Beginning of Essay
We showed up in the thousands. The small town of Rome, New York was flooded with teenagers, hippies, music lovers and the business savvy. No one knew what to expect or what Woodstock '99 would be remembered for- least of all me. Unlike most other people, I did ....

Middle of Essay
.... up a tent. Without even asking the boys behind us set up our tent, asking right away if we were, "from the city". Within moments, we were talking like old friends, sharing horror stories about the drive up, complaining about the heat and anticipating the next few days. Random acts of kindness surrounded us for the whole weekend. I saw a boy climb through the mud to get someone he had just met a bottle of water. As the sun went down, a man gave a woman his sweatshirt so she would not be cold- again, they had just met. Conversations were exchanged between people that had nothing in common, other than the fact that they were at the same concert ....