had been no one in the basement, Daria’s mood from earlier in the afternoon reasserted itself. She shut the door without turning on the light, and stalked over to the bemused and then shocked Marcus as she totally stripped along the way.
Daria merely opened his trousers, pulled them and his underwear down, and had him take her as she sat on his desk.
When they were finished some ten minutes later, the still-dazed Marcus could only ask, “What?”
Telling him about her book earned Daria a set of kisses much more loving and affectionate than the previous session had been. It was nearly 6:00 when Daria left the building to catch the end of dinner in the dining hall. She and Jane were seeing the British film ‘Bedazzled’ that night – she would celebrate more sensuously with Jane when they retired for the night, and would be meeting Marcus at his house the following afternoon.
Daria knew they had taken a risk by her demanding session in his office; they were lucky they had not been caught. It was not something they would not risk again – at least nowhere near as loudly.
-60s-
April 4
The last Thursday night get-together before the break, now commonly called ‘the Thursday be-in,’ was going well. As usual, Daria had opened the be-in with 15 minutes of singing, starting around 6:30. The be-ins rotated between the large common rooms each dorm had, although some were larger than others. This week, they were in Daria’s dorm.
A little before 7:30, students from both the men’s and women’s dorms started coming into the common room between the two wings, shouting, and in some cases crying, disrupting the drum chant which had been going on. It took several minutes for everyone to understand what had been happening – that the radio and tv networks had reported Dr. King had been assassinated in Memphis.
The room threatened to descend into chaos.
A pair of guitar players came over to Daria and spoke to her, and Daria nodded at their suggestion. They split and grabbed some other musicians that they knew, no matter if they were involved in the evening’s performances or not and they were pushed towards the platform.
And they started to sing.
It took more than a few verses, but before too long, the crowd was singing ‘We Shall Overcome” along with the musicians. After a few more verses, the group settled down. Although a state college, LSC had a chaplain’s office attached, including a Newman Center. The young priest was in attendance as he usually was, and led the group in a prayer, and got them to disperse, much to the relief of the dorm officials who had been brought on to the scene by the next volume.
Daria was also one of the group grabbed by some of the usual campus activists and organizers – the next day was the last day of classes before the Easter/spring break. Nearly all of the students would be leaving that Saturday morning, and after some sharp arguments, the ideas of the moderates (including but not led by Daria) prevailed. There would be a Prayer Meeting on the large lawn of the campus that Saturday morning at 8:30. As some discussed about who should speak, sing, etc., one of the more moderate leaders was sent to speak with the Chancellor.
The Chancellor, realizing the meeting would take place no matter what he thought of the idea, decided to not only allow it, but to speak first.
-60s-
Tom Sherman was angry. Granted, he had been angry since the previous October, when a knee injury had ended his athletic career. He had been one of the leaders of the ‘straight’ students (as some called themselves, others called them ‘squares’ or worse), opposed to the hippies and other ‘weirdos’. When the injury permanently sidelined the now ex-quarterback, he had learned that it was only his fame on the field that got people to follow him off the field.
He had spent this semester trying to cross the lines over to the groups he had (and really still) despised, since they seemed to be in the ascendent on campus. He was trying to use this gathering to honor Dr. King to push himself into a leadership position. It wasn’t that he cared about civil rights – his attitudes were slightly closer to those of the KKK than to those of a civil rights crusader – he was a bigot but only slightly worse than average for the time and his background. He looked down on the hippies and anti-war people as well – but since his injury, he no longer had to worry about the draft and so he was able to pretend to oppose the war (he had only opposed the idea of his getting drafted before this). At the moment at least, the ‘weird’ people, much as he despised them, seemed to be coming out ahead, and what he cared most about was being on the winning side.
The gathering was to start at 8:30 that morning and it was now 8:20, and as far as he could see he had bullied his way through nearly everyone to get on to the speaker’s platform that had been set up. The only person standing in his way now seemed to be a waifish 5 foot 2 ½ inch auburn-haired hippie with a peace sign painted on each cheek, holding a guitar and a clipboard.
“Get out of my way,” Tom growled, “or else I’ll shove you out of the way.”
