hippy community

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i think this is the most correct subforum to post this...

i often picture a hippy community as an ideal one for aspergers. they care less for conventions and ambiguous or complex social behaviours. they are usually much more straight forward and direct. you can just say "wanna make out" or "wanna have sex" and theyll just say either "yes" or "no" pretty much. they are far less judgemental then i think any other group of people, unless you are a capitalist, conservative or generally agressive. i think they would just not care about exactly those things that often make it so hard for aspergers to socialise...

anyone else has any thoguhts on this?

hmm...sounds pretty much like us. i wouldn't be in the back room smoking anything, though. i'd like to keep my brain the way it is thank you very muchly.

Ever read any books by hippies....after they sobered up.It wasnt all free love and granola(I know,I was a bit obsessed with the idea in younger years.)One of the biggest problems was the amount of chemicals consumed and the over all concept of "work is a drag"....uhm,yeah,works a drag if you happen to have parents sending you a check....other wise,work is food,meds,etc.True,I live a pretty low key ,low economy life but I still need to eat and even if you live on a "farm",someone has to shovel the poop and feed the chickens.Just saying,it only works of the people are willing to...being told to "not be a bummer" if you ask someone to do their share of cleaning up,is...."a drag"...they were also very sexist.Women were still expected to keep up the cleaning ,cooking,well,most of the work AND be thrilled about putting out for every grubby guy....dont want to be labeled a "frigid up tight straight".Read up,there are a lot of good books about it.

I am a 57 year old Aspie and back in the covered wagon days of hippydom I lived in San Francisco, Berkeley and L. A USA. I lived in intentional communities, never thinking myself a 'hippie' per se, but a flower child. It was easier to live with alternate counter culture because they were more easygoing about my weird ideosynchristies and as they (and I) were mentally altered most of the time no one inqured too closely about why my family had thrown me out or that I had no means of support.
They took me in because I was pregnant and had lost track of the father. They helped me have my baby but were helpless as I was when the State took her away from me as an Unfit Mother because I was UnWed and she was Illigitimate. They talked that way in 1968.
I moved to Seattle, Hawai'i and back to San Francisco, all with the hippies, then I moved up the country to Oregon and lived in actual COMMUNITIES all across the State. We had yearly Country Fairs and Barter Fairs and thousands flocked there to share and trade.
The 'Hippies" might seem to be out moded and something of a former era to you, but I am glad to tell you these gentle and insightful people are very much alive and active.
So, before you think you know them, before you make stereotypical generalities of what you might have heard or someone else heard, hear it from me.
I owe them my life and credit them for making my life worth living. I am forever grateful, for they loved me when no one did.
Merle

And for the best book about it all read: "Be Not Content"

Allo.
although I do not exactly concider myself a hippie...(my (kinda aspie seeming) mom was around and active during that era,,but claimed she didn't fit in with them very well..even though she was one...

I am fortunate enough to exist among a group of oddballs...like minded enought to appreciate each others differences...even though we can get on each others nerves..because we are all kinda difficult people.

I am uneasy about "free love" and am an incurable monogamist..but I do help run a very eccentric little art and music space that respects peoples differences...something that I have not been able to find outside of it.

I completely disagree. That's a really unfair (and frankly, outdated) generalization. That may be how it used to be, but times have changed - a lot. I've spent the last 7 years in the Pacific northwest living among hippies in intentional communities, farms and co-ops, and they are anything but lazy. Not only do they work - and harder than most - many also volunteer their free time to alll sorts of causes.
Granted, there are always going to be individuals whose consumption is disproportionate to their contributions, this is not an exclusively hippie phenomenon, and just like anywhere else they're not tolerated very long.

People who live in the northwest tend to want to live closer to the earth; they want to be in tune with earth's rhythms so they can ride the waves rather than swimming upstream all the time. Believe it or not it's actually a lot easier to go with nature than against it!!
There is a thriving barter economy and as long as you have a skill, trade, or craft, (which everyone does) you don't really need much money to live well.
Everyone looks out for everyone else, no one fends for themself, people rarely go without. Everyone treats each other like family and there is little competition for social status or resources. It's not like playing chess, you don't have to read between the lines. People are open, honest and straightforward. If you say "Hey, wanna make out?" You will get a "yes" or "no". No games. No guessing. The qualities of aspies are actually appreciated, respected, and nurtured, as they add to the richness of the community.
People are actually interested in what you have to say!!

