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Meet Hellena and Currawong


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I find it telling that in the Facebook comments she says our snarking hurts most cause it reflects what she thinks sometimes and reflects her fears about what may be wrong with her lifestyle. She knows it's nuts, but she's gone so far she has to keep justifying it.

I agree. I suspect that at heart she knows she's way overdoing it.

Hellena: I am sure you're not a bad person and it sounds like you love your kids a lot. However, you can lead a healthy, organic lifestyle WITHOUT going so far off the grid of normal civilization you are actually hindering your kids' future chances. Honestly and truly. Homeschool them if you must, but actually teach them things - in a regulated way, with textbooks, so they can go to university later on if they want. Homebirth if you must, but make sure the midwife attending you is a medically trained professional who will know what to do if something goes wrong, which is getting increasingly likely as you age. In short: be crunchy, but use some common sense.

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I agree. I suspect that at heart she knows she's way overdoing it.

Hellena: I am sure you're not a bad person and it sounds like you love your kids a lot. However, you can lead a healthy, organic lifestyle WITHOUT going so far off the grid of normal civilization you are actually hindering your kids' future chances. Honestly and truly. Homeschool them if you must, but actually teach them things - in a regulated way, with textbooks, so they can go to university later on if they want. Homebirth if you must, but make sure the midwife attending you is a medically trained professional who will know what to do if something goes wrong, which is getting increasingly likely as you age. In short: be crunchy, but use some common sense.

QFT.

There are many many older women in her community who did just that.

Listen to the matriarchs Hellen. Honor their wisdom and experiences. They grew up in the mainstream, they consciously chose a different way of life, and many of them raised their own children to be comfortable and capable in both worlds.

Their children are now grown. We are mothers and fathers and students and teachers and lawyers and hippies and travelers and seekers and housewives and accountants and musicians and drug addicts and doctors and authors and dreamers and artists and politicians and shop assistants and........

We all chose our own paths because our parents realised the importance of being able to decide ones own destiny and gifted us with the ability to do so. They no more wanted to tie us to the commune than they wanted to be tied to the city and a 9 to 5 job.

You are closing off your children's choices and world. They deserve the tools and skills to be whoever and whatever their souls yearn to be, and you are raising them with limited options and closed minds. Yes, closed minds. You are not teaching them to understand and value the 99% of humanity who live and think differently to you.

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Poor Sister Hellacious, the goddess has blessed her with what the universe calls 'butt hurt'. Buttella is mans products, the goddess spoke to me in a dream. She told me that in the light of the waning moon she and Curradong should have medium rare sex upon a bed of moss and eucalyptus leaves in bold view of all the forest fairies. When their joining is complete Curradong should gather up the leaves and moss and return home with them. Hellacious is instructed to weave a web of fine lice free yak hair about the bundle, shaping it in a comely manner that resembles the clouds of Boregonia just before sunset. This bundle should be well soaked in the lactate of platypus. Once the task is complete, they must pleasure themselves once more without completion. My dreams foretold that this poultice can be then applied to the buttocks of Hellacious and the stars and elves will sing while her butt hurt is healed.

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Poor Sister Hellacious, the goddess has blessed her with what the universe calls 'butt hurt'. Buttella is mans products, the goddess spoke to me in a dream. She told me that in the light of the waning moon she and Curradong should have medium rare sex upon a bed of moss and eucalyptus leaves in bold view of all the forest fairies. When their joining is complete Curradong should gather up the leaves and moss and return home with them. Hellacious is instructed to weave a web of fine lice free yak hair about the bundle, shaping it in a comely manner that resembles the clouds of Boregonia just before sunset. This bundle should be well soaked in the lactate of platypus. Once the task is complete, they must pleasure themselves once more without completion. My dreams foretold that this poultice can be then applied to the buttocks of Hellacious and the stars and elves will sing while her butt hurt is healed.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

I need to stop being so serious about all this.

It's hard though, the north coast is my home and she is trying to be part of my birth community and I feel so much for those kids. And I want to slap her and tell her how incredibly pretentious and self righteous and narrow minded she is, all traits sadly common in the alternative community that annoy the hell out of me.

I'm guessing you (experiencedd) know what I'm talking about in terms of the difference between first wave hippies and this clusterfuck of disfunction.

