Crazy Like a Fox

Crazy Like a Fox

Lee Smith writes eloquently about people who have visions, especially concerning religion. But one of my all-time favorite books about being crazy was written by the son of the amazing Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Vonnegut. The book is "The Eden Express", which tells the true story of Mark's descent into what was then called schizophrenia. Like many children of the sixties, Mark and his friends rejected the values of their parents and sought to build a new world centered around peace, love, dope, and sharing. They left the East Coast and eventually bought an old farm miles by boat from the nearest city in British Columbia. They rebuilt the old farmhouse, grew what they could, ground their own grain, and welcomed other hippies to their commune. But Mark never felt as happy as he thought he should be. He began to feel paranoid almost all the time. He stopped being able to sleep, and had to be hospitalized. Mark Vonnegut left the hippie life behind, and today is a pediatrician. I wasn't brave enough to be a hippie. I didn't even go to Woodstock, despite living so close to that area and being the right age. I did go to some peace moratoriums at Union College while in high school, but I never would have had the courage to do what Mark Vonnegut did. His book not only tells the story of being mentally ill, but gives us a snapshot of what it was like to be an authentic hippie living on a commune in the days of peace and love.