boonewheeler

We have a good number of older folks, but you're correct that the 25-35 range is the largest demographic. Many of the younger folks will leave before retiring here. I'd hazard that our membership is far healthier than average. We do have a member with cancer, but his medical bills are largely paid by Medicaid.

Seniority does play a role here, and its very unlikely a long term member would get kicked out. But I guess if it did happen, they'd have to figure it out.

No one's really asked about the downsides of community, but we're no utopia. Our culture is far healthier now than when I got here, and is continuing to get healthier, but there's still plenty of problems here. There's alcoholism, people being mean to each other, petty theft.

Modern life is traumatizing, and we all bring that trauma with us when we move here. Some people use this place as a way to ignore their trauma, others use it as a chance to heal.

People leave for all different reasons. It's a big question to answer fully, hopefully this is enough.

Haha no, East Wind is secular. Babylon is simply our somewhat tongue in cheek name for mainstream society.

For power, we're on the grid.

We have WiFi in our office building, which also includes wired "commie" (shared) computers and lounge space.

We do our own IT.

One of the things I love about living here is I don't have an average day. Being able to vary my work is something I really enjoy.

I have a bit of an average week though, which I'll walk you through.

Tuesday Afternoons I run a production shift in our nut butter factory, milling and packaging nut butter.

Wednesdays I make cheese, which takes all day. We have a successful dairy, and dairy processing is key to not letting it go to waste. I learned cheesemaking here.

Thursday evenings after dinner I do the dishes for a little over an hour.

Friday Afternoons I man the front desk, answering the phones. It's what I'm doing right now.

Throughout the rest of the week I'll usually do projects. I've become a key player in our building maintenance team, so will often be building or repairing buildings. I learned to do this here. Recently I switched rooms, and have spent the last month turning what was a terrible room into one I'm excited to live in. I'm in the middle of moving into it.

I'll usually attend our community meetings, which are held most Sundays at 2pm.

All of these are things I've chosen. I'm my own boss and make my own schedule.