Profile

Hippie AU

Sophie-Alyse Emmeline Margaux Berthier was born in 1946 Montreal to Hebert and Margarite Berthier. You know, those Berthiers. The eldest of four sisters, Sophie was the studious, "good" sister. Her mother especially expected her daughters to marry well as well as excel at everything they set their hand to. To that end, she had them instructed in languages, music, deportment, art and dance. Sophie, however, proved stubborn. As she grew older, she became more and more aware of the world's plight and argued politics often with her parents. Worse, she didn't keep her opinions to herself when they entertained their wealthy friends. Sophie spent most of her visits home from the Sisters at L'Acadamie Sainte-Marie de Montréal confined to her room for "insubordinate" behavior.

That was fine by her. She'd transferred her ambivalence to all the piano lessons that had been forced down her throat to a love for guitar. She'd while away her time making up songs or copying those she heard on the radio. When she wasn't busy with that, she sketched silly cartoons in her notebooks.

She spent two years at University studying teaching--her mother's idea of an MRS. degree before applying to Harvard, George Washington University, Stanford and UC Berkeley. Life was happening out there. The times, as the song said, were changing. There was no way she'd be left behind. When she presented her acceptance to UC Berkeley, her mother refused to speak to her and her father shrugged and told her she had a place back home when she finally came to her senses.

To Sophie, a new arrival in Berkeley, California in the heyday of the sixties, she's just found her senses. She'll never be silly little Sophie-Alyse again. Just ask her.