Introduction

In the 1970s, the lines between culture and counterculture became increasingly blurred. On college campuses, debates between administrations and their students surrounded topics ranging from freedom of expression to war efforts in Vietnam. The students of Sonoma State College watched some of these debates happen before their eyes. Letters from Dean of Students John Palmer and an unknown writer with the moniker Backwoods Bob are evidence of counterculture’s clear presence at both Sonoma State College, and the nation at large. The students of Sonoma State College saw these letters while in the midst of widespread campus change. The Associated Students (the school’s student government), was in the process of disbanding due to student apathy towards governing bodies and increased division between the administration and student-run newspapers. One of these papers, The Outlaw Steppes, frequently featured the enigmatic Backwoods Bob as an editor starting in April of 1970. The “Dean of Enlightened Anarchism”, as he called himself in the letter, ran in groups that were at the center of Sonoma County’s local counterculture movement. One of these groups, in particular, went on to run Cotati City Council and the town’s mayorship a few years after the letters were written. They were even interviewed by Rolling Stone because of their participation in the local counterculture movement. One of the methods of protesting that counterculture followers enjoyed was tongue-in-cheek humor. Popular musicians wrote anti-war songs, posters took old war slogans and turned them on their heads, and some governing bodies had their messages parroted back to them with a sarcastic flair. The Palmer Letter, and Backwoods Bob’s rebuttal, are clear evidence of this practice at work, with Bob’s rebuttal acting as a parody of the original message.