“Yeah, that’s the way to act at a memorial for Doctor King,” Daria stated.
As Tom went to grab Daria to shove her out of his way, a voice stated, “I wouldn’t try it.”
Tom looked over and saw three Black men and a woman. Two of the men were very large – one was the 6 foot 7 center of the basketball team, the other the very large left guard from the football team. The third was the football team’s main running back, Mack. Standing next to Mack was his girlfriend, Jodie, who was now one of the major moderate leaders on campus, especially of those interested in civil rights. “We all know you’re just here to promote yourself,” Mack stated. “We remember the things you said about Doctor King and about us in the locker room.”
“So piss off, before we quietly remove you,” the guard growled.
Tom frowned, but could really see no way out. Maybe it was time to try and lead the frat boys against the hippies and the ni…he stopped himself from using the word he usually used, as he did not want it to slip out at the wrong time.
He stomped off as best as his knee allowed.
Daria, a clipboard in hand as she had been appointed the coordinator of the event, grabbed Jodie’s hand and led her up to the microphone set up on the temporary platform. She gestured to the Newman Center priest and the Chancellor to stand next to Jodie.
“May we please have your attention? Jodie called out over the mic. After a few more times, the crowd quieted enough for Jodie to say her short piece and to introduce the priest and the Chancellor.
After the priest gave an invocation and the Chancellor spoke, some of the student leaders (official and unofficial) alternated with singers, each taking less than 5 minutes (the basketball player and offensive guard watched the time very obviously). Daria sang ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ when her turn came, singing clearly despite tears. (Jane’s photo of Daria, taken during that performance, would be on both the front of the dustcover of the hard cover edition and the paperback versions of Daria’s late 1990s memoir ‘Memories of a Semi-Hippie, 1966-1970’ as well as featuring in the campus newspaper when they returned from the break and some other publications.) In the end, the musicians on stage led the group in multiple verses of ‘We Shall Overcome.’ While the Chancellor was not happy with a few of the improvised verses, on the whole he was satisfied that the meeting had stayed peaceful and dispersed without any trouble.
-60s-
When Daria arrived home late in the afternoon, she was surprised to find her maternal grandmother already there. Daria was glad she had changed from her protest clothes and gotten the paint off of her face. Tess was pleased that, while Daria was certainly very casually dressed by her standards, her granddaughter did look presentable and had greeted her in a very polite manner. Her own daughter had been somewhat irritated that her mother had insisted on visiting, and while Quinn had been polite, she was both overly-ingratiating and yet really disinterested.
With Grandmother Tess in the household, they were all rather obligated to go to church for the Palm Sunday service – the Morgendorffers generally attended church about six times a year at best. Jake and Helen put on their best professional faces, while Quinn was obviously bored and irritated. Daria at least appeared to take some interest – Tess was not to know it was mostly because she was interested in the reactions of the entirely white, mostly mid-middleclass and higher congregation to recent events. While a few in the congregation squirmed a bit at times, the Episcopalian priest gave what Daria considered a moderate, well-thought out sermon on the topics of serving God by being just and compassionate to all.
After dinner, Tess rather cornered Daria into a conversation. Quinn had fled the house as soon as dinner was over – she claimed she and her friends were busy finalizing the plans for the school prom. Jake and Helen merely kept an ear out to make sure both sides stayed civil, which they did.
Tess’ main line of inquiry was about Daria’s writing plans. She was curious if her granddaughter might write a novel along the lines of her favorite ‘Gone With the Wind’ – preferably a novel set a generation or so earlier, so that all that nastiness about the War Between the States and the aftermath could be avoided.
Daria managed to parry her grandmother’s inquiries without in any way offending her, even if she then spent the rest of the evening with a tension headache. There would be a week between LSC’s graduation ceremony and the start of the first summer session. Daria would spend part of that at her grandmother's, and would spend at least one weekend during the second session there as well. As her grandmother would be supplying information for the genealogical class and paying for all four of the summer classes, there was really no way out for Daria.
