Commentary: Opening The Time Capsule (Part II)

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Scott Berkey – It strikes me as I get to the second page that for all the long talks that Brendan and I had about the need for a new way for kids to speak to the world and for all the long talks we had about politics once we were really publishing something we didn’t really have much to go with.

Alexi somehow managed to finagle a credit in the masthead. Not sure how that happened or what he ever contributed. That really irked me at the time, but now it strikes me as just another piece of the mixed up puzzle that was The Advocate.

Brendan Kinney – I think he wrote one article, but we should corroborate.

SB – “Protests in the 1990s” is the first piece to appear in The Advocate with a legitimate byline.

BK – And there I go again, ranting about foreign policy, war and peace, and whatever else you got. It was around this time that I went to my first protest in Washington, D.C., although it was probably a year later during my first year in college. Ironically, Scott got off a bus just as I walked by with the Saint Mike’s contingent. He threw a rod on his Toyota Corolla flooring it to the bus stop where other Vermonters had gathered for the trip down.

SB – Brendan wasn’t the only one predicting (hoping) the 90’s would be like the sixties, but the momentum that seemed to be building almost came to a boil during Operation Desert Storm and then fizzled away.

BK – Best quote of my piece from that issue: “So far the eighties have been a real drag.”

SB – But then the economy cooked along in the 1990s and every other week TV’s got twice as big, computer’s twice as fast, and everything from China cost half as much. No one seemed to care about anything anymore accept sitting back and enjoying the ride.

BK – It’s here that Libertarianism makes its first appearance in The Advocate.

SB – David Atkinson introduced Brendan and me to the Libertarian Party and a distinctly different brand of politics. He did still care and certainly wasn’t afraid to shake things up. The World’s Smallest Political Quiz was one of his favorite outreach tools and it is still used by libertarians and Libertarians today.

BK – The World’s Smallest Political Quiz was a brilliant marketing piece designed by the party faithful to at least crack the door open to those who were looking for a better and different way. David Atkinson led a book group where we discussed Libertarianism In One Lesson by David Bergland. What was so appealing about the Libertarian approach is that it seemed so black and white: you were either for more freedom and self reliance, or you weren’t. Back then and through to today, I lean more “civil libertarian,” more comfortable with the ACLU-friendly planks of the philosophy. Unfortunately today, Libertarianism has been tied with “Tea Party” in the press and political circles and that’s definitely not a party I want to be associated with!

Jamie Hill – I’m shocked at how much advertising we managed to get in our first issue.

SB – How did we ever convince the Union Market Deli or any other business to buy an ad in The Advocate? I have no idea. I guess that is just one of the benefits of living in a small town: pity.

BK – I can’t remember what our ad rates were…$15? But God bless Brent (He had a last name. – ED.) at Union Market Deli for buying ad space. I think he ended up opening a sporting goods store in the Berlin mall a couple of years after the fires that destroyed the Union Market along with half of downtown Randolph.

SB – The Definitive Guide to Sledding was a Berkey piece and I think the longest piece ever to appear in The Advocate.

BK – The Iceman certainly had a way with words – and stick figures – in his treatise on sledding. What made The Advocate unique is that we would actually print an article about sledding. Take THAT Outside Magazine!

SB – I dug it out of my archives so that we could fill the full 8 pages without resorting to giant fonts.

BK – Again, the article reminds me of misadventures of that time: Scott led Rob Tetlow and me up Pinnacle Mountain for a sledding expedition. Scott had carefully riveted together two red sleds with some padding in between; this custom job also came with two or three rubber ties (like the ones you would use to strap a suitcase to a car roof) but would instead be used to strap himself in. I remember just seeing a flash of Berkey’s big hair and a few flakes of snow as he shoved himself off a small vertical and down the trail. Rob and I were less successful; we shared a sled and ended up scraping to a stop on top of a sapling trunk. We did NOT have padding and writhed around in the snow while Berkey looked on, most likely amused with himself that our trip ended so…suddenly.

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SB – The stick figure illustrations are by me too and for whatever reason they are one of my favorite contributions. Perhaps it is the irony of our longest story being successfully summed up in four tiny stick figure illustrations or the simplistic but inexplicably communicative quality of the illustrations.

