Every once in a while, I run into what looks like another example of synchronicity. If you’re not familiar with the term, here’s the brief Wikipedia version (click on the link if you would like to read more):

Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events as meaningfully related, where they are unlikely to be causally related. The subject sees it as a meaningful coincidence. The concept of synchronicity was first described by Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist, in the 1920s.[1]

Yesterday provided one of those “once in a while” moments.

Early in the day, I spent an hour or so trying to search out enough background about November 14, 1968, to support a blog post. It’s one of those dates that sticks in my mind because the date was marked by coordinated rallies and protests against the draft on college and university campuses across the country. I was in Walla Walla, Washington at Whitman College, and I remember that we joined in organizing actions to mark the day.

My early morning search turned up only fragments, but little substantive history. Most references were very brief, like this one:

November 14
Draft Protests
(PROTESTS)

Students celebrate “National Turn in Your Draft Card Day” with protest rallies on campuses across the United States.

A Facebook post displayed the December 1968 cover of Ramparts Magazine, following the day of protest,which featured draft cards burning.

My recollection is that this event was backed by the loose network of anti-draft groups which operated under the label, “The Resistance.”

In any case, I didn’t find quite enough to sustain a fresh post.

Then later in the day I sorted through a couple of small boxes looking for future “Throwback Thursday” foots. Along with several 8×10 photos I had printed back in my darkroom days, there was also a stack of contact sheets, which are made by laying several strips of negatives on a sheet of photo paper and making a direct print. They produce images the same size as the negatives, usually just a visual index of what’s ended up on each roll of film.

There were lots of pictures taken in 1969 and 1970 in Hawaii, and then some from undergraduate days at Whitman. I did quick scans of several sheets using a Fujitsu ScanSnap desktop scanner, which I really like.

And then I looked at the scan, and found the photo that appears below. It’s a group of students at a table, probably in the old Student Union Building. The table has a couple of signs. One says “November 14,” then something I can’t make out, and at the bottom, “Stop the draft”. The larger sign, cut off at the bottom of the frame, is the Greek letter omega, ?, the symbol for ohms—the unit of electrical resistance. This had become the widely used symbol of the draft resistance movement.

I’m there kneeling and holding a “Resist the Draft” bumper sticker.

On the same roll of film were several photos of a group leafletting the local high school. Here’s one of them, which I posted previously. This helps to date it more precisely. Others in the series show the arrival of the local police, apparently concerned about students getting information critical of the draft and American policy in Vietnam.

In any case, running cross these photos on the same day that I had been searching for info on the November 14th draft protests was one of those coincidences that bolsters the belief in synchronicity.