Edited cause my iPad wants me to say he'll instead of hell. Although it makes me think Hellena needs to change her name to He'llena. She is neglecting eclectic punctuation and failing to honor the masculine in her chosen moniker.

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Poor Sister Hellacious, the goddess has blessed her with what the universe calls 'butt hurt'. Buttella is mans products, the goddess spoke to me in a dream. She told me that in the light of the waning moon she and Curradong should have medium rare sex upon a bed of moss and eucalyptus leaves in bold view of all the forest fairies. When their joining is complete Curradong should gather up the leaves and moss and return home with them. Hellacious is instructed to weave a web of fine lice free yak hair about the bundle, shaping it in a comely manner that resembles the clouds of Boregonia just before sunset. This bundle should be well soaked in the lactate of platypus. Once the task is complete, they must pleasure themselves once more without completion. My dreams foretold that this poultice can be then applied to the buttocks of Hellacious and the stars and elves will sing while her butt hurt is healed.

You're killing me here................ :laughing-rolling:

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...

I'm guessing you (experiencedd) know what I'm talking about in terms of the difference between first wave hippies and this clusterfuck of disfunction.

Edited cause my iPad wants me to say he'll instead of hell. Although it makes me think Hellena needs to change her name to He'llena. She is neglecting eclectic punctuation and failing to honor the masculine in her chosen moniker.

My DDs father and I have been enjoying an ongoing conversation about these folks and how this second wave has a serious overlap with religious fundamentalists. The patriarchy is reinforced via their unwavering dogma. The do not practice any method of contraception. Men have no real responsibilities except to get the van running once in a while. The woman are expected to practice some hippy art, beading, weaving body painting or mixing up herbal concoctions to be traded monthly at the barter fest held in town. The kids are snotty nosed, unbathed and never to see the inside of a school or library. I could go on with some RW examples but it's frankly too fucking exhausting.

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My DDs father and I have been enjoying an ongoing conversation about these folks and how this second wave has a serious overlap with religious fundamentalists. The patriarchy is reinforced via their unwavering dogma. The do not practice any method of contraception. Men have no real responsibilities except to get the van running once in a while. The woman are expected to practice some hippy art, beading, weaving body painting or mixing up herbal concoctions to be traded monthly at the barter fest held in town. The kids are snotty nosed, unbathed and never to see the inside of a school or library. I could go on with some RW examples but it's frankly too fucking exhausting.

I think that (patriarchal roles) was a bit of an issue among the first wave too.

My mother and her friends talk about how they bought properties in the bush with big plans for self sufficiency and raised kids without electricity, hand washed nappies, cooked on wood stoves, grew huge gardens, taught the children, birthed at home, made handcrafts to sell for extra cash etc, and tried to keep up the standards they had been taught re hygiene, education and nutrition.

While the men, products of post war homes, saw all that as "women's business" and concentrated on their dope crops. They built their families homes, then once they were livable they didn't improve them. Yes, they kept the cars running, which was often a huge job. I remember my dad walking through badly flooded creeks to hitchhike to town to buy essentials. They were involved fathers. But the bulk of the work and hardship often fell to the women even then. Raising kids off the grid is very very hard work, and a large amount of the first wave hippies clung to the core domestic gender roles they had been taught, even if they questioned gender roles in other spheres.

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My parents were very egalitarian. That was one thing they did right. My father washed laundry, made dinners, cleaned and cared for us as much as my mother. My mother worked as much as my father. Both went to school. I knew a lot of families like that. In Northern California at least, equal sharing of parenting was big among first wave hippies.

I am still surprised for a second when people praise my husband for helping out. I was raised with both parents doing that stuff. If one person is at home then sure, they should be doing a lot of the housework because they are physically present to do so. But if both parents are home or both work, it makes no sense to me that one is more responsible for it than the other.

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My parents were very egalitarian. That was one thing they did right. My father washed laundry, made dinners, cleaned and cared for us as much as my mother. My mother worked as much as my father. Both went to school. I knew a lot of families like that. In Northern California at least, equal sharing of parenting was big among first wave hippies.

I am still surprised for a second when people praise my husband for helping out. I was raised with both parents doing that stuff. If one person is at home then sure, they should be doing a lot of the housework because they are physically present to do so. But if both parents are home or both work, it makes no sense to me that one is more responsible for it than the other.

