Zendik

Zendiks litter the streetes of big cities with "Mags" and useless info and more "Stuff". It's a Mag and it's advertising for money, goods and labor. This is it. They lure you in on a Promise to work and live with your best friends while devoting yourself in your art and sure the food is good, it has to be.
Granted. I am rersponsible for being lured in and for my time at the farm but all I'm here doing is relating the truth as I saw it and see it. I was doing good before I gave up five bucks for their mag and started reading it and yes it was the one with Red in it. I could'nt imagine the was such a place. I couldn't put the mag down, this is how I was and wanted to live, one of the thousands. I could only wish that I read a thread like this before I went to the Farm.
Are Zendiks evil? No. Arol is.

 

i must declare shennanagins. this thread is an obvious mindfuck that is being used to coerce people into a cult. most of the posters on this thread only post here and no where else. i think it is a zendik attempt to populate thier new "farm". i suggest to the moderator that this thread be stopped before we lose a friend into slavery.

 

"Wayfaringstranger" Are you nuts? The last thing the Zendiks would want is anyone having a public discussion like this. Have you read this thread? And what are all of those unrelated quotes after your psychotic note? Maybe you should lay off the weed.

 

In regards to the cult issue raised by Red Lentil & godlesscommie, I take the view that while we shouldn't imply that the Zendiks are going to commit mass suicide or murder because we have no evidence to that effect, we do have to recognize that, as a cult, Zendik can pose a psychological danger to those who commit themselves to it. By tinkering so harshly with people's intimate lives & feelings, the Zendiks can cause the same types of psychological trauma that any cult can cause (extreme guilt, shame, fear, etc). On the bright side, however, I knew several people who used their Zendik experience to get off heavy drugs, but unfortuately, the Zendiks filled the void left by the drugs with a giant mind fuck.

 

Wayfaringstranger,I agree with Greenhornet,lay off the weed.Either you haven't read all of the posts or there are just too many big words for you in most them for you to comprehend what is actually being said.

 

Whoah, autumn why the hostility on this topic?
If you're trying to get Zendik-types to respond to you I guess the tactic might work, but it's not very fun to read.
Becca

 

This is my first posting, I got some emails from members on hipforums that knew I lived there at Zendik for a while and asked for my input.

Living at Zendik was a different experience, thats for sure, it wasnt a bad time for me but I can see how certain people wouldnt enjoy it. If you dont have a particular skill that you can offer, such as carpentry, electrician, cook etc or an amazing road warrior then you probably will be a grunt worker forever.

Everything below is based on the North Carolina location and I left before the move to the new location in WV so I cant comment on that situation or why they moved.
Actually, to my surprise I was asked to leave, of course now in retrospect I am not surprised as I didnt obey the "rules" but it took them a long time to figure that out. Thanks to some smarts on my part I kept my hand on my $$, more on that later.

It still amazes me how the people still there do not realize that there is a pecking order in place.

Zoe, Rev and Siah all said here on this forum that they all help to clean up after meals, sorry but I never saw any of them clean up once and Siah only cooked chili once in great while (very good though). Rev was pretty much non-visable in daily life. So the clean up is left to the usual suspects, the new people, that may include people that have been there a couple of years but not those long timers. Again, Colt, Vong and Teca did a lot of clean ups but apart from that.........didnt see any elders, I guess they were classed as the older kids (sorry Vong, you are not a kid) although they had more wits about them than many I have seen in the outside world.

Typically, you never see the senior members working side by side with you as they are all busy "managing" the place or editing the website and magazines or doing their art. Colt and Vong were probably the only exception to this and did a lot of grunt work, both worked extremely hard. Siah would come out to dig holes for the outhouses when needed, not often.
You, on the other hand have to do what ever is needed around the property, that is usually decided earlier in the morning, you dont get to do your art.

Think of it as an ant colony, their societies are matriarchal or female-dominated families, the queen (Arol) the soldier ants (Chen, Kord, etc) and of course the worker ants.
There are several kinds of worker ants, medium and larger size workers are more apt to be involved with nest excavation, food acquisition and colony defense. Minims, tend to remain in the nest as nursemaids caring for the queen.

Ant workers instantly distinguish nestmates from intruders based on their smell (colony odor); the former might be groomed and offered food while the latter would be attacked and killed or driven from the nest, which one will you be?

They become territorial as they grow; they defend their territory area against all other ants. Therefore, ant colony populations often reach an upper limit depending on the territory size of mature colonies, in Zendiks case it seems to be about 50.

