Starting from Scratch #1

by Raven

1: Finding the People

I look at the statistics on this blog frequently. Almost always, no matter what I’ve published recently, the most popular posts are “How to Start a Commune”,  “Four Steps to Building a Commune”,  and “So you want to start a community”.  I’ve put a lot of practical information about creating communes on this blog over the years.  This series will be different.  I am currently just starting on the project of actually creating a commune and this will be less theory and more what I actually do and how it works out, so people can see the process of starting community building from the beginning.

A little on my personal journey.  I helped create a commune, Common Threads, in Cambridge, MA, that became a Community in Dialogue with the FEC during the late 1990s.  It was Robert and my third attempt at this.  When it fell apart in the year 2000, I knew I wanted to do it again.  

Common Threads (1998) with me on the far left

I left the house we were in and joined three different Boston area co-ops (long story) with periodic attempts at trying to start another income sharing community in between.  Finally, in 2012, after another attempt in Cambridge didn’t work out, I started traveling and checking out communities.  I was a frequent visitor at Twin Oaks and Acorn, but I decided they were too far from New England.  I also visited Dancing Rabbit (and Sandhill, Red Earth Farms, and the Stillwater Sanctuary while I was out there)  and also checked out several attempts to start communities in the northeast US that I didn’t think would be successful.  I joined an attempt to form urban communes and stayed at Ganas (lovely but not an egalitarian community) for two and a half years while trying to create a commune in NYC.  (All this gave me a lot of community experience.) We finally got Cotyledon started in Queens but that lasted less than two years.  When we disbanded Cotyledon, I joined Glomus Commune  where I had lived for the last two and a half years until now.  Glomus was great and it works quite well but it is too small, too rural, and too isolated for me.  And right now, the FEC needs more communes.  So that’s my reason for leaving and trying once again to start a commune in New England.

Cotyledon (early 2019) with me on the left

So why do I think that I can do it now if I couldn’t create another community in New England in the twelve years between when Common Threads fell apart and when I gave up and started traveling?  What’s different now?

First thing you need to know is that I’m really starting from scratch.  I’ve said that you need to start by finding the people.  I’ve talked with a few folks who have expressed some interest but I’ve been doing community building for long enough to know that’s not enough at all.  At this point, I’m looking for experienced people and passionate people.  I’m looking for a “champion” and I’m looking for fanatics.  (More about this is future pieces.)

So, this particular piece is about the process of actually finding people.  What is different for me now than a decade ago, even though I’m starting from scratch, is that I have a lot more tools at my disposal.  (Many of these are available to anyone who wants to start a community and is looking for people.)

Glomus Commune (2020) with me in the middle

The first and one of the best tools for finding people is networking.   The fact that I have visited so many communities and I am known in them is a plus.  I have talked with folks I know at Twin Oaks, for example, and let them know that I am looking for folks.  Most important as far as I’m concerned are people and places I refer to as ‘Beacons’, because they stand out for folks looking for community.  Twin Oaks is a beacon–anyone looking for community is bound to stumble on it and reach out to them.  The more people there that know I’m looking for folks, the more likely one of them might mention it to someone visiting or contacting them who might say that they are looking for community in New England.  People who are organizers or activists are also Beacons–they tend to come in contact with lots of people and are very visible.  Letting them know what I’m looking for means that if they hear of someone searching for community in New England, they may refer them to me.  Networking also means that the more I am connected with community oriented places, the more likely it is that I might meet someone similar to what I’m looking for.

A second and very important resource is ic.org which has a large directory of communities and also runs a classified ad section that includes a section called “Forming Communities” where I’ve placed an ad.  (Here’s a link to my ad–but the ad is temporary and the link will expire mid July, 2022.)  The Foundation for Intentional Communities also offers courses with lots of info for people wanting to start communities and ic.org also offers all sorts of other resources (books, podcasts, videos, etc) devoted to communities and community building.

