Emmett Grogan
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Emmett Grogan (born Eugene Leo Grogan, November 28, 1942 – April 6, 1978) was a founder of the Diggers, a radical community-action group of Improvisational actors in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. The Diggers took their name from the English Diggers (1649–1650), a radical movement opposed to feudalism, the Church of England and the British Crown.
BiographyEdit
Grogan's distrust of the mainstream media made it difficult for reporters to acquire more than a few details of his life. He was born on November 28, 1942, as Eugene Leo Grogan into an Irish-American family in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. According to his publisher, New York Review Books, "Grogan grew up on New York City’s mean streets, getting hooked on heroin before he was in his teens, kicking the habit and winning a scholarship to a swanky Manhattan private school, pursuing a highly profitable sideline as a Park Avenue burglar, then skipping town to enjoy the dolce vita in Italy."<ref name="NYRB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After high school, he attended Duke University for one year before moving to San Francisco.Template:Citation needed
The San Francisco Diggers evolved out of two radical traditions that thrived in the Bay Area in the mid-1960s: the bohemian/underground art/theater scene, and the New Left/civil rights/peace movement. The Diggers combined street theatre, direct action, and art happenings in their social agenda of creating a Free City. Their most characteristic activities were distributing free food<ref name=DiggerOverview /> ("Free because it's yours!") every day in Golden Gate Park, and distributing "surplus energy" at a series of Free Stores, where everything in the store was free.<ref>"Digger Virtual Free Store," The Diggers Archives. Accessed Dec. 13, 2019.</ref>
The Diggers coined various slogans that became part of the counterculture and even the larger society, such as, "Do your own thing," and "Today is the first day of the rest of your life."<ref name=DiggerOverview>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Grogan's 1972 autobiography Ringolevio, a Life Played for Keeps, is regarded by some<ref>Dennis Hopper, quoted on the Ringolevio page, New York Review Books website. Retrieved October 18, 2015.</ref> as the best and only authentic book written about the underground culture of the 1960s. In the book, Grogan refers to himself by the alias Kenny Wisdom. In his 1990 introduction to Ringolevio,Peter Coyote, another founding member of the Diggers, states that Grogan's choice of the alias is "no accident",<ref name=Coyote /> without elaborating.Template:Citation needed
Grogan was also the author of Final Score, a crime novel published in 1976.Template:Citation needed
Criticism of countercultureEdit
Grogan shunned media attention and became increasingly suspicious of those who sought publicity. In Ringolevio, Grogan discussed the 1967 Human Be-In, criticizing counterculture luminaries Timothy Leary,<ref>Ringolevio page, New York Review Books website. Retrieved October 18, 2015
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[Ringolevio] is a hard-boiled, sometimes hard-to-believe, wildly entertaining tale that takes a totally unexpected turn when Grogan washes up in sixties San Francisco and becomes a leader of the anarchist group known as the Diggers. The Diggers, devoted to street theater, direct action, and distributing free food, were in the thick of the legendary Summer of Love, and soon Grogan is struggling with the naive narcissism of the hippies, the marketing of revolution as a brand, dogmatic radicals, and false prophets like tripster Timothy Leary.{{#if:|{{#if:|}}
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Grogan thought the HIP (Haight Independent Proprietors) merchants, led by Ron and Jay Thelin, who had sponsored events like the Human Be-In, were the primary beneficiaries of the events: "The HIP merchants were astounded by their own triumph by promoting such a large market for their wares. They became the Western world's taste makers overnight..." He objected to the "Summer of Love" enticing of young people to the Haight-Ashbury to experience hippie life, noting that an influx of residents would cause an "immigration crisis" and the kids who came expecting an already-formed Utopia would end up living a desperate hand-to-mouth existence on the streets. He also decried the HIP merchants' "HIP Job Co-Op," revealing that much of the work they offered was sweatshop labor. He pointed out that unskilled and clerical jobs would be taken away from poor residents who depended on such work to survive.<ref>Grogan, Emmett. Ringolevio: A Life Played for Keeps, pp. 264–308; excerpts concerning Grogan's work in the Haight-Ashbury. Archived at The Diggers Archive. Accessed Dec. 13, 2019.</ref>
DeathEdit
On April 6, 1978, 35-year-old Grogan was found dead on a New York City Subway train on the F train in Coney Island; he had suffered a heart attack.<ref>Emmett Grogan obituary, New York Times April 8, 1978.</ref> Close friend and Digger co-founder Peter Coyote stated in his foreword to Grogan's autobiography Ringolevio that his death was due to a heroin overdose.<ref name=Coyote>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Bob Dylan dedicated his 1978 album Street Legal to Grogan.<ref>Street Legal page, BobDylan.com. Accessed Dec. 13, 2019.</ref> Richard Brautigan dedicated his poem "Death Is a Beautiful Car Parked Only" to Grogan.<ref>"Information about Emmett Grogan," Template:Webarchive The Richard Brautigan Archives. Accessed 2016 Nov. 15.</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Grogan was married to the French-Canadian actress Template:Ill; they had one son.