The "dating" scene is not for many people, ask them how come you dont get to share your bed there, there are no sleepovers and you dont get to sleep with your partner, just a wham bam thank you maam, then you go back to your bunk space.
When I say bunk space, thats all it is, there are no bathrooms, everyone pees outside and there are outhouses to take a poop. Guys, no peeing in the outhouse as it smells because of the ammonia in your pee.
Pretty primitive taking a whiz outside in the snow, but you get to write your name in the snow, my name is Whoosh
Oh, did I mention that there was an inside toilet for the elders!

You get to share your room with whoever is assigned to that room, I lived in several of the different buildings as they were always trying to reconfigure the dynamics of the people and spaces. Most of the Zendiks had their dogs in the rooms too, can I tell you how the rooms smelled, probably dont have to, you can guess especially if it was a puppy crapping all over the place. They also let the dogs crap anywhere outside, so be careful where you step.

If you are a female arriving, expect all the new and unlaid guys to be hanging out on the porch drooling like its open season. You will be hit on immediately but no sex until you have been tested for HIV herpes etc, of course if you tell them you are a virgin then you can start having sex right away, that must be their definition of safe sex? Safe sex is not based on people telling the truth!!!
Condoms were not used but to be safe there was no anal sex allowed!


A couple of the girls that I knew there had clamidiya (sp?) and were banned from having sex until it cleared up. Some of the guys there hadnt had sex in a couple of years as none of the women would screw them. Lots of pent up sexual frustration there, especially when it comes to the "living therapy" sessions when you get to talk about your sexual activity there, poor buggers having to listen to others exploits when they arent getting any nookie.

There has been a change over the years, the work there recently was not that hard, just frustrating while you are out working in the rain and cold while the others are indoors doing their art. Of course you can do your art later, oops sorry you have to do clean up first after dinner, maybe on the weekend when you get time off.


So how do you spend your time off?
Well you dont have access to a vehicle, if you brought one they want the title signed over to them as soon as possible. You can always cook, clean, hang out on the trampoline in your spare time, exciting huh? There are always the horses to ride, right. Well, you can only ride the horses if you take care of the goats, milking, cleaning etc. No thanks, I dont want to ride the goats either.

Nope you cant be in the band until you have proven yourself, doesnt matter if you are playing guitar like Jimmy Page, you aint getting into the band until you have lost your way of playing and found the Zendik way.

Keep you hand on your $$$, this is the most important thing that I can stress to you!!!
Chen is gone now but had a great way of befriending people that looked like they had money and he was very forceful in trying to get it from them. "You cant become a Zendik until you give us everything, and purge yourself of the outside world" he told several newcomers, including me when I first arrived there.
Kee was becoming pretty good at taking that over from Chen but dont know who is the new "muscle" these days.

Of course when you are asked to leave you get nothing except a ride to the bus station so have an alternative way of keeping your moolah if you are going to stay. But then you are not a real Zendik if you are hiding something from them. Whats a gal to do? Even if you gave them $1000 bucks when you arrived you aint getting nothing when its time to leave, except the ride from Kel to the bus stop.


Being a Road Warrior sucks, you really have to do it to see what I mean, hustling the mags and CDS for a couple of bucks, no you dont get to see the concerts, you are outside selling the stuff, I snuck in to see some Ozzfest stuff but would rather have paid for a ticket and avoided the hustling part.

I am not really sure what the mission statement of Zendik is as its contradicted in every part of their daily life.
Enormous electric bills that could easily be offset by installing Solar or wind power, they werent interested.
Growing less that 5% of their own food to eat is crazy for a community that large, of course they are all busy hustling the mags and CDS so they dont have time to tend the gardens.
Printing magazines that arent using recycled paper.
Shall I go on, nah thats enough on that subject.

Homeschooling, as much as I liked Lore and Zara, they were the teachers, the kids were not well educated for the outside world, maybe this is the way of "keeping them" in the community. Of course that didnt happen with Teca who left after being born and raised a Zendik for 18+ years. But it has to be tough transition for the kids who may leave later, Chi didnt even know what a dollar or looked like at 8 years old? Of course he doesnt need one there but one day he might.
Maye this is why Zendik picks NC and W VA to live as the homeschool laws there are non-existant and they can do what they want.

