A message from the land of Honah Lee

Marisa O’Neil

A voice from the past visited Corona del Mar High School on Monday,

gently urging students to respect others, take an active role in

their community and live peacefully.

Peter Yarrow, one-third of Peter, Paul and Mary, appeared at the

school to sing and speak to students during their Community Service

Fair. Yarrow’s 29-year-old daughter, Bethany, sang with him.

“I don’t know how many of you grew up on Peter, Paul and Mary and

‘Puff the Magic Dragon,’” Bethany Yarrow said to a gymnasium full of

students born 20 years after the song became a hit for her father’s

folk group. “It’s about believing in dreams and having faith. It’s

not about drugs, it’s really about believing in magic and making

magic happen.”

The father-daughter duo performed at a late-morning assembly at

the request of Tolerance Among People, a campus group started two

years ago to promote understanding, respect and tolerance among

students. Peter Yarrow, who founded Operation Respect and the “Don’t

Laugh at Me” programs to teach children to respect one another, used

the opportunity to pass on his message of tolerance and involvement.

“In the song [‘Puff the Magic Dragon,’] when Jackie Paper grows

up, instead of believing in dragons, he becomes a person who believes

in making the world a better place,” he told the students. “The magic

is that you can make peace in the world.”

Students, teachers and parents sang along to “Puff the Magic

Dragon” and, after some urging from Peter Yarrow, the students joined

in on the chorus of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” another anthem for an

earlier generation.

“I’ve heard it before,” 14-year-old Alexa Friedman said of the

song. “It’s cool that he did it. My parents talk about him.”

Along with those too young to know Peter, Paul and Mary, Yarrow

had some true fans in the crowd.

“It’s great to see a legend, someone who was there at the time we

were fighting for racial and gender equality,” Todd Hawes, 17, said.

On Sunday evening, Peter Yarrow received the 2003 Peter Biehl

Memorial Peace Award from Linda Biehl and the Amy Biehl Foundation.

Linda Biehl, a Newport Beach resident, started the Amy Biehl

Foundation with her family to honor her daughter, who was murdered in

1993 while doing humanitarian work in South Africa.

Biehl gave the award to Yarrow because she and her late husband,

Peter, admired his work with Operation Respect and because Peter

Biehl had been a fan of Peter, Paul and Mary, she said.

* MARISA O’NEIL covers education and may be reached at (949)

574-4268 or by e-mail at [email protected].