Ah Emmie, i was beaming you up through the cosmos and clouds sky clad leaning to the north, hoping you would share your experience. The universe is bountiful :lol:

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Ok, I'm a bit late to the game here, but I want to comment on her point about getting crushes on her midwives. She seems to be trying desperately hard to justify it, but it sounds like she is simply bisexual, as others have pointed out. And this confirms that she still feels attraction to women sometimes, just like she did when she used to be a "lesbian feminist". Is she really so far in denial that she doesn't see this connection?

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My parents were very egalitarian. That was one thing they did right. My father washed laundry, made dinners, cleaned and cared for us as much as my mother. My mother worked as much as my father. Both went to school. I knew a lot of families like that. In Northern California at least, equal sharing of parenting was big among first wave hippies.

I am still surprised for a second when people praise my husband for helping out. I was raised with both parents doing that stuff. If one person is at home then sure, they should be doing a lot of the housework because they are physically present to do so. But if both parents are home or both work, it makes no sense to me that one is more responsible for it than the other.

I should clarify that in my experience the men tried. They were much more involved than their own fathers, and I spent 90% of my toddler and preschool years in my fathers company and in his care. But he had never been taught domestic skills and didn't seek to learn them. He washed up every night and that was his indoor contribution.

He and his peers did, however, teach their sons differently, so I don't think it was conscious affirmation of the patriarchy, more coming out of a conservative society and being raised with strict gender roles that they had to consciously choose to shed, which they did to varying degrees.

I also think 1950s Australia was probably more conservative than 50s America, so their change of lifestyle was very dramatic.

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I think that (patriarchal roles) was a bit of an issue among the first wave too.

My mother and her friends talk about how they bought properties in the bush with big plans for self sufficiency and raised kids without electricity, hand washed nappies, cooked on wood stoves, grew huge gardens, taught the children, birthed at home, made handcrafts to sell for extra cash etc, and tried to keep up the standards they had been taught re hygiene, education and nutrition.

While the men, products of post war homes, saw all that as "women's business" and concentrated on their dope crops. They built their families homes, then once they were livable they didn't improve them. Yes, they kept the cars running, which was often a huge job. I remember my dad walking through badly flooded creeks to hitchhike to town to buy essentials. They were involved fathers. But the bulk of the work and hardship often fell to the women even then. Raising kids off the grid is very very hard work, and a large amount of the first wave hippies clung to the core domestic gender roles they had been taught, even if they questioned gender roles in other spheres.

I think it's common for men in many lifestyles to simply not realize how much work women do. They likely grew up with mothers doing things, so they never even had to think about them. Food magically appeared on the table and clothes magically got cleaned and even though they likely had chores, they were never completely responsible for the day-to-day running of a household. So they do work like fixing cars or making the occasional dinner and they feel like they are contributing equally, but they are blinded to by their privilege to the massive amount of work that women are doing.

This is an issue that I am concerned about in my hypothetical future non-hippie egalitarian marriage. Even with the best intentions it can be hard for a man to fully contribute half the work of the household and if I have to nag him into doing it then that's actually more work for me. And progressive men can be surprisingly resistant to criticism because they feel like they are working hard (and they are), so they don't understand why a women could be unsatisfied with how much work he's doing. I would only marry a man who has lived on his own at some point in his life, but that's only a start. It can be really hard to get these points across to someone who has good intentions but is simply unaware.

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I agree bananacat.

And cause babies have to be tended and food has to be prepared and laundry has to be done, women tend to just step in and do it, even if they resent it.

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This is an issue that I am concerned about in my hypothetical future non-hippie egalitarian marriage. Even with the best intentions it can be hard for a man to fully contribute half the work of the household and if I have to nag him into doing it then that's actually more work for me. And progressive men can be surprisingly resistant to criticism because they feel like they are working hard (and they are), so they don't understand why a women could be unsatisfied with how much work he's doing. I would only marry a man who has lived on his own at some point in his life, but that's only a start. It can be really hard to get these points across to someone who has good intentions but is simply unaware.

It is an issue in my relatively egalitarian mixed-hippie marriage (I am a hippie, husband is not). My husband was a single dad for years before we married so he knows. But men get petted and praised in society for even the most minimal contribution to the home. It is then hard to come home to a wife who points out you are not doing your fair share.