Unfortunately, the stereotype has endured that hippies just complain about problems and do nothing about them- But what about the countless hippies who grow corn and sunflowers that they use to make E85 ethanol to power their vehicles? A huge percentage of vehicles in the northwest are now powered by sustainable fuels. Hippies are adamant not only about recycling, but composting too. You should see the extreme recycling that goes on up there- It would blow your mind- Almost nothing goes to waste! Everything can be used for something, and it usually is.
Last year in Oregon they introduced a new kind of plastic that's made from corn - it's biodegradable! There are even "free stores" where you can find used clothing, books, and art supplies, among other things.
Hippies often grow their own food, and make their own clothing. Many live in geodesic domes, cobb houses, tipis and yurts - that they built themselves - that are completely sustainable and require little to no electricity. Many use solar, wind, and water power. I've even seen TVs and blenders powered by exercise bikes.

There are tons of communities that are entirely self sufficient.
Here's one near Eugene, Oregon [link]http://www.lostvalley.org/[/link]

The Oregon Country Fair is another good example - every year hundreds of people (hippies) including my partner and I, show up, camp out, and put in between 300 and 350 hours of labor. Some put in less, Many put in even more. Everyone gives freely out of love. It's the most incredible place I've ever been, and is made even more incredible by the amazing people who come together every year to make it happen.
Check it out
[link]www.oregoncountryfair.org/[/link]
Go volunteer if you get a chance- it will undoubtedly be one of the greatest experiences of your life. All you have to do is show up and say "I want to help" and they'll give you a place to camp, 3 meals a day, hot showers, a sauna, and an all access pass.

I think hypermind is absolutely right. In my experience as an aspie, I would say that a hippie community is without a doubt the environment most conducive to a calm, confident, happy aspie. The northwest is an excellent place for us.

It is waaay past my bedtime now, and I'm exhausted so forgive me if this has been a bit disjointed. I normally I don't post much, but I just had to step in here and speak a little truth about this.Those hippies are working really hard for some really good causes and, as far as I can tell, they're the only ones. So until you're living in a house you built that's powered by sunlight, eating food you grew, wearing clothes you sewed, fueling you car with used restaurant grease, working all day and still finding time to volunteer...back off and quit trashing on the hippies. They're some of the kindest, most hard working people you will ever meet.

I am a social liberal, and am currently liberal politically as well...but that is about as "hippie" as I get.

Tim

Mary Newport, the co-author of Mozart and the Whale, mentions in her book that in her youth she felt accepted and at home in hippy communities....

Hey, Krex, stop being 'a drag' and such an 'frigid and uptight straight'. Looks like when you stopped your obsessive idea about it you took away only the negative impressions so you could break your obsession. Sorry you didn't meet my friends Ina Mae and Stephen Gaskin and the folks at "The Farm" in Tennessee. They do not put up with ANY of that drivel you mention .

Also, you talk like the 'hippies' are a concept in the past. You don't think that they can change and evolve over the last 50 years like the rest of us? They were on the cutting edge of the change of conciousness that has overtaken us all and not frozen in time somewhere in the past.
Welcome to the reality, not the bitter memories of whomever wrote the books you read.

Merle

Last edited by sinsboldly on 20 Mar 2007, 9:10 am, edited 2 times in total.

I've always been attracted to this concept. I want a tech-commune.

I love the Hippie community, every one is so accepting it may be because they are high or drunk but I dont care... most of my RL friends would be considered "neo-hippies". besides i was obsessed with collecting Grateful Dead shows once... I think it was all the dates to memorize... 5/11/72, 6/9/77, 2/11/69 I could go on all day...

Last edited by BeyondInfinity on 20 Mar 2007, 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.

