Name: Dakshesh Das Date: 06/04/2022 Class: 9A

Internet Exploration: Twin Oaks and Utopia

Twin Oaks is a community of people trying to create a utopian society. Their vision of utopia is
reflected in their shared values and how their community operates. Fill out the following
exploration sheet to gain some understanding of how their society works.

1. Go to https://www.twinoaks.org/

2. Home Page

a. How large is the Twin Oaks Community?

Twin Oaks is a rural central Virginia intentional community with around 90 adult
members and 15 children. Our style of life has mirrored our ideals of
collaboration, sharing, egalitarianism, income sharing, nonviolence, and
ecological sustainability from the community's inception in 1967. They also share
resources in general. They possess automobiles, residences, and nearly 500
acres of land jointly.

b. Name five values that the community shares:

i. Collaboration
ii. Sharing
iii. Egalitarianism
iv. Non-Violence
v. Income sharing

c. What does the community provide for its members?

Housing, clothes, food, and health care are all supplied to members in exchange for their
42 weekly hours of work. Twin Oaks has maintained a waiting list since 2011, thus visitors who
are accepted for membership must normally wait three to nine months before they may join.
This is achievable because each member works a total of 42 hours every week, either in the
commercial or household parts of the community.

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 d. What work do the community members do? (both for business and quality of life)

Each member works 42 hours a week in the business and home sections of the community.
Less than half of the 42 hours individuals work in a week are spent on income-generating
activities; the rest is spent on chores that improve the quality of life, such as milking cows,
gardening, cooking, and childcare. Most people prefer to undertake a range of jobs rather than
the same one every day. This creates a balance in the twin oaks community which ensures the
best of both worlds.

3. Click the “More about Twin Oaks” link at the bottom of the home page (Or go to About >
More About Us > Membership). Briefly, what is the process for joining Twin Oaks? What
does this suggest about the seriousness of membership in the community?

Before being accepted for provisional membership, potential members must visit for three
weeks. After the three weeks are over, you must spend at least one month away from Twin
Oaks while the community determines whether or not to welcome you. This is to allow you time
to think about your decision to live here, as well as to get your affairs in order and pack. If Twin
Oaks agrees to accept you, you can move in after one month, or you can wait up to six months
following the conclusion of your guest term. If you need to wait more than 6 months, an extra 3
months for the window of acceptance is added if you visit for 7 days and build up the labor
quota at any point during the second trimester. Once you move in, you will have a six-month
temporary membership period during which you will be able to determine if you fit Twin Oaks
and Twin Oaks fits you.

The detail in this process shows the seriousness of the community and how they want to create
a utopian society in the twin oaks society. It shows how not everyone can join this community
and they want to shape this community in a specific way so that it’s created like a utopian
society.

4. Click on the “About Income Sharing” tab on the left side (Or go to About > Income
Sharing). What does “income sharing” mean? What else does the community share?

It is a more economically just manner for people to interact with one another. It avoids a luxury
economy as well as many of the pitfalls/tragedies associated with the class structure and
economic privilege. People have a higher level of dependency and participation in one other's
life when they are financially tied. This leads to other sorts of ties as well. This greatly enhances
the quality of life for many people. For many individuals, the trade-off is well worth it, and to the
degree that those issues can be managed with some level of expertise, it may lead to a

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deepening of relationship and a strengthening of the group structure. It is significantly more
effective for the community to take collective responsibility for affording needs of life, such as
rent, food, and so on, than for each member in the group to devote their lives to supplying those
things for themselves. As a result, residents of the Twin Oaks community have more time,
money, and energy to devote to other pursuits. They also share resources in general. They
possess automobiles, residences, and nearly 500 acres of land jointly.

5. Explore around! Some interesting places to look might be at their pages on holidays,
feminism, their various businesses, or even the photo gallery. Name two interesting
things you found on their website.
a. Feminism
Twin Oaks, being a feminist society, tends to discard traditional gender norms and
conduct. Women and men pick their responsibilities in the society based on their own
interests, abilities, and passions, not on the opinions of others. Men and women both
handle chainsaws and drive tractors, and both cook and care for children. We all wear
clothing that we feel comfortable, whether it's jeans for business or skirts for coolness or
celebration, oblivious to conventional ideals of "appropriate" fashion choices. Twin Oaks
Community is dedicated to creating a welcoming and cheerful atmosphere for all
individuals, including women, men, lesbians, homosexuals, and children.
b. Ecovillage

Why does this interest you? How does it relate to utopia?

This fascinates me because it is attempting to eradicate sexism in the community, which

is a really significant issue in the real world that has been going on for a generation on
generations. A utopia is a place where people live in harmony and happiness. A utopia is
a fictional community or civilization that has very desirable or almost perfect attributes for
its people. This means no racism, sexism or any other issues like that a present which
creates the perfect society. This is the reason why gender is not an issue in the
community and men or women including homosexuals can do whatever job and have
the same freedom as everybody else living the community.

6. Wrap up

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 a. Would you want to live in the Twin Oaks Community? Why or why not?

Utopias are uninhabitable. It would be incredibly dull and inhuman to live in a utopian
society. A world devoid of pain, suffering, disease, death, and emotions would be
uninhabitable, emotion is a part of our nature. We value everything in terms of contrast:
health vs disease, life versus death, peace versus conflict, pleasure versus discomfort,
and so on. These events help an individual grow as a human being and a person overall
which makes them a better version of themselves after every event. Apart from that, a
utopian society in the real world is impossible to think off. When the size of the twin oaks
society grows, authorities and representatives are going to try getting control of
everyone in the community once the size of the community grows.

b. Based on our definitions, is this community a utopia? Why or why not?

A utopia is a "perfect place," a location that can only be imagined, where humans may
cohabit peacefully. This is not a utopian community. There is no such thing as a utopian
community. The community is currently tiny. It is far easier to provide equal rights, an
equal say, and equality in every choice made than it is in other circumstances. However,
as time passes and the community increases and flourishes, it will become hard to
continue operating in the same manner. Representatives will reappear eventually, and
via "democracy," a vicious circle of wanting power will emerge from the horrible human
nature of greed.

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