I refuse to nag. I freaking refuse. It is more energy than it is worth. I do what I can and no more, and then when the household work builds up I make a list and we spend a day of the weekend tackling it as a family. But it is hard because, yeah, my dad did more than my husband does and he did not really have to be reminded. He saw a pile of crappy diapers and took them to the creek to rinse and wash and hang out. My husband does not seem to have the eye for chores that I do. I think that is something that has to be taught from a young age. My dad was raised mainly by a single mother who had two jobs and worked her ass off. She expected that the children would pick up after themselves at a certain age, and she had mainly boys so they had a fair share of the work. My husband, on the other hand, had a mother who ran two businesses while maintaining a clean house and making 7 course Italian meals several nights a week. A lot of men do not grow up thinking, this shirt needs ironed so I had better figure out how to use the iron.

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majikfaerie seems to be yet another self absorbed navel gazer. What these folks don't understand is that many of us hippy parents sent our kids to public school and unschooled when the kiddettes were home. But we also were aware of the realities of the world and life, like mortgages, car and health insurance. Skipping off to Bali for a couple of days of sparkling adventures wasn't possible for those of us who had our feet planted in the the RW. I understand the economy is different in OZ and these folks really don't have to work if they are willing to subsist on government support. I just had to laugh at the donate button on her blog.

This.

As a child of the 70's and 80's- and who grew up with Sidharthas, Shantis, Summers and Meadows, this is what the hippie parents did. They had jobs, they might have the Greateful Dead over and be up talking all night on a weekend, but during the week they held down jobs. They sent their kids to public or Waldorf schools, heck, even some of the kids were in the typical youth activities (soccer, Camp Fire, little league...). Their idea was that the kids needed to choose their own lives, and not be bound by their parents choices.

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This.

As a child of the 70's and 80's- and who grew up with Sidharthas, Shantis, Summers and Meadows, this is what the hippie parents did. They had jobs, they might have the Greateful Dead over and be up talking all night on a weekend, but during the week they held down jobs. They sent their kids to public or Waldorf schools, heck, even some of the kids were in the typical youth activities (soccer, Camp Fire, little league...). Their idea was that the kids needed to choose their own lives, and not be bound by their parents choices.

And our kids were raised to make a better world for everyone by participating in the world and contributing. This family has the same isolationist qualities as some of the fundies. If you work you 'sold out'. They'll all grow up to be dependent on others and if lucky have a talent for grifting like Lauren.

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This "Love" post is giving me flashbacks. You know, when you're crowded into a room full of people sitting on a mattress, a couch, and the floor, and the room is totally hotboxed, and all is silent except for one person rambling shit that makes perfect sense right then. The rambler is like, a total sage, has totally discovered the meaning of life, amongst nodding heads and the bubbling of the bong. And then no one can remember a fucking thing a few hours later, except the rambler, who pretends not to because it's just all so fucking mortifying. It's been years since I've gotten high like that, but man, reading her blog just takes me right back. Now I've got the munchies.

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And our kids were raised to make a better world for everyone by participating in the world and contributing. This family has the same isolationist qualities as some of the fundies. If you work you 'sold out'. They'll all grow up to be dependent on others and if lucky have a talent for grifting like Lauren.

Yes, exactly! I've never been a hippie or raised by them, but I considered myself hippie-sympathetic when I was a young adult. And it was because I wanted to change the world for the better and help everyone and just turn the world into rainbows and unicorns. But this family cares more about having the purest ideology when it comes to raising kids and making sure they do everything the "right" way. I would rather see them have some control over their kids' lives and direct them into doing things that help others and teach them empathy. Instead they're just learning that they can do whatever they want and they should never have to care what others want. It's the opposite of what I learned about being a hippie.

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Of all her revelations, this one surprised me the most:

Could have fooled me!

I'd never heard of the train disaster she says killed her father, so I did a little research. It's quite horrific. And if she really was teased about her father dying that way, that's unspeakably awful.

Now I'm imagining a sweet little old lady or a SAHD googling "crochet patterns" and getting Hellena's full frontal nudity, shagging in labor and general craziness, and swearing off the Internet.

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My DDs father and I have been enjoying an ongoing conversation about these folks and how this second wave has a serious overlap with religious fundamentalists. The patriarchy is reinforced via their unwavering dogma. The do not practice any method of contraception. Men have no real responsibilities except to get the van running once in a while. The woman are expected to practice some hippy art, beading, weaving body painting or mixing up herbal concoctions to be traded monthly at the barter fest held in town. The kids are snotty nosed, unbathed and never to see the inside of a school or library. I could go on with some RW examples but it's frankly too fucking exhausting.

