Think for Yourself. Question Authority.

Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of Dr. Timothy Leary.

Tim is the most famous graduate of my alma mater, Classical High School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

He is arguably the most famous citizen of Springfield. Some may dispute that it is Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss, author of many fantastical books for children. Or the city's founder, William Pynchon, author of the first book banned in Boston, The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption, Justification, Etc...., who was actually born in Springfield, Essex, England.

What's beyond dispute is that all were independent thinkers, in a city noted for independent thought. Springfield was home to the first armed insurrection against the authority of the American government, Shays' Rebellion. Later, it was a stop on the Underground Railroad (the building next door to me was one of the safe houses, built by an escaped slave).

"Never do anything like anyone else. Find your own way . . .Be one of a kind!" were words spoken to Tim by his grandfather, also named Dr. Timothy Leary...words which obviously had an impact on his namesake.

What psychedelic drugs were to Dr. Leary in the '60's, the internet became in the '90's. The web is a place where you can create and interact with your own worlds. It's affordable, widely available, and, amazingly enough, legal.

Although Timothy Leary produced children and wrote prolifically, one of the ways he desired to live on was by means of a presence in cyberspace. Leary.com consists simply--today--of his version of his grandfather's counsel:

THINK FOR YOURSELF, QUESTION AUTHORITY

(OCT 22, 1920 - MAY 31, 1996)