Sleeping Where I Fall: a review

Peter Coyote is probably best known today for his film acting as well as his narration of various documentaries and nature programs. You might remember him as "keys" in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial or possibly from his narration of the program The National Parks: America's Best Idea. Over the years, Coyote has amassed over 100 film roles.

What is less widely known is that Peter Coyote led a full and interesting life well before he embarked on his cinematic career. As one of the founders of the Diggers (an anarchist group active in Haight-Ashbury), Coyote was an activist in the San Francisco counter-culture community during the mid-1960s. Sleeping Where I Fall is a memoir of those times. The book leaves off right before he started film acting...and I've been waiting ten years for the follow-up book.

The book explores how Peter Cohon (Coyote's birth name) left Englewood, New Jersey and arrived in San Francisco to become a stage actor. Once in San Francisco, Cohon discovered the San Francisco Mime Troupe, left-wing political street theater group, and began taking steps on the path that would alter his life forever.

Eventually changing his name to Peter Coyote, he partied with Janis Joplin, befriended various Hell's Angels, knew the Grateful Dead, and traveled across the nation with various friends and lived in communes all over the country. It is fascinating to see Coyotes perspective of these now legendary people. Rather than blind glorification (which often happens with legends) or a revisionist tearing down (which, sadly, also often happens with legends) we are given a personal eye view. Janis was a great friend. As was Grateful Dead manager Danny Rifkin. Coyote has less kind words for counter-cultural icon Abbie Hoffman.

While it is awe inspiring to think that one man from New Jersey came to know all these movers and shakers of the 1960's, like all lives, not everything was roses. Coyote lived at Olema ranch, Red House, and Black Bear Ranch at different points in life and he writes about the struggles at each commune as well as the joys.

The story isn't a defense of the counter-culture nor is it a condemnation of the counter-culture's faults. It is a very personal story about a man's spiritual search for truth, peace, and freedom.

I first read this book ten years ago when it was first published. I found it to be very inspiring and opened up new modes of thought for me. As I reread it now (ten years older, of course) I was surprised to discover that the book didn't have the joyful optimism that I had recalled.

While the communards found that they were rebelling without plan or concrete goal they were casually optimistic that everything would turn out for the best. In my early twenties, I overlooked the flaws in their modus operandi with the same youthful optimism. Now in my thirties, I more clearly see that while hope and optimism are necessary components to a joyful and productive life, devoid of planning and action they won't carry the day. Now the book reads a little more bittersweet.

There is also some sorrow in seeing how life ended up for so many of the original Diggers and their associates. While some found a balance in life and attained happiness and success, the fates of others run the gamut from disappointment to untimely death. Not that the book is sad. While it is in parts, it isn't sad as a whole. It is still inspiring in many ways.

The book began life as a short story entitle Carla's Story which was published in ZYZZYVA in 1992. After winning the Pushcart Prize for the story, Coyote decided to attempt to pen his memoirs. And I'm glad he did.

Some of the stories that make up Sleeping Where I Fall have been published by Peter Coyote in other venues. The Free-Fall Chronicles: Playing For Keeps tells of his meeting with another Digger pioneer who had a great deal of influence on Coyote, Emmet Grogan. Grogan himself wrote a memoir entitled Ringolevio...and as much fun as it was to read, I would be shocked if even 30% of it wasn't total bullshit. I am hard pressed to believe that Grogan was a Park Avenue burglar, was in cahoots with the mafia, worked with the IRA, and then pretty much single handedly created the Diggers. As Coyote later said of Grogan's book:

Oh, yeah, Emmett sauntered and we all walked.

As years go by, we are all a little prone to remembering things brighter (or sometimes, darker) than they really were. Unlike Ringolevio, however, Sleeping Where I Fall reads as an accurate representation of the times (although I wasn't present, or even alive, for the events told in this book, my bullshit detector didn't wiggle at all while reading it). Coyote never paints himself as a saint and is quick to point out where he went astray. It is refreshing and honest.

If you are interested in reading about the American counter-culture of the sixties and seventies from a first person perspective by someone who truly was living the life espoused by the counter-culture...I cannot recommend this book enough.

Sleeping Where I Fall: A Chronicle
by Peter Coyote