The Alternative
(Page 4 of 6)
September/October 1970
By Michael Bennett
It was stressed that this 'alternative' had to be open to everyone, from acid freaks to corporation executives. Everyone should be able to see that there is a better way to live than the way they are living now. The commune will be the place where art and technology complement one another; artist, write, biologist, typist et al will unite in common human endeavors, learning from each other, rather than boxed into isolated specialties.
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Barbara – who is not a formal member of the commune, but who visits quite often – is trying to set up a Grotowski theatre techniques-and-encounter workshop at the commune. She views it as "a way of people communicating non-verbally, and how to be loose together, and learning how to dig each other . . . get their bodies and get their minds in shape . . . it just liberates you. I see it as a way of really relaxing and communicating directly . . . when you're relaxed, you can get anything accomplished." After dinner, she had a little sensitivity group going, teaching people various excercises that they could perform individually or together.
Members and friends came over to participate or watch, and at this time one could really see the flow of the commune. People who weren't involved in her thing were doing something else; cleaning up after the dinner; sitting in one of the rooms and rapping; running around the meeting room. There was no feeling that you had to do one thing or another, that one thing was more important than another.
On a personal, as well as a communal level, there are several problems which are implicit in so many people living together. One of the most obvious is the problem of privacy. As one of the communards already mentioned, the Loft is set up for private quarters as well as communal quarters, depending on each person's needs. "When I feel that I want to be alone, it just happens, you know, people are really sensitive to me, and I'm sensitive to them." As it turns out, most of the communards find that if they need to be alone there is usually someplace they can go, and if things are really too hectic, they leave the commune for a while.
They don't see the need for privacy impinging on them; it doesn't happen often, and more important, no one really gets uptight when it does happen.
Another problem is finances. Right now, because the building is in shoddy condition, there is not any rent to be paid. Some of the members have jobs on the outside; some are artists and writers and they make bread that way when they need it. Everyone, however, spends a good deal of time working on the commune, preparing the private living quarters, building things. Another room, off the living quarters, is in a state of total disarray; eventually, they plan to rebuild it as a biology laboratory and a dark room. This takes bread and everyone contributes what they can. Surprisingly, there is enough money now to do what must be done, and the rule that each person has to contribute $50 a month has not had to be enforced. Some people have put in a lot more, some a lot less. If money does become a problem, they'll cope when the time comes.
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