Pinnacle, Sunset Hill, and Montague are all still great sledding spots though Pinnacle is now the site of a lovely private home so it is basically a by-invitation-only stop now.

BK – More paid advertising! I’m not sure how we convinced Hair By Cheryl to advertise with us, since Scott never cut his hair?

SB – Hair By Cheryl was a consistent sponsor and I was a consistent patron as The Advocate years were also my long hair years and good thing they were because that was basically my last chance because not long after it was the beginning of the hair go bye-bye years.

BK – It’s funny to think about how we never really had a business plan. That was also an issue with upstart magazine as I recall. Lots of ideas about content, but without a business plan, our generous benefactors had to bow out eventually. It’s kinda ironic that when I came to work at VPR I was put in charge of underwriting (a.k.a. “advertising” in public radio). One of the current staff members turned out to be the one and only salesperson for upstart! After agreeing to sell for us, he mysteriously disappeared. He was quite shocked when I became his boss at VPR.

BK – What did each issue cost to print? Was it like $150 I remember Dickey Drysdale gave us a break on the price (or so he said). We’ll have to have a whole separate post/write-up about our relationship with Dickey!

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BK – $10! That’s how much it cost to advertise in The Advocate!

I can’t believe I didn’t go see Camper Van Beethoven at Dartmouth. Ah, wasted youth.

JH – I love that we had a Suicidal Tendencies review and a Bon Jovi review in the same issue, and that they were both treated with equal enthusiasm and goodwill. That stands the test of time so much better than if we’d been poseurs about the Bon Jovi record.

BK – My review of Suicidal Tendencies is a reflection of my interest in skateboarding during this period. Looking back now, I realize I was just awful at skateboarding, but really enjoyed the social environment and the rebellious nature of it. During this time, I also had a letter published in Transworld Magazine (a national skate pub) about rednecks in 4×4’s trying to run us down on Merchants Row in Randolph.

SB – I am thinking that Transworld Magazine probably would have a different title today.

BK – Not much of a review actually, more like a track listing. I looked up ST recently and found out that lead singer and founder Mike Muir is still at it. I shuffled up a playlist on Spotify during one of my long runs. That music certainly captured my worldview and posture (poseur?) during those years.

For some reason, I have a distinct memory of that owl in the Lost Mountain Bookshop ad. The owner was certainly supportive of our efforts and eventually contributed comics for publication. I wonder where he is these days?

SB – Kevin Dunwoody and his wife owned Lost Mountain. Kevin just got a new gig running the Playhouse movie theater in Randolph.

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BK – Was Robert O. Milieu? TJ Quirk? Maybe Scott already suggested that.

SB – No idea who wrote “The Middle of the Road” by Robert O. Milieu.

JH – I believe that Robert O. Milieu was me. I took French in high school, and the humor seems right for where I was at at age 16. I’m not even embarrassed by that piece!

BK – Well look at that!! The Advocate covered Bernie, future contender for the 2016 Democratic nomination for president. I wonder if Mother Jones will come looking for a copy? Again, reading between the lines you can see me grappling with party labels, politics as usual, political philosophy…questioning it all.

SB – Despite his debate nightmares Brendan was not yet able to vote in 1988. I was. Honestly I can’t remember who I voted for, but knowing how little I thought of George Bush it is hard to image that he got my first every presidential vote.

BK – I have a clear recollection of watching Jessie Jackson during the Democratic primary debates…sitting in the tiny TV room of my family’s house on Pleasant Street. That debate left an impression…Dukakis, not as much.

SB – Pretty sure I voted for Jessie Jackson in the Democratic Primary. I know Jessie is a bit of a pariah today, but in 1988 his was pretty cool still and a great protest vote. I would like to say I voted for Ron Paul, but I can’t say that for certain. I remember that he actually made a campaign stop in Randolph. I don’t know if David Atkinson had something to do with that or what, because Randolph isn’t your typically presidential campaign stop (though years later Harry Browne made an appearance at the Vermont Libertarian Party Convention when it was held at Lupines – the restaurant owned by yours truly and my wife Amy).

