Clinton Callahan

The lady behind the California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo) registration desk in 1975 asks, "And what would you like to learn, young man?" Clinton has no hesitation in declaring, "I want to learn magic. I want to learn healing, transformation, authentic adulthood initiations, paraphysics, metaphysics..." "Hold on right there," she says. "We have physics!" "Uh, I'll study physics then." Five years later he has to admit he is not learning what he wants to learn and one Thursday night invites others with the same frustration to begin a weekly meeting to teach each other what they want to learn. Seventy-five people show up that first evening, but soon distill down to fifteen regulars. The weekly meetings culminate in a three month experiment in synergetic education and temporary community in the fall of 1975 with five participants (Kat Felkner, Ed Clark, Alan Friedman, Phyllis Goldman, and Clinton Callahan) camping together on a beach at the very bottom of Baja California