Sign at the Twin Oaks conference site

A third really important resource is community oriented events.  These are great places to meet other folks that are interested in intentional communities.  I attended the Collaborative Living Conference in Maine back in April and I intend to go to the Queer Gathering at Twin Oaks in August and the Communities Conference in September.  The Collaborative Living Conference and the Communities Conference both have a ‘Meet the Communities’ event where you can stand up and let people know about your community or the community that you intend to build.  I met at least one person interested in what I was doing through the Collaborative Living Conference.  These events, like the communities themselves, are great places to network.

I’m also trying to figure out other ways to reach people and find people.  Creativity is another tool.  I have thought up a workshop that I’d like to put on about collaborative community design, which I may put on at the Communities Conference and that I am considering putting on in venues in the Boston area and NYC and other places.  I am on a mailing list for Boston area co-ops and I am thinking about posting something about what I am doing there in the hopes of finding someone who wants to go beyond co-ops

Finally, one way I look at this is that I am ‘hitchhiking’.  I used to do real hitchhiking many, many years back and the most important thing about it is that it’s a numbers game.  You don’t expect the first car that passes to pick you up, or the tenth, or even sometimes the hundredth. It requires a faith that if you stay out there long enough someone will pick you up.  It requires patience and perseverance.  I will need that same patience and perseverance to find folks to build community with.  

I will need creativity and a willingness to try many different things.  My faith is that if I do this long enough and I put out enough different things, I will eventually find the folks I’m looking for.  I  will let you know.

And speaking of creativity and trying lots of different things, if you (the reader) have community experience and a sense of adventure and want to try helping to build community in New England, let me know!

Interview Week

by Raven

I am leaving Glomus Commune (after two and a half years) and moving back to Boston this week. My intention is to begin the process of setting up a commune in New England.

So I can focus on moving, this week on Facebook I am going to publish the six interviews that I’ve previously done as well as a new seventh interview (with Sumner, formerly of East Wind). All of the first six interviews are available on this blog:

Communard Interview #1: Rachael Kadish

Communard Interview #2: Robert Dove

Communard Interview #3: Anthony Beck

Communard Interview #4: Amanda

Communard Interview #5: Irena

Communard Interview #6: Jules Amanita

Communard Interview #7 with Sumner will be published here tomorrow. There will be no Wednesday video this week. Depending on how busy I am this week, I hope to publish a piece on work on the hoophouse at Glomus Commune on Friday (taken from a couple of FB posts).

I hope to be going back to my normal posting schedule here next week. I also plan to take the month of August off (as I have many years) to travel to Virginia for the Queer Gathering at Twin Oaks (my first time attending–I wanted to go a couple of years back but then COVID happened–the usual summer events at Twin Oaks have just resumed this year) and the Communities Conference. I plan to bring back reports on those events in September.

Facebook doesn’t seem to like events

by Raven

I don’t normally repost the thing I put on Facebook that originally came from this blog, but I’m frustrated with Facebook right now and I want to show the problem.

The problem is that there are all these good and important community and commune oriented events going on in Louisa this summer, and I’m trying to get the word out, but Facebook is not cooperating.

I won’t put the actual articles in here–just the links to them–but what I want to put in here is Facebook’s responses–which have been abysmal.

The first piece I put up on Facebook was the notice I saw on the Twin Oaks Facebook page that the Communities Conference was happening this year:

Here’s the link to the Twin Oaks Conference post.

I might have been excited, but Facebook wasn’t. They only showed this to sixty folks.

The metric I use, from posting on Facebook for a few years, is that over a hundred is decent, over two hundred is very good, and over three hundred is phenomenal. And anything under a hundred, didn’t do well at all. And every one of these posts (as you’ll see) got way under a hundred views.

Serenity Community, the BIPOC led forming community in Louisa County, decided to hold a food fest to make new connections and raise money and have fun. So I tried to publicize that.

Here’s the link to Serenity’s event.

Again, I was excited about it; Facebook was not. This was probably the most dismal of any of the views. At least one person liked it.