BK – I love the title of The Couch Potato’s’ Debatable Dream. The article? Meh. Not great, but sad that not much has changed in the political playbook. I suppose it’s always been a game. You can see my disillusionment spilling off this particular page.

I recall how “vigorously” Scott would edit my work. Sometimes, he’d sit by my side as I typed the article and questions, prodded, poked, mocked, suggested…maybe efficient, but very stressful as I recall! I think I already wrote about this process earlier, but I think that’s what Scott enjoyed most was the collaboration – of sorts – on the articles, something that he didn’t get during our upstart days.

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BK – I am amazed that Neanderthal Matt’s grammar, diction, and manner of speaking has literally not changed one bit since 1988.

SB – Not sure how we ended up with “The Thinking Page.” The whole newspaper was supposed to make you think. Still, as I remember, some of the best pieces made it onto The Thinking Page and I always looked forward to laying that page out.

BK – Overall, the Thinking Page is a great collection of stream of consciousness writing on the part of Matt, Scott…but who authored Idle Prodding?

SB – Idle Prodding says it is by “E.C. Nal.” Looks like Lance backwards. Could have been Lance Terry.

BK – When you think of it, it really brings back the unicorns. Running free over the prairie lands, not a care in the world except for the pack of wolves right on their heels…or hoofs…or hooves? Shit, when you think of the prairie lands, that’s a ton of grass to mow on a regular basis. Better pave it over, just be sure to have the proper drainage…stormwater runoff is a bitch. Watching from a bluff through his Bushnell binoculars, former President Clinton stood solitary, a man in repose. What’s on his mind? What’s in his heart? Does he long for Lewinsky in the middle of the night, all by his lonesome in his cozy yurt? Does he keep a picture of Hillary by his bedside? Does he wear PJs or go commando? After all, it’s just him, the unicorns, and the wolf pack sitting just outside, hoping a few scraps might be tossed their way.

SB – Wow. Where did that come from? Sounds like it could be from a lost issue.

BK – Wha-? Oh, sorry…flashback.

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SB – I don’t know who had the forethought to get a post office box for The Advocate, but it was always thrilling to go to the Post Office and find mail! Somebody wrote us! It was a shock every time, but worth every penny of the box rental.

BK – I forgot all about the Declaration of Intent. But there it is, in the first issue…our mission statement. I don’t recall being that deliberate about it, but given the aura of self importance that comes with youth, I’m not surprised it’s there! I think the intentions of the DOI are pretty clear: participation, exploration, connection, fun. It’s interesting how these intentions have carried through in my life 30 years later. Those four Big Ideas are a thread through everything I’ve done since The Advocate.

Oh, and the Enigmatic Contest is awesome.

JH – The Enigmatic Contest is brilliant.

SB – We actually had a winner. Jill Montgomery in advertising at The Herald of Randolph.

JH – Also brilliant: the point/counterpoint back on the front page by one author. Truly avant-garde. And, really, emblematic of both the intellectual rigor and the disarming egolessness with which we were so intentionally attempting to tackle the things on our mind.

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BK – When Scott runs for president, someone is going to dig out his article “Mainstream, Hell, And Back” and the media will have a fucking field day with it. “Do we really want to hand over the nuclear codes to a man who has questionable hygiene habits and sticky fingers?”

As his campaign manager, I’ll blow it off as a dalliance of youth and after all, who doesn’t pick their nose, really? It shows that he’s just like you and me, a regular Joe.

I love the fact that Mike Jaminet (another R.U.H.S. alum – Ed.) reviewed the latest album by New Jersey’s favorite boys – Bon Jovi. Actually, Bruce Springsteen may have something to say about that…and Chris Christie.

This was pretty racy stuff for Mike, who comes from a devout Catholic family. I haven’t talked with him in years, but thanks to Tipper Gore’s hard work, those lyrics didn’t send Mike down the path of juvenile delinquency. I’m sure he’s long forgotten about his submission to The Advocate, but I would love to remind Mike of his words from 1988: “When you hear that too familiar JonBon rasp, you know you are home!”