'fraid hippies




No..but seriously..I feel too socially isolated..from MOST people
...I have paranoia about being negatively judged by some of them them..which is totaly unfounded...when I do manage to be able to connect with some of them, they turn out to be very nice people who I will get along with better than most...

but there are some people who look like hippies who aren't that way. In my neck o the woods there is many a suburbanite SUV driving girl in a tie dye dress...

There are strange cliques..and scenes...and taboos...I can't smoke pot..it makes me borderline psychotic.
I admire the folks who have gardening co-ops and bio-deisel cars and all that stuff..i think it is awesome....
but I am how-you-say..shy around them..


Just like there are alot of pagans around here that I don't get along with. I come from the land of many a creepy redneck Pagan...it's hard to explain...so I will leave it at that.

Hey Merle, do I know you from the Hat Ranch in Talent, Ore?

Well consider me spanked.....


Have you ever heard the expression...."A cynic is an optimist who has been disappointed ,one to many times."

Thats me.I loved the hippy idea and believed in a lot of the same premisses.I read obsessively about the culture from the late 60's ,early 70's.I longed for a place of exceptance and like minded people.I would never have the guts to run head long into something without researching it but most everything I read described a group of dysfunctional,exclusive,lazy druggies.I wasnt impressed.I wish I could recall the names of the books.They were all supposedly writtten first hand experience.I cant say every thing was negative.They did mention many good individuals they had met but seemed to express the feeling that it was the "system" it self that was flawed.I think part of the problem was that the original "founders" of the communities did not want to exclude anyone but after "hippy" became more of a trend then a life stlye commitment...it attracted a lot of kids who just wanted to party(not real hippies with a belief system and willingness to work towards a goal).

I didnt realize there were still people who considered themselves hippies.(I knew some weekend Deadheads,hardly the same).
I have heard of self sustaining communities but I never thought they were "hippies",perhaps it was an emotion laiden word for me?I have some bitterness when I think of the hippies because I missed the era.I think of the same group of "kids" who considered themselves "Hippies" riding around in their SUV's ,taking their kids to soccer practice and voting for GWBush.I thought they were going to change the world and it appears to me,it has only gotten worse.I know that is black and white thinking on my part(what else is new).

I missed the "hippy" boat,so I tried the punkrock "thing"(they hate hippies even thought they share some of the same belief systems).I did meet some good people but ended the same way....drugs,fights,laziness and hedonism.Plus,I hated the violence.I was called a "peace punk....ie....half hippy/half punk).A pretty schizophrenic existence.I still live "humbly",enjoy dumpster diving,camping,only jobs that try and assist teens,DD,animals.I have become so anti-social now(at 43),that the idea of living in a tightly bound community,no longer appeals to me.I love my isolation.Perhaps I could do something working with animals with minimal contact with the people.Going to large group events with out the aid of "substances"(I have been sober for 17 years)terrifies me.

Anyway.I am sorry I offended anyone.I know how offended I get with other peoples narrow stereotypes about things I care about.I am glad you found a nurturing community,the one I stumbeled on was painfuly dysfunctional,with the exception of some very sweet punkrock girls.I'm glad there are some isolated groups of people who are still "fighting the fight",I just ran out of optimism for humans ability to survive itself.

yeah im pretty much a hermit i need my time by meself, but hippies are generally so layed back i can totally figure it wouldnt make a difference around them. they seem the most respectfull in those kind of regards anyway.

the origins of what became punk derived mostly form the counter culture (mods->skinheads) countering the hippies. they are of the same branch, with which i mean a counter culture agains esteblished 'sociaty' and such, but both at the other end. hippies are pacifists, punks are usually violent in nature (in their origin, though they usually dont bother anyone that doenst want to be).

actualy all alternative/counter cultures of today are a mixture of styles that origin in hippies and mods, with often a darkened wardrobe and added makeup or other assecories. and male femininity seems to be the biggest thing these days.

well anyway, i was just saying the two things have mixed since then

i could have so imagined some story like that, hence i came up with the post. you just confirmed hwat i suspected.