Not only was the Communities Conference happening, but Twin Oaks was also offering two other August events that they used to offer before the pandemic, the Queer Gathering (for queer folk who live in community) and the Women’s Gathering (for women in community). In addition, Paxus has been offering Quink Fair, a festival he describes as a combination of the Rainbow Gathering, Burning Man, and the Communities Conference, which he sees as a catalyst for personal growth and cultural change, and would take place in Louisa County in mid-September. So he (with help from Serenity and Twin Oaks folks) wrote an article advertising all five festivals. He put it up on his blog and I reposted it to our Facebook feed (at

Here’s the link to Paxus’s article.

This didn’t do well either.

I wondered if the problem was not having enough pictures, particularly pictures with people in them, so I wrote a new post using the same information (so basically there’s the same article twice on this blog) but adding what I thought was a more personal intro and then putting it on Facebook using a “You” statement at the beginning to attract readers and also an “I” statement.

Here’s the article I wrote on this blog.

Unfortunately, it didn’t make much difference.

Then I got really frustrated, but I thought I’d try one more time, expressing my frustrations, to see if leading in with a strong emotion would make a difference.

Nope.

Yes, this was the most “People reached” of any of them, but seventy viewers is still pretty low–and I wonder how many of them were just repeats of the folks that had been shown the previous ones.

So, I give up. I don’t know how to beat the algorhithm. At some point I might break down and post it again and use the “Boost post”–which means paying Facebook to show it to more folks. It’s blackmail, but I don’t know any other way to publicize these wonderful community events. I hope that at least some small number of folks go to some of them. They really are worthwhile, especially if you are interested in community.

They’re Back!

Presenting at Meet the Communities at the Communities Conference

Used to be, I went to the Communities Conference every summer, but there’s been no summer happenings at Twin Oaks over the last couple of years. This year there’s a lot to choose from. Louisa County will be the place to be for communitarians this summer! – Raven

Mark your calendars, there are several different events which you will want to consider for the summer and early fall all in Louisa County.

• Serenity Food Sovereignty Festival June 24 thru 26
• Twin Oaks Queer Gathering Aug 5 thru 7 
• Twin Oaks Women’s Gathering Aug 19 thru 21 
• Twin Oaks Communities Conference Sept 2 thru 5
• QuinkFair Sept 23 thru 26

All of these events are happening in Louisa County and the first 4 of them are all happening at Twin Oaks.  Here are the brief descriptions of the events and how to RSVP.

Serenity Food Sovereignty Festival June 24 – 26

Learn about mutual aid and BIPOC centered intentional communities that focus on restorative agriculture and ecovillages.  BIPOC activists and organizers are working in conjunction with the central Virginia income sharing communities movement to host BIPOC participants and our allies, to bring incredible food and learning opportunities to attendees.  POC farmers will discuss their techniques and challenges and participants will learn about income sharing communities and Serenity Community projects.

White allies can attend this event if they are genuinely interested in this cuisine and culture. We ask white participants to step back and let BIPOC participants drive the conversations and workshops. This could mean your question might not get answered in the workshop or you should hold off on getting seconds.

RSVP via this ticket survey. Registration is free and donations are gratefully accepted

Queer Gathering 2018 Group Photo

Twin Oaks Queer Gathering August 5 – 7

Join us for a weekend of queertranstastic fun, learning, workshops, networking, revelry, and more! This is a participant-led/co-created event, so while the organizing team will set up the event site and create a general schedule of activities, the content is largely up to YOU! There is opportunity to lead a workshop, DJ some of the dance party, bring your instruments to jam, offer an interest/identity-based meetup (BIPOC dinner, non-binary lunch, comic book breakfast, etc), and more! Registration fee is suggested at $80 (sliding scale – pay what you can : $40-$140) includes all meals and tent space. Work trade available. No one turned away for lack of funds. BIPOC travel stipends available by emailing us at queergathering@twinoaks.org.

Get all the details at www.twinoaksqueergathering.org

Please RSVP by pre-registering at our eventbrite page!

The Women’s Gathering

Twin Oaks Women’s Gathering

The Women’s Gathering is back in 2022! The event will be a three day conference on themes ranging from sex and sexuality to positive relationship building to DIY music, art and movement. There will be scheduled workshops and performance spaces, as well as lots of free time to network, drum, dance and play. Registration fee $85 (sliding scale – pay what you can : $80-$160) includes meals and tent space.

