Adam Speaks in Lincoln Park as Tear Gas Looms Chicago 1968

The week following Martin Luther King's death, Adam came to a simple decision. He would leave "Renewal" - the award-winning magazine he founded just five years before. He had tried to forge unity and common purpose with other publications to no avail. There was no interest in combining forces among the independent mainline publications.

Adam saw nothing but frustration in documenting the continuing wreckage of all he had hoped for when he listened to Kelly Miller Smith in Nashville. His time in Geneva had taught him that if he was to be instrumental in achieving Paul Wolfe's mission - "Do something different" - he would need a theological understanding beyond anything that had yet been put on the table. Including - for those who know theology - the speculations of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Adam told Ganya that she would be the one to decide where they would go. He agreed to hold fort while she traveled about to find their next home. He would become free-lance and make a living somehow. He saw no real future in Chicago. Things were winding down, not up.

Ganya surprised Adam profoundly. She visited Pickinsboro but was unimpressed by the surrounding area. There was not enough there. She wanted more culture.

She went down to Stockbridge and stayed with Reginald, Adam¯¿½s surrogate father. Reginald was now partners with Richard Nixon in his New York law firm. The affable lawyerleaped enthusiastically at the thought of Adam and Ganya moving to the Berkshires. To his beloved Stockbridge no less.

Ganya needed little prodding. There were decent public schools. The town was neat. And even then, the countercultural vibe was tangible. The whole scene appealed to Ganya's theo-philo-sophical predilections. It would appeal more and more, as new age tentacles grasped more and more of the Berkshires with Steineresque suppositions, chakra-reading poseurs and other tender traps.

When Ganya returned to Chicago and told Adam, he perked up. He regarded her with renewed respect. He looked forward to not being in Pickinsboro. Stockbridge was a great choice. Having Reginald about was a positive potential pleasure.

Does anyone ever leave anything? Could anyone ever predict that with such a move Adam could virtually abolish Pickinsboro? Reality changes with pushes and shoves seemingly from nowhere. Leverage rules. But do not leap so readily. Into all lives rain will fall. And Stockbridge will prove not merely the stage for Adam to achieve new heights as our hero, but for him to experience failure in exquisitely painful ways, vastly exceeding such physical pain as might be coming his way.

Adam immediately informed the Community Renewal Society of his intention to depart. In the fall, the Panflicks would make the big move, just in time for school.

The following seven weeks brought some encouragement. It was Bobby Kennedy time. Adam never had much interest in Gene McCarthy, mainly because he had never believed the NPR wing of America was capable of flying politically. But McCarthy had had the guts to challenge the avil President.

And McCarthy licked LBJ in New Hampshire. Johnson's bellicose policies had made the President a virtual prisoner in the White House. The Secret Service wouldn't let him out. Bobby entered the campaign after New Hampshire. It seemed opportunistic. But it was great news To Adam. Bobby could and would win.

On June 4, Bobby won California.

New York would prove the decisive contest. McCarthy had the celebs. Bobby had the rank and file. The damned thing was almost over. The only question was whether Bobby would really end the war and re-raise Martin's torch.

June 4 morphed into June 5.

LA. Happiness. Bobby accepts victory. In a minute or two, it seems, he is gunned down in the hotel pantry.

This time Adam does not cry. He is still numb from April and Martin. He feels the Jaws of Hell closing. Evil advancing. History trending to a dark age. Mortonward.

Adam became cold and thoughtful. Slow in his movements. How does one proceed when all is lost?

Adam Speaks in Lincoln Park As Tear Gas Looms Chicago 1968