California Dreamin'

When California Dreaming came out in the mid-late 60s I was mired in northern Indiana at a fabulous college that had, as its policy, not to invite the bottom 10% of the student body back for the following year. For men, that meant the draft. For women, it meant who knows.

California was like this place in the mind. None of us had enough money to go there or do anything about it but it seemed so nice. Every group that came to campus to do a concert seemed to rub our nose in the fact that they had been there and we were stuck here.  When it was January and -14 and the wind was off Lake Michigan, snow up to your elbows and all us German Lutheran types marching to class like penguins..well, let me tell you. You were motivated to stay in the upper quarter of the class least you go near the bottom 10th and the pictures on the television from Viet Nam had palm trees just like southern California.