Steven Hager

Steven Hager, a writer, journalist, and counterculture and marijuana activist, was born May 25, 1951, in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, the son of Lowell P. Hager and Francis Erea Hager.

Early life and career

While a student in junior high, he established his first publication, "The Captain Crunch Courier", a humor xerox zine that was given away free. Two years later, while a student at Urbana High, he created "The Tin Whistle", a monthly newspaper that was eventually distributed in four high schools in Central Illinois. Hager briefly visited Haight-Ashbury in 1968, and the following year he attended the first Woodstock festival. He obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater (Playwriting), and a Masters of Science in Journalism, both from the University of Illinois.

After graduation, Hager moved to New York City, worked for a number of magazines before becoming a reporter for the "New York Daily News". During this time, he began researching the hip hop movement of the South Bronx. His first article on the subculture was published on the cover of the "Village Voice" and was the first time the words "hip hop" appeared in print. [ [http://www.allhiphop.com/hiphopnews/?ID=3661 Hip-Hop Journalists Host Round Table Panel Discussion] by Clover Hope -- Raquel Cepeda, former editor-in-chief of Russell Simmon’s "One World" magazine and editor of the book "And It Don't Stop: The Best Hip-Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years", mentioned a piece by writer Steven Hager called “Afrika Bambaataa’s Hip-Hop,” as the first time the term “Hip-Hop” was coined in an article. The article is reprinted in her book.] Hager based his article on interviews with Afrika Bambaataa, founder of the Zulu Nation, and one of the three original hip hop DJs (the others being Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash). Hager sold his original story "Beat Street" to Harry Belafonte, and the film with the same name was distributed by Orion Pictures. In 1984, St. Martins' Press released his book, "Hip Hop", the first history of rap music, break dancing and graffiti art. He followed that book with "Art After Midnight," an examination of the New York club scene and its influence on artists, primarily Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf, a book also published by St. Martins' Press.

Career with "High Times"

In 1988, Hager was hired as editor of High Times magazine. He is most famous for removing hard drugs (e.g., cocaine and heroin) from the magazine, and concentrating on advocating personal cultivation of marijuana. Hager also created the Cannabis Cup, a marijuana awards ceremony held every Thanksgiving in Amsterdam, and The Freedom Fighters, the first hemp legalization group. The Freedom Fighters were famous for dressing up in Colonial outifts and organizing hemp rallies across America. One rally, The Boston Freedom Rally, quickly became the largest political event in the country, drawing an audience of over 100,000 to the Boston Common. Hager created a garage-rock revival band called the Original Soul Assassins. The band played many of the rallies. Their biggest show was opening for the Butthole Surfers in front of 50,000 people in Washington, DC.

In the 1990s, Hager turned the membership list of the Freedom Fighters over to NORML, and began concentrating on creating events that advocated the environmental benefits of hemp while also demonstrating the spiritual uses of cannabis. The World Hemp Expo Extravaganja, or Whee! Festivals, were held in Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and Ohio. Unfortunately, the promoters who held Whee! festivals all found themselves subject to intense law enforcement efforts to shut down their venues. The primary focus of Whee! was a silent, Sunday, Sunset meditation for peace in the drug war.

In 1993, Hager left his job as editor of High Times for several months while he learned to shoot and edit video. When he returned to the magazine, he was documenting all research on videotape. Over the past 15 years he has produced several feature documentaries and assembled the world's largest archive of marijuana-related video. Documentaries Hager has produced include: "Let Freedom Ring," "Secrets of the Dutch Grow Masters," "The Cannabis Cup," "Saint Stephen," and "The 20th Cannabis Cup." He also wrote the narration for "AKA Tommy Chong."

Hager's most recent book, "The Octopus Conspiracy and Other Vignettes of the Counterculture: From Hippies to High Times to Hip-Hop and Beyond", was published by Trine Day. In 2007, he produced a reality television show based around his job as the Editor-in-Chief of "High Times" magazine. His longterm project is called the Peace Trail Project, which hopes to establish a permanent migratory tribe of all cultures that moves from south in the Winter and north in the Summer.

Hager also regularly appears on college campuses, sometimes solo, but usually as part of a debate on the legalization of marijuana, alongside former New York City D.E.A. chief Robert Stutman. The event, knowns as "Heads versus Feds," began in 2001 and has visited more than 200 colleges in eight years, regularly drawing standing-room crowds. The debate is booked by Wolfman Productions in Connecticut.

References

* [http://www.earlham.edu/publicaffairs/content/pressroom/archive/2006/april/060413s-marijuana.php Marijuana, Good or Bad?] - Hager biography for debate event at Earlham College
* [http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1993/4/93.04.04.x.html Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute] Course guide on The Evolution of Rap Music in the United States by Henry A. Rhodes
* [http://www.amazon.com/dp/1893010147 Adventures in the Counterculture: From Hip Hop to High Times] (2002)
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,680570,00.html High honours for rebels with a cause] . Duncan Campbell's 2002 piece about The Counterculture Hall of Fame.

External links

* [http://myspace.com/stevenhager Hager's personal MySpace page]
* [http://youtube.com/templedragon420 Hager's YouTube channel]
* [http://myspace.com/peacetrailproject MySpace page for Peace Trail Project]
* [http://www.wolfmanproductions.com/thc.htm "Heads vs. Feds": the debate over the legalization of marijuana]
* [http://www.hightimes.com "High Times" magazine website]
* [http://www.cannabiscup.com/ht/cancup/ Cannabis Cup website]
* [http://octopusconspiracy.com "Octopus Conspiracy" web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/theoriginalsoulassassins Soul Assassins myspace page]