11/26 - Sunday night
Found Sirius ok. It’s about 10 miles from Amherst, MA. The place is pretty big - several buildings. Brice met me, showed me to my room and gave me a quick orientation. Then he invited me to have dinner with his family. He and his wife Deborah have three kids at the […]
After leaving DC, I headed up to New York for a few days to see friends and visit Ganas on Staten Island.
11/15 - Wednesday
Arrived in NY okay. It must have cost me $20 in tolls to get up here. $5 for a bridge, $3 for a turnpike. Ridiculous. Hung out with Tavit. He’s into video […]
10/28 - Saturday
I had my membership interview on Wednesday morning. The first part is a “story of your life.” Mine lasted for an hour! I never thought I could talk about my own life for that long. After that they went through a set of 80 standard interview questions - pretty boring questions with short […]
10/21 - Saturday
We took a tour of Acorn and a nearby Earthship this morning. I saw a hot tub and fire circle at Acorn that I didn’t know existed while I was there. The Earthship was the first of its kind that I’ve seen. I was impressed that a livable, low-energy structure could be created […]
10/13 - Friday
First day at Twin Oaks. There are 10 people in our visitor group: Jeremy (my roommate, does research for Google); Ethan (works at Whole Foods in the beer department); James (studying sociology/psychology of architecture); Carmen (a smart young Colombiana); Calista (taking a break between high school and college); Alex & Jessie; Mark (English); […]
9/23 - Saturday
My welcome at Acorn was pretty informal. I was introduced to Erik, who had already given a group tour earlier in the day and was visibly worn out. He showed me my room and gave a quick orientation on the essentials - bathrooms, snack kitchen, offices, business meeting on Sundays, a heart-share meeting […]
9/17
I got within 2 miles of Blue Heron Farm and had the hardest time finding the damn road! There’s some construction at the intersection so it’s not well marked. Roy & Maria (my hosts) seem pretty cool, and really nice. I’m sleeping in their 5-year-old daughter’s room - I guess she’s sleeping in their bedroom. […]
I’ve been at Blue Heron Farm since Sunday night, and will be here only until Saturday. It’s already been way more than I expected. I’m finishing up my journal entries from Earthaven below. Hopefully I’ll get a “summary” out covering some technical details about EH before too long.
At one point at Earthaven, during the sushi […]
8/26 - Saturday evening
I’ve only been here 2 days, but it almost feels like I’ve been here 2 weeks. I’m staying at the A&A guest house as a work-exchanger. I’m sleeping on the 3rd floor on a couch/bed thing right next to window. There are lot’s of sleep spaces up here (and really all over […]
Disclaimer: I was only able to visit East Wind for five days, and therefore feel that my breadth of experience was even more limited than usual.
East Wind was my first foray into a true hippie commune. It is a completely income-sharing community. People put in equal hours and get (presumably) equal benefits. Vital stats: 1,000+ […]