Page 25 - C.A.L.L. #26 - Winter 2005/2006
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National Geographic ational Geographic —— August 2005 August 2005
N
National Geographic National Geographic —— August 2005 August 2005 butter business so all we do is insert labor,” says
Woody, 46, one of the managers. “The problem is how
Not Quite Utopia: Welcome to East Wind, a 75- to get people to care about what we’re doing.” Several
member commune in the Ozarks, where the members feel trapped. Despite years of work for the
vegetables are fresh, the behavior is bohemian, community, many feel they don’t have enough money or
equity to begin a new life elsewhere. Beer, wine, and
and gardening in the nude is provocative only to
cigarettes provide welcome diversions for some. “We
outsiders. “It was a pretty day, and I was with
talk a lot about ideals,” says Lynn, “but by the next
my new lover,” explains Rachael. “Why not?” morning no one can remember what we said.”
By Alan Mairson
Despite these difficulties, East Wind retains a
Nestled in the Ozark Mountains on 1,000 acres of countercultural allure, attracting a handful of new
land, East Wind bills itself as an “intentional members each year. They come because they’re sick of
community” that strives to be egalitarian, life “out there” — the time-sucking commutes, endless
noncompetitive, nonviolent, and “an ally of our bills, and a culture where greasy take-out passes as
bioregion and planet.” Members use first names only - dinner. Some seek security — three meals a day, clean
often ones they’ve made up, like Pilgrim and Simple. clothes and a warm bed, health insurance and dental
They eat organic fruits and vegetables from their care. Others come to make new friends, to dance and
garden, where some labor in the nude. And they run a dream, drink and party, have sex and fall in love.
business making nut butters — peanut, almond,
cashew, macadamia — that annually generates With socialism faltering around the globe, what gives
$500,000 in profits. The money is pooled and pays for East Winders a sense of hope and keeps them
everything the residents share, including food, together - besides the peanut butter?
clothing, child care, and transportation. If this sounds
For many it’s the land
like hippie heaven, East
itself, a back-to-nature,
Winders are quick to set
almost neo-pagan faith
you straight: This is not
in Mother Earth. May 1 -
utopia.
socialism's day of
The fact that a solidarity - is Land Day
capitalist enterprise is at the commune, with
supporting a socialist dancing in circles around
commune is an irony not a maypole. Celebrations -
lost on East Wind’s the summer and winter
founders. “We thought solstices, the equinoxes
we were going to change in fall and spring - are
the world,” says pegged to the cycles of
Deborah, 56, one of a nature, not to any
group of friends who left redemptive winds of
Boston in 1973 to create history. Time, like the
East Wind. Back then it was still possible to believe a seasons, goes in circles,
socialist revolution was sweeping the globe. “The east serving up what's familiar instead of something new.
wind is prevailing over the west wind,” said Mao Zedong Tomorrow promises to be just another today.
in 1957, when he was chairman of the People’s Republic
On a chilly Wednesday night, someone builds a bonfire
of China. His vision of socialism blowing away
on the crest of the hill just outside the music room.
capitalism gave East Wind its name and helped inspire
Drawn to the blaze, a dozen men and women pound on
its mission: To create a place where people get what
drums with a mesmerizing beat. As the flames light up
they need, give what they can, and don’t obsess over
their faces and sparks flit like fireflies into the
accumulating stuff.
darkness, the hours slowly disappear - and so does
Apart from two hours a week of required kitchen the beer. After a while the drumming peters out, then
tasks, members are free to round out their 40-hour stops. Someone asks what time it is. But no one is
work quotas as they choose — gardening, doing wearing a watch.
laundry, making nut butter. “We’ve organized the nut-
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