. . . an anthology of stories by Black Bear Ranch residents about why they moved there and what they discovered. . . in the 1960s, the long-hair hippies who settled Black Bear arrived full of purpose. . . They shared sex, drugs, food, clothes, chores, money. They learned a lotabout themselves and about the meaning of freedom. . . Nobody was in charge at Black Bear. And everybody was in charge.(Chris Watson (March 24, 2000SpotlightSC Sentinel)) --
Chris Watson, March 24, 2000SpotlightSC Sentinel. . . stories from 50 residents, who were brought together by their vision of creating a culture more in keeping with humanistic values than those in contemporary American commercial culture.(Janet Blaser (March 29April 5, 2000Metro Santa Cruz)) --
Jante Blaser, March 29April 5, 2000Metro Santa CruzI opened it for a dip and kept on going for the full swim ... is not only fascinating in its own right, but serves as well as an accurate history of the time and the phenom ... Not that only veterans of bonfires and big naked piles will be the only people likely to love your book ... it has cross-over appeal ... I like your book very, very much ... as the absolute best memoir of that time. Bruce Anderson, editor, Anderson Valley Advertiser. --
Bruce Anderson, editor, Anderson Valley AdvertiserIm not putting you on when I tell you that I opened it for a dip and kept on for the full swim. I think what youve got here is not only fascinating in its own right, but severs as well as an accurate history of the time and the phenom ... Not that only veterans of bonfires and big naked piles will be the only people likely to love your book ... Id say it has cross-over appeal ... I like your book very, very much and will roll out in the mighty AVA on its behalf as the absolute best memoir of that time. --
Bruce Anderson, Editor, Anderson Valley AdvertiserSome 25 young people live there now. "These young people aren't as communal as we were," said Monkerud about the current residents. "And sex has changed drastically. They're much more monogamous . . . In our day, the boundaries weren't so rigidwe were against the idea of anyone owning another person's body. . . Also, we had the perhaps naive vision that we were going to change the world."(Bonnie Gotshore (April 11, 2000The Monterey County Herald)) --
This is a required answer. Please enter something.Bonnie Gotshore, April 11, 2000The Monterey County Herald
From its start in 1968, stories of Black Bear were passed back and forth, making the remote Northern California commune a myth in its own day. Scrupulously protected from the public eye and the news media, Black Bear developed unmolested by authorities or media attention which residents feared might divert their already scattered energy.
The early Black Bears were not experienced at living collectively or surviving in the woods. The woodcutters were lucky they survived the trees they felled. The food and shelter were marginal even by Third World standards. Some would say that not all of us were great parents. But there was an area where we excelled. We were, from the start, great debaters.
This was not always an area of pride but it got widespread attention. Many of us were at our creative heights during public disputes. One of our editors remembers that when he was finally released from his "welcome to Siskiyou County" stay in the Yreka jail, he arrived at the Ranch ready to write an epic journal of the heroic "new life." After a week or two, his journals recorded nothing but arguments so he put them away and turned his attention to honing his skill at public speaking.
Black Bear's community meetings were spirited, to say the least, but they allowed speakers to reveal their thoughts and feelings. While the resulting decisions didn't always please everyone, every person was allowed to participate. Meetings, we should note, seldom resolved very much because people went ahead and did what they were going to do anyway. We wondered then, and wonder to this day, how the community retained its cohesion.
To preserve these beautifully contentious beginnings, the editors of this anthology claim they have resisted the temptation to define the total experience or provide a complete context. Allowing each person to speak in his or her own voice helps recreate, in memories at least, how individuals marched to their own drummers, made their own decisions, held their own beliefs, and put forth their own ideas. Still, pulling together this collection presented certain dilemmas. Should each piece be placed in its social context for those who don't know anything about Black Bear? Should a background be provided so the reader can more fully understand why the individuals use non-standard forms of writing? And what about editing conventions? Should John Dagget's home be the main house or Main House or mainhouse? If Womyn can be spelled thus, what about other words?
One of our younger storytellers writes our agenda: "I have heard many of the stories that go around, read the personal journals left as archives, slept in the beds they slept in. And the lore of heartbreaks, fights, partner switches, cult takeovers, deaths, pregnancies, abortions, fires, families, gardens, pig roasts, tree planting and circuses; this lore does not prevent my own life from unfolding in its way."
Hopefully, there is much more than nostalgia at work here. By reminding us of our past ideals, these stories, we hope, will encourage others to strive for the world we envisioned at Black Bear. At the same time, many of those who lived at Black Bear are very active today in social, environmental and political movements for progressive change and, as much as anything, this collection is dedicated to inspiring the future by providing a glimpse of the past.
Despite on-going attempts to control the future by re-defining the past, the spirit of the 1960s lives on. Social changes of the '60s led to the anti-corporate stances of both the far right and the far left today, increased awareness and power for minorities and a move toward multi-culturalism. They foreshadowed the ecology and conservation movements, the growth of new spiritual alternatives, the women's rights movement, alternative medicine, natural childbirth, the gay and lesbian rights movement and a wide choice of individual lifestyles. Each of these movements for change arose from the forces that coalesced in the 1960's "Cultural Revolution" that shook America to its very core and still informs its direction more than thirty years later.
Black Bear held its 30th summer solstice in 1998. As we walked on familiar ground and mingled in a group of old friends and lovers who once shared the most intimate aspects of life, we felt comfortable when people described what being part of that group meant to them. Holding the babies of the now-grown Black Bear babies brought tears to our eyes, for we felt part of a larger group of people that we lived with and shared with; seldom is there such continuity today, even in many blood families. To many, the family and tribal bonds from Black Bear are as important as blood ties and in some cases replace them.
The Black Bear children, some grown and some yet unborn, are among the main reasons to collect these accounts. It has not always been easy for us, children of the '60s, to share our youthful adventures with our own children. When the kids asked for stories, they were more likely to get tales of building cabins, anti-Vietnam-War politics and organic gardening than any indiscretions of, say drugs or sexuality that our children might take as license.
Here are the stories then to speak for themselves. Not all stories agree. A few are clearly suspect, clouded by personal views or lost memories. Some are clearly fantasies that attempt to bring out the visions we had. But on some level, all of the stories you are about to read are true stories.
