Origins & Essence
The Fountain of Light was a newspaper published from May 1969 to June 1970 in Taos, New Mexico. It was a part of the counter cultural hippy commune era of flower people living love, peace and community and trying to change the world (and it had really good graphics, too).
We had loads of fun doing it and were sorry to stop it then so we brought it back as an online newspaper, or ezine, with some of the old staff and a new generation of writers and artists.
Why the name-Fountain of Light?
Answer#1–Nobody here now remembers where the name came from but it was like the times- full of hope and optimism that we could flood the planet with light and solve all the world’s problems.
Answer#2–Just as light is composed of an entire rainbow of color, so the Fountain of Light is composed of a wide range of ideas, opinions, and information. They all serve one purpose, though: To illuminate us, inspire us, and guide us as we find new (and old!) ways to work, play, and live in the new millenium.
What’s this ezine about?
Answer#1–Information and a new way of looking at every day stuff.
Answer#2– The circle of life as it flows and goes from the 60’s to the 00’s.
Who are you?
Answer#1–Many of us lived the 60’s from the perspective of different cultures, backgrounds and experiences. What shaped us (and the 60’s) were the results of WWII -especially the atomic bomb, Korea, the coming of television, automobiles, music (Rock & Roll, Elvis, Jazz, Folk, Dylan), Racism, the Civil Rights Movement, Kennedy and King and their murders, concern for the environment, marijuana and LSD, group living, technology, Viet Nam and the separation of the government from its citizens which continues into the current day.
Answer#2–A motley crew of hard core “can do” , multi-generational crazies!
(And if you want names check the by-lines, but if you want pedigree better check yourself!)
Is this a 60’s thing?
Yes and No.
Yes, it is a 60’s point of view, but no – we weren’t frozen in time and then defrosted.
We’ve lived and worked in the world for the last thirty plus years and did learn and grow.
But we never went back in some sense and we never gave up our beliefs. We lived them!
So we are uniquely situated in having survived the 70’s, 80’s and 90′ into this age which really is an age of change, much like the sixties. And we believe that this point of view can be used and appreciated in our joint quest for survival for the stakes have been raised and time really is growing short.
Do you accept advertisements?
No, but we will accept support (sort of like PBS but without Foundation help)!
You can make a tax deductible donation to Alpha Institute, a 501C3 Non Profit Corporation for the Fountain of Light. If interested contact us at editors@fountainoflight.net.
How do you manage?
We want to do this and find a way.
Plus the Universe-Goddess-Earth Mother-Spirit seems to smile down on us. And that is the spirit of the 60’s.
Where are you?
Denver, Colorado.
Any Archives From the original FOL?
Yes, we have some copies of the original issues and will be putting up some of the articles and graphics when we have time.
Note: A number of people contributed to the original Fountain of Light and it is impossible to mention all or give credit or even seek permission for using these writings or graphics. But in the spirit of those times we believe everyone involved would support this publication so – anyone who wants to comment or just get back involved – please contact us.
Update: In January 2023 the server we used for the Fountain of Light crashed and we lost everything including all the articles. We were able to recover some content using the Wayback Machine archive but had to start over with a new hosting service and a new program.
So this begins again…
And if anyone has any feedback, suggestions, articles or questions, please drop us a line at editors@fountainoflight.net!
Peace!