-60s-
By Dr T
Happiness & Horror
-60s-
A ‘Daria’ fanfic, so no claim to original characters, etc., just my plot twists & OCs. Based on an image from the last ‘Daria’ episode/movie, ‘Is It College Yet?’
-60s-
On Christmas Day, Tess Barksdale regarded her three daughters and three granddaughters, and considered.
Superficially, her two older daughters might seem very similar. Each was a major player in their home areas’ social scenes. Rita had always been closest to her mother. Granted, Rita’s home area was also Tess’ home area, and Rita might only hold on to the dominate position for her generation so long as Tess was there to boost her. There was no doubt that Rita’s marriage was shaky at best – her husband was a notorious womanizer and his legal career would barely make them lower middle class on its own (fortunately, he had a bit of family money). Still, he had social and political connections – the only reason he had even the career he did. He was more of a facilitator than an active lawyer. Rita’s daughter was a nicer, less ambitious version of her mother – and her husband was a poor imitation of Erin’s father. Even after several years of marriage, there was no sign of children – Brian was likely too busy sowing wild oats to bother with his wife that often.
Amy of course was the outlier of the daughters – fiercely independent, unmarried, and while something of a mover in her own spheres in New York, those were not the New Yorkers that Tess Barksdale cared about in the slightest. Amy had moved away from her mother and her mother’s values far more than her middle daughter had ever contemplated.
Tess and Helen, however much they had in common (or actually because they had so much in common), fought far more than Tess ever had with Amy. Helen’s husband had none of the social connections that Rita’s had – but he was a much better husband, with greater family financial stability as well as a decent salary even by Tess’ standards. Tess well-remembered the talk Helen had had with her the previous year. It had made her realize that Helen was likely correct – it was unlikely that the family estate could be passed down intact and be maintained at its current level.
Which was worse? Having the plantation, which had been in her late husband’s family for over 240 years, pass out of the family as a whole, or have it slowly become rundown and sold off piecemeal, like many of its neighbors?
Tess looked at her other two granddaughters. Superficially, Quinn might be a decent candidate if the estate were to be passed on whole. She was certainly the granddaughter with the most interest in social status. There were, however, several problems with that. While hardly unintelligent, at least at the moment Quinn was easily one of the most superficial people Tess knew – and she knew many superficial society people! Another problem was, she was the youngest of the three granddaughters. It was unlikely she would get married for at least another two and a half years and very likely longer, and who knew who she might marry? It would have to be someone with their own money who not only could manage the estate but who would want to; Quinn certainly would never be able to manage the job even half decently, even if she wanted to.
Daria was also likely at least two and a half years from marriage, although like Helen she suspected Daria might be drawn to this professor. She certainly disapproved of Daria’s hippie singing, but she had made good connections from her work that summer. While Tess disapproved of Amy’s decisions, she had made a good career; Daria should be able to do at least as well. In addition, Amy reported good things about Daria’s novel, and Tess certainly approved of that proposed genealogical course the upcoming summer. In fact, she had offered to pay for Daria’s summer school on the basis of it and supply material for it as well. Hopefully, it would bring Daria closer to the values of the Barksdales and related families.
Tess hoped she would have time to make a better choice than what she appeared to have at this time. She would change her will to reflect the current realities, and hope she could change it again – if Brian straightened up, or if Quinn grew up, or if Daria became more conventional.
-60s-
Returning from her grandmother’s, Daria did not go to Jane’s. Instead, she went to Marcus’ for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. There, they gambled on the effectiveness of the Pill a bit, and made love multiple times without using condoms, although they would use them most of the time during Daria’s undergraduate years.
Daria did go to Jane’s on January 2nd. They were able to move back into their dorm on Thursday the 4th. Daria made a trip on the 3rd, moving what she had at the Lanes’ to her bedroom at Marcus’, which now had a dresser. That weekend, she moved some of her clothes from her dorm to that bedroom as well, and she also distributed her new clothes between the two. Marcus was happy to encourage the move. The apartment over the garage was basically empty, other than a stove. Between the three of them, they would furnish the apartment over the semester, with Jane and to some degree Daria moving things into it by May.