Drugs and cigs are not tolerated, although alcohol is permitted, even in excess. There was local guy who delivered Moonshine to the place, then Arol put her foot down but he sneaked it in anyway. There was lots of beer and wine also.

So, I was asked to leave, left the same day, went to Twin Oaks in Virginia, another community and stayed there for their three week orientation but then decided to travel through europe with someone who had visited Zendik earlier on, we are still in love, ahhhhh isnt that nice.

I am still looking for the ideal community, maybe one day it will come but in the meantime I keep searching.

If you are planning on visiting Zendik, do just that, visit for a couple of days, ask questions, ask where you will fit in. Then leave and visit another community or two, go to Earthhaven, Twin Oaks and wherever else you can find. Then go home and compare all your notes before making a decision.
Make sure you have a place to go if you are asked to leave, you can be there for three days or three years and be asked to leave so always be ready. Kinda sucks having that over your head all the time. At least if you are fired from work you may have some money saved.

Zendik does not check your background to see who you are, in turn, they have not checked the background of the people that you are going to be living with, I havent seen any axe murderers there but you never know.
Many other communities at least ask for references and an emergency contact number, Zendik still doesnt even know my real name as I never gave it and used my nickname.
Several of the Zendiks are there because they ran away from abusive situations, and I understand that.

If you need to run away to a community or find a safe haven because your life is in danger or just downright sucks then email me or PM me and I can send you to the right place, Zendik may not be it depending on your situation.

Sorry for the long post but its my first one. For those here that were there then, Hello again and sorry that I never got to meet Red Lentil way back when, maybe one day.

 

Bravo "Spanky"! Excellent writing and proof that Zendik hasn't evoled one bit! Read the posts by Red Lentil and then read Spanky's testimony and you'll see the very same issues, the very same practices going on 10 years later!

 

Been trying to tell you guys that it's all about Arol, her dream on how she wants to live and to hell with everyone else.
A lie cannot be sustained.
We are seeing this happen as we type.

 

At first I thought Greenhornet you were saying "excellent writing" facetiously and saying Spanky was unevolved for like saying "nookie" or something, writing Whoosh in the snow (I rather like the image). But you're not saying Spanky is proof Zendik hasn't evolved, but that his experience is proof because it matches others' closely. Was worried watching this thread get a little tense, and as I am an enthralled, involved reader I don't want it to fizzle.
Thanks Spanky for the writing, the opinion on going or not, and hearkening a higher purpose for this discussion, i.e. building sustainable, evolving community. Welcome to hipforums. I've thanked other contributors before, pages ago, but will again briefly thank all. Even if nobody answered My previous questions. *sniff* maybe I'll try again? Gosh, this is gonna be long, Spanky et al, stay with me please, you beautiful Zendikers are one-of-a-kind on these boards and your input is soooooo key for me. I am obsessed with freedom, can't believe now that Bush is too, in a freakishly opposite way, but that's a different story. I was in a co-op in college, never felt more free though it was a little false only because I didn't well comprehend that I was paying for it in student loans--- anyway I was asking if you felt more free now, or when you were there. By free I mean at peace, no worries, expressive, comfortable, in love, scrubbing kitchens makes you happy, working with words makes you happy, participating in politics makes you happy, that kind of free. Fitting in your own skin as itself and a part of the whole. Even if it didn't work, it's not like USA works either, so which was more free? Even if your art was on the back burner there, so can it be in USA with rasty jobs, bills, and "the industry" MTV insurance and soooo much more. Maybe the line's just economics, or self-esteem beauty, but I think the secret may be in sustainable, evolving community that lies somewhere in between USA and Zendik. The VWXY factor maybe we could call it.
Where have you felt most free?

Becca

 

Oh. BTW. Chen told me straight up that he didn't care about changing the world that it couldn't be changed anyway and the only reason he was there was to live a good life.
I'm sure this is Arols view too. We were just the stupid people that fell for their BS and were used worse than this "DeathCulture" could ever have.

 

FreedomTribe NW is a joke-it is only a copy of Zendik Farm; an angry man-child pissed off because he couldn't get his way-

 

No Becca I'm not trying to get anyone to respond. I didn't think that my post was hostile. I was just pointing out to the guy that maybe he didn't understand. Why the attack on me anyways?..anyways....back to my reading

 

Do YOU care about changing the world, or anything??