 Learn more at womensgathering.org

RSVP via Facebook or email gathering@twinoaks.org 

The Communities Conference

Twin Oaks Communities Conference

If you are looking for an intentional community, or if you are in a community looking for new members, this is the event for you.  The Twin Oaks Communities Conference brings experienced collectivists and communitarians to central Virginia over the Labor Day weekend. We expect at least 40 different communities to be represented, workshops in intentional community specific topics, and open space so you can bring your own content.

There will be an opportunity to tour the communities of Louisa county (including Acorn, Cambia, Community of Peace,  Living Energy Farm, Serenity and Twin Oaks).  There will also a separate Monday (Labor Day) program hosted at least at Acorn and Cambia

The Twin Oaks Communities Conference is a kid friendly event which can accommodate many different dietary needs- meals and tent space are included in the registration fee. Full price adult registration is $125, full price youth ages 6-17 is $40, kids 5 and under are free. Early bird discounts, work exchange, and scholarships are available.

RSVP via Facebook or Pre-register on our eventbrite page.

QuinkFair

QuinkFair! is a celebration crafted to spark personal and collective positive change and healing. Through a colorful and chaotic mix of exhibits, interactive art, music, guides & readers, workshops, dance, books and your own curiosity, we will seek experience and insights as a catalyst for personal growth and cultural change.

Inspired and influenced by several festivals, QuinkFair asks every participant to step away from being an amazed audience and into being an inspired co-creator.  If you want to be entertained enjoy a music festival, if you want to become someone new come to QuinkFair.

Adult tickets are $160 (or $128 if you buy early) and kids between 6 and 17 are $80 (or $64 if purchased early).  Kids under 6 are free.  This is a camping event and food is provided.  

RSVP via Facebook or Pre-register on our Eventbrite page

Internships available

If you are interested in supporting the first 4 events all hosted at Twin Oaks you could apply to be a Conference/Gathering Intern

If you want to help manifest the QuinkFair celebration consider applying to be a Festival Intern

We want lots of people to know about these festivals. Please share widely.

Communities Bounce Back – 5 Events

by Paxus (from Your Passport to Complaining)

Most intentional communities took a population hit during the pandemic. Germs and illnesses spread quickly in communities because of how much we share- food, homes, bathrooms, work spaces, etc. With this in mind, most communities that those regular visitor sessions canceled them (at least until there was a vaccine) to protect their more vulnerable members. It was likely the best, safest choice, but meant that members who left communities during the pandemic weren’t replaced with new folx and populations dropped significant. At Twin Oaks we went from 85 members to 63 members at the lowest point (we are back up to 78 now).

The pandemic also forced many to deal with unusual isolation and question our relationship with groups and what people in close orbit are important to you. Intentional community is an invitation to being part of a group designed to foster and take care of each other, and while it does not always succeed the intention and results are favorable (or prove worthy .. or something)

This summer and fall there several events which showcase these intentional communities which are bouncing back or in the case of Serenity Community springing forward from the George Floyd energized racial justice movement.

These events are celebrations of many different identities all seen through the lens of intentional community. If you want to feel what it is like to live with others cooperatively, this is a glimpse.

The Community Festivals, Gatherings, and Conferences are Coming Back!

Mark your calendars, there are several different weekend events which you will want to consider.

• Serenity Food Sovereignty Festival June 24 thru 26
• Twin Oaks Queer Gathering Aug 5 thru 7 
• Twin Oaks Women’s Gathering Aug 19 thru 21 
• Twin Oaks Communities Conference Sept 2 thru 5
• QuinkFair Sept 23 thru 26

All of these events are happening in Louisa County and the first 4 of them are all happening at Twin Oaks.  Here are the brief descriptions of the events and how to RSVP.

Serenity Food Sovereignty Festival June 24 – 26

Learn about mutual aid and BIPOC centered intentional communities that focus on restorative agriculture and ecovillages.  BIPOC activists and organizers are working in conjunction with the central Virginia income sharing communities movement to host BIPOC participants and our allies, to bring incredible food and learning opportunities to attendees.  POC farmers will discuss their techniques and challenges and participants will learn about income sharing communities and Serenity Community projects.