Daria was looking forward to this semester even more than either of the previous two, if not all three. She had had some apprehensions before her first semester and had been a bit desperate to get to any real college, even a basic state college. That had colored her outlook for starting college. She had been more comfortable with her life entering her second semester, but she had still felt uncertain of her place, despite having made such a friend in Jane. Of course starting that tentative relationship with Jane right as the semester had started had also worried her.
The summer in San Francisco had changed Daria a great deal; she was even more independently minded, less bound to conventions (although far from divorced from them). She had returned to LSC because it had seemed the best option available, not because it was a goal or even a step to a particular goal. Now she had a stronger focus than she had even had before.
She was now fully determined to be a writer – this had been part daydream, part desire, part goal; now it was her clearest goal. Daria looked over the requirements and decided to stick to her education degrees for the moment – even if she became a professional and well-published author, it was still possible she would need to work. That might change if a BA degree in English was offered, as was being discussed. The idea that she would become a housewife for her ‘day job’ was unappealing, even if the idea of marriage was more palatable now than she had ever conceived of it before.
Daria’s writing and her relationships with Marcus and Jane were her top priorities, followed by her classwork, followed by her relationships with her father and Aunt Amy, followed by her music – anything else was an extra at best (like her relationship to her mother and most other relatives), or extraneous (like Quinn).
While many like her parents would consider Daria a hippie – she dressed a bit like one most weekdays and she continued to perform her music (part folk, part psychedelic) in full hippie dress – but the only other stereotype she partially fit was in her bisexual love life – even most who believed in ‘free love’ considered any same sex sexuality as totally unacceptable for men, although it wasn’t quite as frowned upon for women. She did not smoke pot or take other drugs, she worked very hard, and off campus when she was with Marcus in public she often dressed and acted almost as ‘properly’ as her mother would have wished.
Jane was not thrilled by the schedule Daria had come up with so she could fit everything into her week that she needed to, as this partly carried Jane along with it. Not that Jane wasn’t a hard and disciplined worker, but that applied mostly to her art. Rooming with Daria had forced Jane to study harder than she otherwise would have, and this continued to an even greater degree this semester. If Jane didn’t value her time with Daria (in general and also of course their ‘special evenings’) so much, she would have wished Daria would spend more time at Marcus’ house.
Just to get a bit of relaxation, after their Tuesday/Thursday swimming class (they were required to take three phys ed classes, and this was their first), Jane convinced/forced Daria to spend time in the sauna attached to the women’s locker room after the class. Jane used the time to relax and plan her artwork. Daria was forced to physically relax, and soon learned to mentally relax a bit as well. Between the sauna, the basic yoga she and Jane still practiced, and her various music activities (guitar/some singing and violin for the orchestra) Daria was able to have enough mental downtime to not mentally or physically burn out. This extra bit of exercise from the swimming also helped Daria (and Jane) stay trim, something many college students have trouble with during at least part of their college career.
Some of that Daria had already worked out by the end of her first week, but most would develop over the first part of the semester. Daria was uncertain how much to reveal to her aunt when she wrote Amy after that first week.
Dear Aunt Amy:
Well, once again it is the start of a semester. I think I will be busier than ever, but I do think I can cope with things. Hopefully there will be good news soon from your friend, the literary agent!
I am carrying a full load of 18 credits this semester, 4 of them for education. The Secondary Education Methods I can understand having to take, but a class in Audio-visual Techniques? It makes a tiny bit more sense now that I have seen the syllabus – for one thing, we have to learn how to thread nine different types of film projectors and how to splice a broken film, learn various film strip and similar projectors, basic recording equipment (I wonder how many schools even have those!), plus the various mimeograph and similar processes, etc. Still, it seems a waste to spend this much time on it! Both professors are rather boring but at least seem competent.
My English classes should at least be interesting: Modern English Poetry and American Poetry. The subject matter of the first is slightly more interesting, the instructor of the latter seems a bit more passionate, but both seem good so far. I am also taking Intro to Philosophy. The instructor is middle-aged, knowledgeable, and well-spoken with a dry wit – the current adjective for him would be ‘mellow.’
