As a fledgling reporter in the early 1970s, author Anita M. Harris and college friends helped found a small newspaper on Third Street in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Harrisburg Independent Press (AKA "HIP") was first conceived to report on the Trial of the Harrisburg Seven-- in which anti-Vietnam War nuns and priests were accused of conspiring to kidnap Presidential Advisor Henry Kissinger and blow up underground heating tunnels in Washington, DC. (True story!) Like the many other underground and alternative newspapers of the day, HIP covered civic, consumer, national and international issues--many with parallels in the unrest we are experiencing today.

In this unconventional memoir, Harris traces, from the point of view of Ani, her 23-year-old self, the founding of the newspaper, the trial, and the devastating Flood of 1972, which left 124 people dead. Interwoven, with humor and puzzlement, are stories of Ani's love relationship, her coverage of poverty and social injustice, and HIP''s reporting on topics ranging from dirty movies to slave labor, heroin sales, racial discrimination; a burgeoning feminist movement, abortion rights and opposition to the Vietnam War.

The book also includes many images and cartoons--giving readers a wonderful sense of what it was like to live in those amazing times.

Anita M. Harris is an award-winning journalist, author and communications consultant who resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

This will be a hybrid event.  In person attendees, welcome but please register for Zoom Link if you would like to attend virtually.