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Ron Johnson
Honolulu, Hawaii
 

 

We shared growing up in the rural/small town mid-West. We often talked about the remarkable tolerance people had toward neighbors, some of them very strange, and the intolerance they showed toward outsiders, no matter how seemingly normal

 

 

 

 

 

 


As recalcitrant and oppositional people, we shared our negative feelings about politicians -- especially Republicans -- but almost all of us shared these experiences. We also had little regard for University administrators (Deane Neubauer a notable exception). But almost all academics felt the same.

We went through other experiences that were not shared by all.

We shared growing up in the rural/small town mid-West. We often talked about the remarkable tolerance people had toward neighbors, some of them very strange, and the intolerance they showed toward outsiders, no matter how seemingly normal.

We both went through McCarthyism and the witch-hunt. We learned how little faith one could have in the courage of university administrators, most faculty and students, and the American Association of University Professors.

We shared having had older friends who had fought in the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. We also shared the experience of having taken part in the 1948 Wallace presidential campaign, a time when we thought that a brave new world was on hand. Ann's optimism was unflagging.

Ron Johnson
johnsond009@hawaii.rr.com

 

 

 

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