White allies can attend this event if they are genuinely interested in this cuisine and culture. We ask white participants to step back and let BIPOC participants drive the conversations and workshops. This could mean your question might not get answered in the workshop or you should hold off on getting seconds.

RSVP via this free ticket survey required (or via Facebook optional).

Twin Oaks Queer Gathering August 5 – 7

Join us for a weekend of queertranstastic fun, learning, workshops, networking, revelry, and more! This is a participant-led/co-created event, so while the organizing team will set up the event site and create a general schedule of activities, the content is largely up to YOU! There is opportunity to lead a workshop, DJ some of the dance party, bring your instruments to jam, offer an interest/identity-based meetup (BIPOC dinner, non-binary lunch, comic book breakfast, etc), and more! Registration fee is suggested at $80 (sliding scale – pay what you can : $40-$140) includes all meals and tent space. Work trade available. No one turned away for lack of funds. BIPOC travel stipends available by emailing us at queergathering@twinoaks.org.

Get all the details at www.twinoaksqueergathering.org

Please RSVP by pre-registering at our eventbrite page!

Twin Oaks Women’s Gathering

The Women’s Gathering is back in 2022! The event will be a three day conference on themes ranging from sex and sexuality to positive relationship building to DIY music, art and movement. There will be scheduled workshops and performance spaces, as well as lots of free time to network, drum, dance and play. Registration fee $85 (sliding scale – pay what you can : $80-$160) includes meals and tent space.

 Learn more at womensgathering.org

RSVP via Facebook or email gathering@twinoaks.org 

Twin Oaks Communities Conference

If you are looking for an intentional community, or if you are in a community looking for new members, this is the event for you.  The Twin Oaks Communities Conference brings experienced collectivists and communitarians to central Virginia over the Labor Day weekend. We expect at least 40 different communities to be represented, workshops in intentional community specific topics, and open space so you can bring your own content.

The Twin Oaks Conference Site gets busy

There will be an opportunity to tour the communities of Louisa county (including Acorn, Cambia, Community of Peace,  Living Energy Farm, Serenity and Twin Oaks).  There will also a separate Monday (Labor Day) program hosted at least at Acorn and Cambia.

The Twin Oaks Communities Conference is a kid friendly event which can accommodate many different dietary needs- meals and tent space are included in the registration fee. Full price adult registration is $125, full price youth ages 6-17 is $40, kids 5 and under are free. Early bird discounts, work exchange, and scholarships are available.

RSVP via Facebook or Pre-register on our eventbrite page.

QuinkFair

QuinkFair! is a celebration crafted to spark personal and collective positive change and healing. Through a colorful and chaotic mix of exhibits, interactive art, music, guides & readers, workshops, dance, books and your own curiosity, we will seek experience and insights as a catalyst for personal growth and cultural change.

Quink is about transformation

Inspired and influenced by several festivals, QuinkFair asks every participant to step away from being an amazed audience and into being an inspired co-creator.  If you want to be entertained enjoy a music festival, if you want to become someone new come to QuinkFair.

Adult tickets are $160 (or $128 if you buy early) and kids between 6 and 17 are $80 (or $64 if purchased early).  Kids under 6 are free.  This is a camping event and food is provided. 

QuinkFair takes place not at the Twin Oaks Conference Site (like all these other events do) but instead at the beautiful Happy Hills land in Mineral VA.

RSVP via Facebook or Pre-register on our Eventbrite page. Tickets go on sale June 1.

Internships available

If you are interested in supporting the first 4 events all hosted at Twin Oaks you could apply to be a Conference/Gathering Intern If you want to help manifest the QuinkFair celebration consider applying to be a Festival Intern

Queer Gathering 2020

by Stephan, Twin Oaks Community

Join us August 7-9 for a weekend of queertranstastic fun, learning, workshops, networking, revelry, and more! This will be our fourth year hosting the Queer Gathering at Twin Oaks Community in rural central Virginia, and we invite you to come participate. The gathering will be a safe(r) and supportive camping event for queer folks and allies of all ages to come together, skill share, make art, build community, dance, and organize.