The only history course I could fit in is The Civil War and Reconstruction. Not Grandmother’s favorite period! I’m sure the class will be interesting. The professor dresses like he’s from the period, although I doubt he’s even 60, but he is said to really be an expert.
The first Thursday performance went well, especially my set. Jane is taking printmaking this semester, and has plans for some better signs for them. Please let me know how you are doing.
Take care and love
Daria
In addition to all that, Daria was quite pleased at the moment that Marcus had joined the viola section of the college-community orchestra. Granted, they couldn’t really interact very much during the rehearsals, but at this stage of their relationship Daria was still happy just seeing him.
-60s-
In terms of the classroom and classwork, the long stretch between the start of the semester and the start of the Easter break (April 5) was overall fairly normal for the most part. The world outside the classrooms, however, was more than a little disturbed. In Vietnam, the Tet Offensive pointed up major problems in many US military claims over the preceding months. Even if the US and allied forces contained it, it still sent shock waves through both pro-and-anti-war factions, as did rumors of other problems and possible expansion of the war into neighboring countries.
There were numerous civil rights protests and anti-war protests (and some protests that were both), and many of them were on college campuses. The two biggest in the US were when 28 protesting HBCU students in Orangeburg, South Carolina, were injured and three killed, when police shot at them. Howard students held a 5 day sit-in. Students in many other countries were protesting as well, especially in Poland and France.
Like many campuses, perhaps most (despite the news reports of college unrest), LSC was comparatively calm. The Thursday evening programs in the dorms continued, and Daria kept up her participation. While few if any students were agitating for the type of protests or sit-ins that were threatening to become more common, there was a growing feeling that they should be doing more. Many, perhaps even a majority, of the students were not particularly politically active, and there were a small but significant number who would be against such student action in any event. Recognizing all this, calmer heads successfully pushed for not considering any real action until after the Easter break. Instead, there was growing attendance at the Thursday music performances, and the cartoons and editorials in the campus paper veered a bit more leftist.
-60s-
Friday March 8
Daria and Jane were kissing passionately on Jane’s bed early in the afternoon. Their last class of the week (other than Daria’s orchestra rehearsal from 4:00-4:50) had ended at 11:50. Both Jane’s American Government class and Daria’s Intro to Philosophy had had mid-terms, and they were relaxing after lunch with what they sometimes referred to as a cuddle session.
Jane had just managed to ease Daria’s bra off and was about to indulge in relocating her kisses lower than before when the phone rang. “Better not be James, or yours,” Jane muttered, forcing herself to get off the bed (and off Daria), but giving Daria’s left breast a gentle caress as she did so.
“Mine is in class,” Daria retorted softly.
“Yo….Hi, Amy!” Jane merely held the phone out. Daria got off the bed and made her way across the room – the wall phones were on the front wall next to the door.
Jane watched as Daria took the phone. “Hi, Aunt Amy. Why the early call?” Daria’s eyebrows went up. “Really? Who?...Really!? Did they say how much?” Daria looked pleased. “When would they…already?”
The call did not last much longer, and Jane had to tease when the two finally ended the call, “Bad news?”
“As you heard,” Daria retorted.
“The book has a good deal?”
“Not upfront – that is, I don’t get any advance, and I don’t get much sales money upfront – only a hundred. However, I will get a slightly higher percentage of sales, and I keep the paperback rights for separate sales. And best of all, if they get my notarized signature back by next Friday, it should go on sale by the first week in June.”
Jane came over and gave Daria a hug. Daria put her arms around the taller girl’s neck, pulled her close, and kissed Jane more strongly than ever. When she released her, Daria almost growled, “Get the rest of those clothes off; I’ll get Mister Cylinder and you’re about to have more orgasms than you’ve had in a week over the next hour.”
It would certainly be the most orgasms Jane was ever given in any given seventy-minute period at least.
Jane was left both satiated and both slightly exhausted and dazed. Daria left shortly thereafter, and her adrenaline lasted her throughout the afternoon and orchestra practice. Marcus noticed her following him afterwards, and so they ended up in his office. Noting that his outside window (an opaque one, fortunately) was closed and knowing there wasn’t one in his door, and that there had been no one in the basement, Daria’s mood from earlier in the afternoon reasserted itself. She shut the door without turning on the light, and stalked over to the bemused and then shocked Marcus as she totally stripped along the way.
