May, 2004

Vol.5. NO.5.......................................................Pages 6 and 7

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Life on a Commune
By David Lederman

Most people seem to have a misconception of communal living as a place where there is a lot of sex and drugs going on. Perhaps that was true in the 60’s. Maybe there are a few intentional communities (a term that most communal living arrangements like to be called) still like that. However that has been far from my experience in my time living at The Piñón Ecovillage in Pojoaque, New Mexico.

I arrived at Piñón Ecovillage in September of last year and stayed till the end of November. During that time I was an intern at Piñón. I would work between 30 and 40 hours a week at the ecovillage; a kind of intentional community that lives in a way that makes the least harmful impact upon the environment. In exchange for my labor I was given a free place to stay, meals, and learnt about organic gardening and earth based construction methods. Also, I participated in helping to secure a diesel auto that will be converted to run on used vegetable oil and did other chores around the ecovillage like cleaning, cooking, and chopping wood.

I returned to Piñón in late January of this year as an associate member. An associate member is someone who participates in community life, like working a few hours a week or month on the ecovillage and sometimes eating with members of the ecovillage. Members not only share in activities at the ecovillage but also share income from monies earned outside the ecovillage. They also participate in the ecovillage’s own online business. As an associate member I keep the money I earn from work outside the ecovillage and pay a fee, you can call it ‘rent’ if you want, for living in my own separate living quarters in a beautifully remodeled 2 bedroom adobe house. If I choose to work on the ecovillage or provide services for the ecovillage, the ‘rent’ is reduced.

I wasn’t intending to stay so long at Piñón, much less return as quickly as I did. However, I found that I really enjoyed communal living. When I moved into my own private apartment in a Colorado ski resort in December I found it unusual and uncomfortable to be so ‘alone’ in that apartment. I missed the hustle and bustle of having others around me, and not just the humans, but the two cats as well.

A typical day as an associate member for me starts around 7 am. I go over to the main house, I’ll hop on the internet to check email and maybe read the news. Steve, an intern who wakes early to work on his novel, is usually up at that hour. As I eat breakfast we’ll usually chat about current events, sometimes about politics, sometimes about sports, sometimes about weird and funny news pieces Steve read on Yahoo! News.

Then I’ll shower and hop into my car and do one of my various jobs. I’ll return home usually in the afternoon, take care of some task around my house, rest, or if I feel like it, do some work for the ecovillage; one of my favorites is chopping wood. If I feel like it, and I’m home in time, I can join the other community members for a vegetarian meal in the main house. In the evening I might retire to my own house, or join in with one or another of the community members and watch a video or play a board game. Afterwards I’ll usually retire to my private living area to read or study a little before hitting the hay.

If this kind of lifestyle appeals to you contact Piñón Ecovillage at (505)455-2595 or check out their website www.pinon-ecovillage.org. For more information on communal living and other intentional communities check out www.ic.org.

Experts Predict a Terrorist Attack by November

On 2003Dec31, New York Times columnist and former Nixon speech writer William Safire predicted that “the ‘October surprise’ affecting the U.S. election” would be “a major terror attack in the United States.” When such speculation is combined with assertions from other noteworthy sources, it warrants further investigation.

Right around the same time, former Clinton administration official David Rothkopf made similarly distressing observations in a Washington Post op-ed entitled, “Terrorist Logic: Disrupt the 2004 Election.” And though he and Safire made these observations months before terrorists changed the political landscape of España, they were not alone in thinking along such lines. “Even before the bombings in Madrid, White House officials were worrying that terrorists might strike the United States before the November elections,” USA Today reported, before commenting on how terrorists could “try the same tactics in the United States to create fear and chaos.”

Down at the Retirement Center

80-year old Bessie bursts into the rec room at the retirement home.

She holds her clenched fist in the air and announces, “Anyone who can guess
what’s in my hand can have fun with me tonight!!”

An elderly gentleman in the rear shouts out, “An elephant?”

Bessie thinks a minute and says, “Close enough.”

Slaughterhouse Robbery

Three men wielding knives tried to rob a slaughterhouse. But when it comes to hand to hand combat with sharp blades, butchers working in a slaughterhouse are more than a match for your average thief. They stabbed two of the intruders to death. The third man escaped from the angry butchers and fled in his car. Police soon spotted him, and after a brief car chase, the would-be thief pulled over and leapt from his vehicle. But instead of fleeing into the underbrush, he tried to dodge heavy traffic and escape across the highway. Perhaps he thought that threatening butchers with knives was not a sufficient demonstration of his intelligence. Within seconds, the natural justice system meted out his punishment in the form of a large truck, which struck and killed him. DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2004 Submitted by: Wieger van der Meulen, Eye Wiersema

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