How Falcon fixed his weighed down wings so he could fly…
Unsure of his surroundings, he made his way through the almost 4-mile dirt road. The people he found were extremely happy. The area was full of peace, serenity, love, and acceptance. Falcon was ecstatic. He has been at Acorn for less that 36 hours and he is totally in love. He had just traveled for several days from Minneapolis to help his lover Dragon move to Acorn. He had figured out that the mainstream was soul sucking, despite working very hard for his corporate bar-tending job, he was in danger of getting fired for not selling enough appetizers. This type of employment practice isn’t as uncommon as one would think.
But the easy part is seeing that the mainstream corporate world sucks. The harder part is believing that this world might work for you. A world without the security of a pay check, where you do not have to build your resume to survive. A place without the tacit approval of family and friends who can not help but be skeptical about commune life. After all, mainstream populations are taught what is right and what is wrong, rather than being taught the skill of critical thinking and trying to understand ‘why’, and conversely questioning that concept.
Dragon and Falcon
Falcon and I spoke often over the long night of the rave. He felt a fully embraced and by his partner’s new community, in the context of the rave very few people were holding back and it can be overpowering – the affection and attention. But Falcon, despite knowing almost no one, is flying in it.
i teased him about his life value being measured in appetizer sales. We talked about writing stories together which somehow captured the magic of this event. He wants to write and he wants to build community. I warned him not to presume that highly amorous and permissive intimacy of the party was what happened every day. Acorn can do this is because there is a strong consent culture here and he wants and needs to be part of that.
I also warned him that other people were going to fall in love with him and his stunning boyfriend, and they were not always going to be as generous and gracious as they were this evening. Falcon understood this was going to stretch his relationship. He embraced it with open wings, however, because he knows that this is an excellent way to live a happy, fulfilling life. At least for himself and those who choose to be around him.
And he is clearly a smart guy. He will make it work when the party is over and our other work of building community life kicks in. I left him and the last few members of the daybreak party crew with the cool breeze of the rising sun behind me. What a beautiful sight. It is something that is difficult to describe, really. And sometimes just one beautiful experience is all anyone needs to catch a good enough glimpse of what the promising future full of love, happiness, and acceptance can bring.
from the ashes of the old
7 responses to “How Falcon fixed his weighed down wings so he could fly…”
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- - December 20, 2013
your passport to complaining 
I wish he’d known that low appetizer sales can be made up for as long as he’s wearing at least 37 pieces of flair. He just has to talk to Stan. With regard to the paycheck, the security of having a roof over co’s head, food in co’s belly, interesting and often fun ways to occupy co’s time and gain new skills, is guaranteed when co lives in a community like Acorn or Twin Oaks.
As for building co’s resume, it’s quite likely the best place on Earth to do so. Where else can co become the manager of an area with virtually no prior experience and almost immediately upon “hiring”?
I’m speaking from at Twin Oaks perspective, as that’s where I lived. But I was able to pad my resume without lying and gain new skills and/or enhance existing ones.
I saw many of my friends who were fresh out of high school or college learn so many valuable skills — even the ability to work in challenging environments, become team players, and develop outstanding organizational and people skills, in a team environment to become a motivated, results-oriented, highly efficient worker, able to collaborate with diverse groups and yield positive results.
That last part is that bullshit line people put on the top of their resume. Impressive, doesn’t really say much, but it gives prospective employers a good starting point to ask interviewees to explain how they’d benefit the company.
Dearest Vermin:
You are of course right. In some sense Twin Oaks and Acorn are fantastic for job experience and grabbing responsible titles without experience. And i do references for people and very often people get hired coming from the commune. And occasionally the sticking point is salary, even if i give my best “compensation package is worth $35K” speech, i get pressed for taxable income or take home pay occasionally, and if i dont lie it is a problem.
Paxus at Twin Oaks
5 Harvest 2013
Harder than “believing that this world might work for you” is when you decide you want it and you find out that both Acorn and Twin Oaks have long waiting lists.
The answer is, of course, we need more communities to be available to folks as they realize that there is an alternative to mainstream corporate culture.
Dearest MoonRaven:
We are working on it, believe me. And this piece is not easy, but we will get there.
Paxus at Twin Oaks
5 Harvest 2013
That is a beautiful piece of writing Paxus!
thx jac