Page 16 - C.A.L.L. #31 - Spring 2009

KALEIDOSCOPE
After all this serious stuff we need a little refreshment. We can always rely on Twin Oaks to
deliver the goods, this time by a little tongue-in-cheek piece by Valerie Renwick-Porter, as
reprinted in Communities of Spring 2007 : Distinguishing "Acceptable" from "Combustible"

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...

Valerie Renwick-Porter has weathered 16 years of politics at Twin Oaks community in Louisa, VA.

To round it all off, from Plough 45 again, a little inspiring poem by Jane Tyson Clement.
Have a wonderful Spring, Shalom Joel Dorkam

The Spider

I watch the spider fling

its most improbable thread – So do we fling our faith

frail filament from star to star

yet steel strong – and under God’s eternal, watching care

from aspen limb to birch the perfect orb

and back again. will come.

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