Daria merely opened his trousers, pulled them and his underwear down, and had him take her as she sat on his desk.
When they were finished some ten minutes later, the still-dazed Marcus could only ask, “What?”
Telling him about her book earned Daria a set of kisses much more loving and affectionate than the previous session had been. It was nearly 6:00 when Daria left the building to catch the end of dinner in the dining hall. She and Jane were seeing the British film ‘Bedazzled’ that night – she would celebrate more sensuously with Jane when they retired for the night, and would be meeting Marcus at his house the following afternoon.
Daria knew they had taken a risk by her demanding session in his office; they were lucky they had not been caught. It was not something they would not risk again – at least nowhere near as loudly.
-60s-
April 4
The last Thursday night get-together before the break, now commonly called ‘the Thursday be-in,’ was going well. As usual, Daria had opened the be-in with 15 minutes of singing, starting around 6:30. The be-ins rotated between the large common rooms each dorm had, although some were larger than others. This week, they were in Daria’s dorm.
A little before 7:30, students from both the men’s and women’s dorms started coming into the common room between the two wings, shouting, and in some cases crying, disrupting the drum chant which had been going on. It took several minutes for everyone to understand what had been happening – that the radio and tv networks had reported Dr. King had been assassinated in Memphis.
The room threatened to descend into chaos.
A pair of guitar players came over to Daria and spoke to her, and Daria nodded at their suggestion. They split and grabbed some other musicians that they knew, no matter if they were involved in the evening’s performances or not and they were pushed towards the platform.
And they started to sing.
It took more than a few verses, but before too long, the crowd was singing ‘We Shall Overcome” along with the musicians. After a few more verses, the group settled down. Although a state college, LSC had a chaplain’s office attached, including a Newman Center. The young priest was in attendance as he usually was, and led the group in a prayer, and got them to disperse, much to the relief of the dorm officials who had been brought on to the scene by the next volume.
Daria was also one of the group grabbed by some of the usual campus activists and organizers – the next day was the last day of classes before the Easter/spring break. Nearly all of the students would be leaving that Saturday morning, and after some sharp arguments, the ideas of the moderates (including but not led by Daria) prevailed. There would be a Prayer Meeting on the large lawn of the campus that Saturday morning at 8:30. As some discussed about who should speak, sing, etc., one of the more moderate leaders was sent to speak with the Chancellor.
The Chancellor, realizing the meeting would take place no matter what he thought of the idea, decided to not only allow it, but to speak first.
-60s-
Tom Sherman was angry. Granted, he had been angry since the previous October, when a knee injury had ended his athletic career. He had been one of the leaders of the ‘straight’ students (as some called themselves, others called them ‘squares’ or worse), opposed to the hippies and other ‘weirdos’. When the injury permanently sidelined the now ex-quarterback, he had learned that it was only his fame on the field that got people to follow him off the field.
He had spent this semester trying to cross the lines over to the groups he had (and really still) despised, since they seemed to be in the ascendent on campus. He was trying to use this gathering to honor Dr. King to push himself into a leadership position. It wasn’t that he cared about civil rights – his attitudes were slightly closer to those of the KKK than to those of a civil rights crusader – he was a bigot but only slightly worse than average for the time and his background. He looked down on the hippies and anti-war people as well – but since his injury, he no longer had to worry about the draft and so he was able to pretend to oppose the war (he had only opposed the idea of his getting drafted before this). At the moment at least, the ‘weird’ people, much as he despised them, seemed to be coming out ahead, and what he cared most about was being on the winning side.
The gathering was to start at 8:30 that morning and it was now 8:20, and as far as he could see he had bullied his way through nearly everyone to get on to the speaker’s platform that had been set up. The only person standing in his way now seemed to be a waifish 5 foot 2 ½ inch auburn-haired hippie with a peace sign painted on each cheek, holding a guitar and a clipboard.
