Valerie's blog

You know you've lived on a commune when...

...you share a Netflix subscription with 4 or more people.

...you have no idea what Netflix is

...you or a member of your family has ever answered to the name Sage,
Harmony or Rainbow

...you know the Briggs-Meyer, Enneagram or Aryuvedic dosha type of
everyone you live with

...you've ever given or received feedback while naked, with someone
other than your lover

...you share a checkbook with 5 to 75 other people

...dinner conversation turns to reminiscing about your favourite
McDonalds food before you stopped eating there. The longest-term
member thinks they ate there once in the 80's.

...you cringe at the phrase "high impact", because you want to get as
far away from those people as possible, or because you *are* one of
those people

...you've ever organized an orgy by consensus

...you've decided when to hold a retreat based on the most auspicious
astrological reading

...your household income breaks down to either $75 a month, or
$250,000 annually, depending on how you look at it

Eight of the above are true for Valerie, who wrote this.

Politics at Twin Oaks

By Valerie Renwick-Porter

Here at Twin Oaks, we generally consider ourselves beyond
conventional conversation restraints; this becomes immediately
obvious by listening to a mealtime discussion of the lurid details of
gruesome symptoms related to the latest sickness going around.

When it comes to talking about politics, it becomes a little more
complicated. There are certain topics that we can all discuss with
ease and generally agree upon. However, somehow there are others that
are more like opening a can of worms while walking through a field of
landmines...

Acceptable: Global warming and polar icecap melt

More delicate: What temperature to set the communal hot-water
heater, and the ecological implications of using ice-cubes

Acceptable: Obama versus Hillary

A bit trickier: Organic versus Local

Acceptable: Increasing water shortages and the evils of the bottled-
water industry

Tread carefully: The fact that a certain communard-who-shall-remain-
nameless replaced the low-flow shower head with one that delivers the
approximate force and volume-per-minute of Niagara Falls, without any
process

Acceptable: The discriminatory aspects of impending US immigration
policy

Walking on eggshells: Our membership process about whether to
accept that controversial visitor from the last visitor period

Acceptable: Gay marriage

Call in the Process Team: Your lover announces a desire to form a
polyamorous triad with that statuesque blonde who arrived as a new
member last week...