My name is Tony Danza and I am a radical individual. Before I go on, let me first describe what a radical individual is. The term was first coined by Judge Robert Bork in his book "Slouching Towards Gomorrah". Judge Bork's definition is; a radical individual is one that is individualistic to the detriment of society. In the book he made the argument that the 1960's, with all its upheaval and idealism, was really just a bunch of radical individuals doing whatever the heck they wanted. Remember "do your own thing"? The argument has been; was the 60's and early 70's a time of profound change in thinking and a new way of relating to each other and to our government or was it just a big irresponsible party?
Now, as I think back, I wonder. I graduated high school in 1968 and went to college at a small liberal arts institution in Dubuque Iowa, The University of Dubuque. When I arrived in Iowa from New York it was quite a culture shock. Up until that time I thought New York was the norm. It wasn't. The other big shock was the rigid rules and mores of the campus and the city. Iowa was a dry state so we drove across the Mississippi to Wisconsin to drink 3.2 beer. The upper classmen, especially the anointed seniors, constantly hazed the 'silly superfluous...etc.' freshman. We would have to wear a beanie with a little propeller on top and recite the whole "s" spiel on command. In the cafeteria if an upper classmen asked you, you had to take his tray back to the counter. The curfew was 10:30 on weekdays and 12 on the weekends. The big men on campus and the cool girls were all in fraternities and sororities. These organizations also had rules and the members were all too happy to adhere to them. Not so much me and most of the freshmen I came in with. Rules were made to be broken, that's how you knew you were alive.
Today we shop but that's another story. The first sign of rad individuality was hair starting to grow longer. It was a tangible way to let people know, especially in Iowa, that you were an individual and a non-conformist. For some reason, making sure people knew that seemed so important. Long hair on a man,