In my area, they tend to totally discard modern medicine- causing outbreaks of illnesses that had seldom been seen before. They also tend to homeschool, or do homeschool co-ops. (one friend is always talking about their "sweet" school, that is looking for more "sweet" families.....) The biggest issue with many of the more extreme ones is that they've fallen into an Indian inspired cult, it even has a k12 school and some of it's own industry so some people don't have to leave at all.

I have other hippie friends who are not that extreme, and the schooling is probably partly better because CA does have more requirements than some states- but I still worry about the futures of some of the kids. (the ones who aren't as extreme, either send their kids to Waldorf, as the first wave did, or homeschool until high school, then send them to school.)

There is an old hippie across the street, but he's not the kind I get along with. He actually is rather insane. His girlfriend left him and moved in with a different hippie in the neighborhood. He doesn't understand that if he doesn't work, he looses his house and he's dragged it out for two years and is in the last stage of eviction, which is sometime this week according to his wife's new roommate (I ran into her at the co-op last week). He grows pot in his yard, which wouldn't be a problem, except that he blasts the neighbors who don't smoke with the stench. He has told me that the world is falling apart, and told my parents right after I closed on my house that "nobody would be able to buy it because it's a foreclosure." I am just glad that he is older and has no kids to drag into this mess. I just want to know where he finds the people who do help him.

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And our kids were raised to make a better world for everyone by participating in the world and contributing. This family has the same isolationist qualities as some of the fundies. If you work you 'sold out'. They'll all grow up to be dependent on others and if lucky have a talent for grifting like Lauren.

Yes!

I was at a reunion for Camp Fire a few years ago, and the daughter of one of the people made a comment that there were an awful lot of people who worked in schools (or other types of work with kids) there.

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Now I'm imagining a sweet little old lady or a SAHD googling "crochet patterns" and getting Hellena's full frontal nudity, shagging in labor and general craziness, and swearing off the Internet.

Just had the best mental image of my grandmother.

Can you share the info that you found about her father, happy atheist? Now I'm curious.

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In my area, they tend to totally discard modern medicine- causing outbreaks of illnesses that had seldom been seen before. They also tend to homeschool, or do homeschool co-ops. (one friend is always talking about their "sweet" school, that is looking for more "sweet" families.....) The biggest issue with many of the more extreme ones is that they've fallen into an Indian inspired cult, it even has a k12 school and some of it's own industry so some people don't have to leave at all.

I have other hippie friends who are not that extreme, and the schooling is probably partly better because CA does have more requirements than some states- but I still worry about the futures of some of the kids. (the ones who aren't as extreme, either send their kids to Waldorf, as the first wave did, or homeschool until high school, then send them to school.)

There is an old hippie across the street, but he's not the kind I get along with. He actually is rather insane. His girlfriend left him and moved in with a different hippie in the neighborhood. He doesn't understand that if he doesn't work, he looses his house and he's dragged it out for two years and is in the last stage of eviction, which is sometime this week according to his wife's new roommate (I ran into her at the co-op last week). He grows pot in his yard, which wouldn't be a problem, except that he blasts the neighbors who don't smoke with the stench. He has told me that the world is falling apart, and told my parents right after I closed on my house that "nobody would be able to buy it because it's a foreclosure." I am just glad that he is older and has no kids to drag into this mess. I just want to know where he finds the people who do help him.

Xman lives out in the mountains outside of a small community of hippies my age who came to Boregonia from far and wide in the sixties and seventies. They did the handmade houses, art, finally got indoor plumbing, brought their homes up to code. A surprising number of them are highly respected artists and musicians whose names you would recognize, who figured out how to market their art and talent. Few if any smoke weed recreationally, a mere handful at that now and most of them hurt so much from their youth, tree felling, and brush clearing they need to. The kids are of my DDs generation, all have astounding work ethics, those who didn't go to college earn a good living from trades. Few have moved from the mountain for any period of time. The lure of the culture still calls my kid, but she has a gratifying career and is on an adventure.

The new hippies, caused my co-op to put a sign on the handmade hats, 'Do Not Try On" due to head lice issues. :roll: I could go on about the measles epidemics or one of the highest rates of whooping cough here in the state. I could go on, my head is exploding.

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