“Get out of my way,” Tom growled, “or else I’ll shove you out of the way.”
“Yeah, that’s the way to act at a memorial for Doctor King,” Daria stated.
As Tom went to grab Daria to shove her out of his way, a voice stated, “I wouldn’t try it.”
Tom looked over and saw three Black men and a woman. Two of the men were very large – one was the 6 foot 7 center of the basketball team, the other the very large left guard from the football team. The third was the football team’s main running back, Mack. Standing next to Mack was his girlfriend, Jodie, who was now one of the major moderate leaders on campus, especially of those interested in civil rights. “We all know you’re just here to promote yourself,” Mack stated. “We remember the things you said about Doctor King and about us in the locker room.”
“So piss off, before we quietly remove you,” the guard growled.
Tom frowned, but could really see no way out. Maybe it was time to try and lead the frat boys against the hippies and the ni…he stopped himself from using the word he usually used, as he did not want it to slip out at the wrong time.
He stomped off as best as his knee allowed.
Daria, a clipboard in hand as she had been appointed the coordinator of the event, grabbed Jodie’s hand and led her up to the microphone set up on the temporary platform. She gestured to the Newman Center priest and the Chancellor to stand next to Jodie.
“May we please have your attention? Jodie called out over the mic. After a few more times, the crowd quieted enough for Jodie to say her short piece and to introduce the priest and the Chancellor.
After the priest gave an invocation and the Chancellor spoke, some of the student leaders (official and unofficial) alternated with singers, each taking less than 5 minutes (the basketball player and offensive guard watched the time very obviously). Daria sang ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ when her turn came, singing clearly despite tears. (Jane’s photo of Daria, taken during that performance, would be on both the front of the dustcover of the hard cover edition and the paperback versions of Daria’s late 1990s memoir ‘Memories of a Semi-Hippie, 1966-1970’ as well as featuring in the campus newspaper when they returned from the break and some other publications.) In the end, the musicians on stage led the group in multiple verses of ‘We Shall Overcome.’ While the Chancellor was not happy with a few of the improvised verses, on the whole he was satisfied that the meeting had stayed peaceful and dispersed without any trouble.
-60s-
When Daria arrived home late in the afternoon, she was surprised to find her maternal grandmother already there. Daria was glad she had changed from her protest clothes and gotten the paint off of her face. Tess was pleased that, while Daria was certainly very casually dressed by her standards, her granddaughter did look presentable and had greeted her in a very polite manner. Her own daughter had been somewhat irritated that her mother had insisted on visiting, and while Quinn had been polite, she was both overly-ingratiating and yet really disinterested.
With Grandmother Tess in the household, they were all rather obligated to go to church for the Palm Sunday service – the Morgendorffers generally attended church about six times a year at best. Jake and Helen put on their best professional faces, while Quinn was obviously bored and irritated. Daria at least appeared to take some interest – Tess was not to know it was mostly because she was interested in the reactions of the entirely white, mostly mid-middleclass and higher congregation to recent events. While a few in the congregation squirmed a bit at times, the Episcopalian priest gave what Daria considered a moderate, well-thought out sermon on the topics of serving God by being just and compassionate to all.
After dinner, Tess rather cornered Daria into a conversation. Quinn had fled the house as soon as dinner was over – she claimed she and her friends were busy finalizing the plans for the school prom. Jake and Helen merely kept an ear out to make sure both sides stayed civil, which they did.
Tess’ main line of inquiry was about Daria’s writing plans. She was curious if her granddaughter might write a novel along the lines of her favorite ‘Gone With the Wind’ – preferably a novel set a generation or so earlier, so that all that nastiness about the War Between the States and the aftermath could be avoided.
Daria managed to parry her grandmother’s inquiries without in any way offending her, even if she then spent the rest of the evening with a tension headache. There would be a week between LSC’s graduation ceremony and the start of the first summer session. Daria would spend part of that at her grandmother's, and would spend at least one weekend during the second session there as well. As her grandmother would be supplying information for the genealogical class and paying for all four of the summer classes, there was really no way out for Daria.
-60s-
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