Julia and Maddie do some repairs at the conference site

It is especially important given the current political climate to create connections and build resilience. Often, these types of conferences take place in urban environments, so this event is also important for folks who are more rural and have less access to queer community in everyday life.

Group shot of 2018 participants (plus Khaleesi, the dog)

This is a participant-led/co-created event, so while the organizing team will setup the event site and create a general schedule of activities, the content is largely up to YOU! There is opportunity to lead a workshop, DJ some of the dance party, bring your instruments to jam, offer an interest/identity-based meetup (POC dinner, non-binary lunch, comic book breakfast, etc), and more. Some past year’s workshops include mushroom identification, glitter transformation, consent, queer parenting, basic tool use, etc. Sunday’s workshops are all offered by participants and voted on using an open space organizing format.

More information, including past schedules and registration information, can be found at www.twinoaksqueergathering.org

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Thanks for reading! This post was made possible by our patrons on Patreon. The Commune Life team works hard to bring you these stories about our lives in community, and that work couldn’t happen without support from our audience. So if you liked this article, and want to help us make more like it, head on over to https://www.patreon.com/communelife to join us! 

Deep gratitude to all of our patrons:  

Communities

• Compersia Community
• East Brook Community Farm
• The Federation of Egalitarian Communities
• Twin Oaks Community

Communards 

• Aaron Michels
• Brenda Thompson
• Caroline Elbert
• Cathy Loyd
• Em Stiles
• Jenn Morgan
• Janey Amend-Bombara
• Jonathan Thaler
• Joseph A Klatt
• Julia Elizabeth Evans
• Kai Koru
• Kathleen Brooks
• Laurel Baez
• Lynette Shaw
• Magda schonfeld
• Michael Hobson
• Nance & Jack Williford
• Peter Chinman
• Raines Cohen 
• Sumner Nichols
• Tobin Moore
• Warren Kunce
• William Croft
• William Kadish
• William Scarborough

Thanks! 

Thoughts on the Twin Oaks Queer Gathering

Written by Warren:

I’ve been curious about the FEC communes for a little over a year and this past August I finally had an opportunity to visit Twin Oaks during the Queer Gathering. Generally speaking, it’s not difficult to arrange a visit to these communities, but I live in Sweden and I have a small daughter which makes logistics somewhat trickier. Both visiting and membership procedures are (understandably) much more restricted when it comes to children. However, as a long-time activist in the LGBTQ rights movement, I was really looking forward to experiencing an American queer gathering. Would it be similar to the Danish and Swedish queer festivals that I’d been to? Most of my experience with American queer politics has been through the internet, what would it feel like to meet the thoughts and ideas and personalities of my queer siblings across the ocean in person?

First, a bit about the word “queer.” Queer has become something of an umbrella term for the LGBT community as a way to say sexual or gender minority without getting into specifics. But this hasn’t always been the case and in the Scandinavia capitol cities (and Berlin and perhaps a few other places) “queer” had been long used to describe the so-called faction of LGBT people who were far-left leaning politically, almost exclusively vegan and not at all interested in respectability politics. Conversations at Scandinavian queer gatherings ten years ago were more likely to focus on abolishing marriage and legal gender than marriage equality and third gender markers. There were designated sex-spaces, hands-on BDSM workshops and yes, orgies. I wouldn’t be surprised if the term “pink washing” was actually coined over a pot of vegan stew in the cafeteria of an abandoned school building squatted by queer anarchists. These were also spaces haunted by traumatic childhoods and unhealthy coping mechanisms. The Queers were a crazy, beautiful, amazing, bizarre, radical hot mess. Today, the English-language influence has grown stronger and “queer” is now being used more and more as a catchall term for the alphabet soup even over here. With a shift in language, comes a shift of ideas and culture and that which has no name tends to fade away.

