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John Nichols, author of the novel "The Milagro Beanfield War," told graduating students at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colo., that they should reject the material good life for one of social conscience and activism. "Children of the ruling class, throw off your chains," Nichols told 518 cheering graduates."You have nothing to lose but your Mazdas, your VCRs and your stock portfolios." He told the students to "go out there and save whales, join Greenpeace, block Russian trawlers, sabotage proposed Colorado dams, give copies of Ed Abbey's `Monkey Wrench Gang' to your children."

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