Anybody been to East Wind?

Would love to hear some visit reports or member reports that are current....this whole thread is 5 years old and Eastwind lives on.

Any recent experiences would be appreciated.

Community is hard....damned near impossible...as one poster said, if it involves people....

 

I dunno about 'damn near impossible' - certainly the statistics are grim. But we've been going strong for almost 45 years, and many of the groups who've benefited from our experience have lasted for decades. It can be done.

 

I would like to hear more from a current member of the community as well. I am about an hour or two away from the place and am really curious.

 

National Geographic covered East Wind a few years back. They mentioned the drinking, as well.
They painted it up as a hippie paradise, i believe.

These stories of child abuse are pretty messed up. I should read that article again. See if anything like that was mentioned.

 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0508/feature7/index.html

 

I visited once. It has great potential.

East Wind has very successful businesses, and beautiful land. Socially, it has at times been a failure. Turnover is high, mental illness can be common, and members can fight like cats and dogs. It may have changed, and I wish it well.

When I visited, the member who was the visitor guide told me East Wind tolerated a member harassing others to the point where they gave up and left. He said it was ironic that the place was dedicated to non-violence, yet allowed this conventional harassment. At the same time, I saw a witch hunt atmosphere, in which not-so-popular men were accused of sexual harassment. Once a charge of sexual harassment was made, it was a challenge for a guy to unconvinced some of the cliques he was innocent. I saw a definite witch hunt, and like all witch hunts, the accused were not-so popular folks, and the accusers often lacked solid evidence that anything substantial had actually happened.

But, again, it may have changed. It has great potential.