 

They had buttons like this at the gathering 

My first delight upon arriving at Twin Oaks, was seeing queers in the woods. This was, in fact, the first time I’d ever seen queers camping en masse. Despite being outdoorsy myself, my own LGBTQ-community experiences have mostly been urban. If you missed the sign announcing the grass parking lot, you would know you were in the right place from all the Subarus.  The secluded location combined with intense heat (for me, omg I was dying, never sweated so much in my life) and clothing-optional policy created a vibrant visual “all-bodies welcome” setting that was powerful. Judging by the pronoun nametags, around half of the participants were nonbinary and many more had binary identities with nonbinary bodies comfortably taking up space and freely existing. This alone is something I wish for all trans people to experience at least once in their lives.

Street sign in New York City near the Stonewall Inn 

The spaces between and beyond gender were stronger and more tangible during this gathering than I’ve seen them.  The flip side of this coin, was that the presence of solidly binary-identified cisgender gay men, lesbians and bisexuals was little more than a murmur. This brings me back around to the question of how big of an umbrella is the word “queer” in reality? Who feels welcomed/described by the word? Is it enough for the author of an online glossary to define a word as a catchall for it to function as a catchall? 

As for the leftist-coloring of the word, that I couldn’t judge at this opportunity– this was afterall a gathering at an income-sharing egalitarian commune. Socialist leanings would be a given. I did however attend a food justice queer revolution workshop during the gathering which trojan horsed Marxism as the solution to climate breakdown and post-apocolyptic governance. If Americans are so scared of socialism they have to carefully dance around it (one participant even quoted Marx without attributing the quote to Marx) at a queer gathering on an income-sharing commune…well, Bernie Sanders has his work cut out for him.

I learned from a workshop on being queer in community, that approximately the same amount of transphobia exists at Twin Oaks and some of the other communities as in the wider American culture, maybe shifted a bit to exclude the extreme negative end of the scale. The usual generational divide between those who get it and those who feel the fundamental rules of nature have been shifted beneath their vary noses, can be felt as much at Twin Oaks as anywhere else. The Queer Gathering is a bubble of freedom and liberation even within the communities movement.

Author with daughter and friends in the background 

I did bring my 5-year-old daughter with me and was grateful for the free babysitting provided by volunteers. Being babysat by a wonderful, mostly naked man with large breasts was an experience that stimulated questions that led to conversations I was happy to have the opportunity to have with my daughter. Despite being trans myself, back home transness as topic in itself is not one that comes up very often in our day-to-day life. She even took the stage during the audience-participation queer, drag, burlesque, talent show event– I love that she felt safe enough to confront her stage fright and that she too got to experience empowerment and acceptance.

It was wonderful to meet some familiar faces from this blog and other internet spaces, in person– the people you see here are every bit as delightful in real life. Warm, compassionate and inspiring. If you’re thinking about taking the leap and going to visit a community, do it. 

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Thanks for reading! This post was made possible by our patrons on Patreon. The Commune Life team works hard to bring you these stories about our lives in community, and that work couldn’t happen without support from our audience. So if you liked this article, and want to help us make more like it, head on over to https://www.patreon.com/communelife to join us! 

Deep gratitude to all of our patrons:  

Communities

• Acorn Community
• Compersia Community
• Cotyledon Community
• East Brook Community Farm
• The Federation of Egalitarian Communities
• Twin Oaks Community

Communards 

• Aaron Michels
• Brenda Thompson
• Cathy Loyd
• Em Stiles
• Jenn Morgan
• Jonathan Thaler
• Julia Elizabeth Evans
• Kai Koru
• Kathleen Brooks
• Laurel Baez
• Lynette Shaw
• Magda schonfeld
• Michael Hobson
• Nance & Jack Williford
• Peter Chinman
• Sumner Nichols
• Tobin Moore
• Warren Kunce
• William Croft
• William Kadish

Thanks! 

 

Organizing?

How 8 communards organized a conference but failed to build a geodesic dome:

How do you organize a conference with no one in charge?

Organizing in community is not a linear process.  Mistakes are part of the process. Multiple people work in parallel. Sometimes there’s conflict. But eventually, the work gets done, and the result is something that could not have been made in any other way. Process over product.