 

i have a question, did zendik ever actually do anything resembling permaculture, other htan raising some goats and workin in a spoilled couple personal garden. any type of solar work, bio-diesel work, year round food production, did they ever export an agricultural product to make a land payment? or was thier idea of income to rip everyone off who came to join and, literally, "ride" them out till they got sick of it and split? other than wulf's philosophies, do they actually teach anything, like various organic methods, composting toilets, alternative building, crop rotation, cold framing, greenhouses, herbology, wild crafting, sustainable forestry, etc.?
what im getting at is are they strictly rape-ers of the earth, or are they reapers also?

 

i also wonder, for a comunity that is today about 50, and over 30 years old, how many teenagers that they intimidated to have sex with the elite members, while holding a false hope for freeing them of the injustice in the world over thier head. how many hundreds of cars they stole, how many tens of thousands of dolars they stole, oly to kick out all but 50 members. i imagine that half of that 50 have been there less than 2 years and most of course will be kicked out. can anyone who'd been there over a year give an estimate of how many people joined, even if only for a week, in that year? im very curious, i may just have to go vigilanti, as ive run into them all over the country for numerous years.

 

I know at least 1 person that's been a victim of Zendik Farm-Today he lives through hate for the place-totally obsessed with hating them-he is a freak anyway, but I think they really messed up his head, and I don't like the thought of ANY one becomming involved with them for any reason-whether they do anything for the environment, or not!

 

I also have a friend who ended up at zendik who left messed up. To this day he is still a upset over the things that happened there to him. He was only 18 when he went...It just upsets me to know that someone as beautiful and loving as him can go into a situation like that and come out so different.

 

I was only thinking autumn it might be something like that did not have any intention of attacking you by saying your post wasn't fun to read. *sigh* It's so hard sometimes to get tone on these boards, or to keep all the players together on a thread like this so I know now where you're coming from in regards to Zendik and apologize if you've shared that before, about your friend and I didn't see it.Just wanted to know where you were coming from.
The only thing I've ever known about Zendik was through mags and used to think I wanted to go there. I certainly do not want to go there now.

 

Apology to “wayfaringstranger.” I got a bit “nippy” (to use Al Gore’s word) back there a few pages ago. Also, I want to say that I love Spanky's writing & was not (for once) being sarchastic. I've got nothing at all against 'nookie' or whoosh!



I’ve noticed that the posters on this thread tend to ignore each others questions, so I’m going to address a few as best I can.



In regard to “Bobbinbecka’s” question about freedom, my answer’s probably different than people who were committed Zendiks. I only stayed a few months and never went full into Zendik, always calling myself a “participant observer.” So there were times that I felt incredibly free being there. I’d go swim in the river and hang out with other “new people” in a place called the smoking circle. However, near the end of my short tenure, I realized that make or break time was coming. I would’ve had to give them the title to my ratty old car and integrate myself into the Zendik Borg establishment or leave. Being a committed Zendik would’ve cut into the sense of freedom I had enjoyed. The committed Zendiks were more scared and reserved than the fringy “new people” and didn’t hang out at the smoking circle or swim in the river anymore. I was sort of like a “marginal” (reference: the bohemian youths who quietly rebelled in Nazi Germany by not joining the Hitler Youth & wearing longish hair but never did anything overt enough to get sent to a concentration camp), and as a marginal who still worked hard, I was accepted by the Zendik establishment in the short term. I’m a pretty good carpenter and have general mechanical skills, so I was worth having around.



That was the long answer to becca’s question. The short answer is: dilatant Zendik- free, Committed Zendik- not free.



My response to wayfaringstranger’s questions is that the Zendik’s practiced (in Texas) organic agriculture but their methods were otherwise pretty conventional. They even used the spraying type of irrigation quite often, which wasted a great deal of water. They had no solar or wind power. The best innovation I saw were the crappers which composted human poop pretty well, but from Spanky’s recent post, it sounds like in North Carolina Zendik went back to standard poop-hole, third-world style outhouses. One clever innovation that the Zendiks used was recycling used building materials by offering to demolish old barns etc. for people free of charge. This supplied some great, seasoned wood. Otherwise, the Zendiks were pretty retarded when it came to ecological innovation. They used conventional concrete, wasted a lot of electricity with conventional coolers that ran constantly, bought a lot of food they could’ve grown, and didn’t seem at all interested in any ‘evolutionary’ ideas to improve their environmental practices.

Also in response to wayfaringstranger's questions, I have no idea how many people've tried Zendik & fled in a short while, but it's got to number in the thousands with only a paltry 40 or so (some are kids who were born at Zendik) still there now.