Publications

Soundings - Newsletter of the FEC

AngieTupelo — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:50:55 -0600

Soundings includes articles relevant to living an egalitarian, non-violent, income-sharing lifestyle; news about upcoming community events; and updates about life at each of the FEC communities.

We send out one main issue each year in the spring, and occasionally a smaller autumn issue. Click to view the current issue (pdf format, 1.8 mb.) Soundings is also available in print.

Previous issues of Soundings:
Spring 2005
Fall 2003
Spring 2003
2002

To be put on the Soundings mailing list (free! but all donations gratefully accepted), please send your postal mailing address (and email address if applicable), along with a specific request to be added to the Soundings mailing list, to

email: mccune at twinoaks dot org

Soundings
138 Twin Oaks Rd
Louisa VA 23093

Community Newsletters

AngieTupelo — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:49:31 -0600

Leaves of Twin Oaks

The Leaves of Twin Oaks is the newsletter of Twin Oaks Community which chronicles the joys, trials, absurdities, etc. of life in our commune. Each issues includes articles, photos, and newsy tidbits of the fascinating and ever-evolving culture of Twin Oaks.

$10 / 3 issues (typically one year), or request a free copy at:

Leaves Subscriptions
138 Twin Oaks Rd #FEC
Louisa, VA 23093
Email: mccune at twinoaks dot org

Read the Leaves online.

March Hare

Dancing Rabbit publishes a quarterly newsletter, the March Hare, where we share the day to day details of our community's life, as well as the knowledge we gain about sustainable living. It's a great way to keep up on what we are doing and to stay in touch with us.

The March Hare is available in electronic or paper format.

Electronic format: To subscribe send email to emailnewsletter-subscribe@dancingrabbit.org from the account you want to be signed up as.

Paper format: The March Hare can be mailed to you or anyone you know who might be interested and we ask for a donation of $8-25 per year to cover costs (Paying the higher end of the scale helps us send newsletters to those who cannot afford them and allows us to put more time into spreading our news).

Dancing Rabbit
1 Dancing Rabbit Lane
Rutledge, MO 63563
Email: dancingrabbit@ic.org

Is It Utopia Yet?

AngieTupelo — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:44:35 -0600

Is It Utopia Yet
An Insider's View of Twin Oaks Community In Its 26th Year

by Kat Kinkade

Author of A Walden Two Experiment: The First Five Years of Twin Oaks Community

In 1973, Kat Kinkade's highly acclaimed A Walden Two Experiment told the country how a unique attempt at shared living had struggled and riumphed in its first five years.

Now, with Is It Utopia Yet?, Kat brings us another lively, firsthand account of Twin Oaks' continued development as one of America's most prominent and successful cooperative communities.

The book includes detail about some of the conflicts that Twin Oaks has lived through and the people who were caught up in them. Kat speaks frankly and thoughtfully about the changes Twin Oaks has gone through and her own changing role in the community.

As a bonus, the 320 page book also contains over sixty cartoons about community living from the pen of Twin Oaks member Jonathan Roth.

What is it really like to live in a "Utopian" community? What happens to the high ideals of equality and social justice under the pressures of daily living with a continually-changing population of nearly a hundred people?

Creating a new society presents many challengesâ€”making a living, inventing a government, sharing the labor, raising children collectively, and reaching agreement about such things as diet, standard of living, and commitment to caring for the environment

Facing these tasks as a group means taking a hard look at the original principles. Does full economic equality really work? How far can a group compromise its ideals for the sake of holding its members? How much social conformity is necessary for peaceful cooperative living? Just how simple should the simple life be? Kat tells how these fundamental issues have been worked on through 25 years of communal living at Twin Oaks.

Order the book