OK … so I need some items for my classroom, and I am shamelessly begging my readers for assistance in acquiring them. We are doing an activism theme second semester (which starts next Wednesday), and I intend to decorate my classroom in a hippie theme. I’ve got a blacklight poster with a big peace sign on it, a couple of seriously ’70s-looking postcards with political messages on them, and a couple of Hatch-style posters advertising Grateful Dead concerts and “be-ins” and that sort of thing. I have also ordered a lava lamp, which should be coming in any day now.
To continue this theme, I would like to have any or all of the following:
1. Desk lamp with flexible neck OR smallish blacklight fixture that does not need to be attached to a wall.
2. Retro posters depicting peace signs, flowers, Janis Joplin, Woodstock, the Strawberry Fields monument to John Lennon, folk festivals, the Beatles, etc. (No nudity, marijuana, or magic mushrooms, please.)
3. Additional lava lamps.
4. Batik sarongs/tapestries/flags/etc. (No drug references or religious emblems, please — the kids’ parents would have my head if I decorated my room with pentagrams or pot leaves.)
5. Bumper stickers, buttons, magnets or postcards promoting social causes (all political persuasions welcome, as I am trying to create a bulletin board showing as many different causes as possible). I cannot use anything that promotes illegal drugs or known hate/terror groups — e.g., KKK, Animal Liberation Front, etc. — but if you happen to have a spare sticker promoting legitimate organizations that are suitable for inclusion in a classroom, I would love to add it to the mix.
Please do not go out and purchase items for this project, as I may not be able to use everything, and I don’t want anybody shelling out money for this … but if you’ve got a spare lava lamp/psychedelic candle/blacklight poster/Grateful Dead sticker/Save the Whales decal/oversized batik scarf you never wear/bead curtain/whatever, please post a comment so I can make arrangements to get it from you ASAP.
I kind of let the semester get away from me, so this is very last-minute, but if you have something on hand and are willing to share, I will be most grateful.
Emily
Red Fork Hippie 
I grew up in the SF Bay area, in the 60’s, so I have concert posters (Fillmore, Avalon Ballroom, etc.) It is possible I have one for a Dead concert, but no matter, they are all pretty cool. The posters are fairly worn but because they have been on many apt walls, stored in boxes, moved, etc. But I will have a look in the garage later today. Where do it send it?
Thank you so much. How exciting — real Fillmore posters! I’m looking forward to seeing them and explaining their significance to my kids. (And I am wildly jealous that you were in the Bay area in the ’60s. We were in SF this summer. I made a long-anticipated pilgrimage to City Lights Books. We won’t talk about how much I spent….)
I found some cool stuff today at the teachers’ supply stores, party shop, etc. My bulletin board ideas are starting to take shape, but if anybody’s got items to add to the mix, I’d really appreciate them. We particularly need stickers and postcards highlighting various organizations and issues. I’ll put magnetic tape on the backs of them and use them as a border for my whiteboards.
I’ll post photos of the classroom when I get it decorated, which will happen Wednesday afternoon/evening.