This is a story sent to me by ex-Twin Oaks member Koala, in response to a fundraising email. Thanks Koala for a your support, kind words, and your story!
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In 1976 I had graduated high school, barely, and was looking to join Twin Oaks. My teen years had been VERY rocky but I was committed to one thing. JOINING and LIVING AT TWIN OAKS. That was my dream and that was why Ingird Komar (my mom) wrote LIVING the DREAM, (even though I adamantly disagreed with her conclusions about Twin Oaks in the book.)
Back to T.O. There was a waiting list. I was impatient. There was a July 4th Weekend Communities Conference and I thought, “well at least I could see the place I have been dreaming about for like three years.” I had actually spent the last 2 years of high school at a community free school in northern California so I could graduate and live in a commune. I CALLED it “COMMUNE PREP” rather than college prep.
After graduating I wrecked a friends car and it took a year to pay it off. But now I could head to Twin Oaks. I was convinced this was the right thing for me and IT WAS. So I went. So did Gareth. We were both 19. Tamar and Piper among others were doing a radical shift to start another branch and ran a whole series at the conference and we volunteered. It was called Tupelo.
An early assembly of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities. Koala is on the near left.
We stayed on after the conference and started next door on Tommy Anderson’s farm. There was a lot of controversy about this but hell, I was at Twin Oaks! Yeah!! We had to leave for a month and then came back as members, living in a shack (Old Tupelo) that formerly been used as a barn. We patched the place together with old parts from cars and such, froze our asses off in the winter and lived the life. IT WAS GRAND.
Twin Oaks changed my life and I learned to be a socially responsible businessman by working management and sales in Hammocks and starting (or cranking up ) Fairs and other ventures. THIS WAS NOT MY EXPECTATION WHEN I CAME AT ALL. I have been employed in my own business, with many fits and starts along the way , in energy efficient lighting ever since I left Twin Oaks in ’82.
WE may have not done enough to avert Global warming AS A PLANET so far but I sure have done my part! My business has saved enough energy to power a city of 50,000 homes or more. Not bad.
The conference was key .
I will always be grateful.
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