European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 02, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Prosperous hippies Happy in a time wan left to right Lyman Johantes an Banjo Jim Kwitkin on guitar Etta tuttell on cello and Loryn Johantes on violin. Background left to fight Georgia Gude on Hormat by Suzanne Wetlaufer associated press f fifteen years ago. They about burning Down the world and scattering the tripped on Ltd. They hated limits and rejected the system. But they loved each other and loved their music without end. So 30 of them settled in Boston s Roxbury Section in a Row of squalid abandoned victorian houses near the top of fort Avenue it was a hippie commune Complete with Bluegrass and the blues drugs and astrology. The people who settled at the top of fort Avenue remain Togo Mhor today no longer poor or revolutionary. They have All the trappings values and problems of a traditional Middle class family except that they Are happily ensconced in a time Warp that keeps their hearts in another decade. Now. Tor the first time since a Magazine article described them As a dangerous cult that worshipped a self proclaimed Messiah they have decided to explain themselves to the outside world. To celebrate their years together they offered a self portrait in a Magazine called u and i which among More mundane material contains philosophical talk about peace and destiny. They re prepared to let sceptics scoff. Sometimes we think we Are a different race says eve Lyman who joined the group 15 years ago when she was 18 and was married to the founder of the family Mel Lyman. We know we Are Lull of paradoxes. We Are traditional but we still want to change the world. We Are the world in a microcosm but we Are totally they Are parents now who scold and adore the children that seem to be everywhere around them. They Are business people who run a lucrative Home renovation company and invest a Fortune left one member by her father Painter Thomas Hart Benton. The family members strikingly attractive have replaced the tattered Denim look and potluck meals with a life of line clothes gourmet food and travel. They say the have Given up hard drugs and Only occasionally Light up some marijuana. The group has grown to 72 adults and 39 children. All spend much of their time in comfortable Homes in Boston. New York. Los Angeles at a 280-acre farm in Kansas and a vacation Retreat on Martha s Vineyard while frequently gravitating Back to Roxbury for a stay. Affluence has done Little to break nomadic habits. Page 14 the stars and stripes one recent evening six of the group s original members sat in the richly decorated living room of on of their six renovated Homes on the Hill to talk about it commune s history. The setting Sun cast Shadow Sony French lace curtains and on the elegant antique victorian furniture. A Woodie Guthrie record played. In the 60s, the whole world was involved in a revolution. The birth of a new world seemed possible recalls George Peper 39. The son of a Well to do Connecticut family who helped found the Community 1969. Our life is a continuation of that spirit. We in that you can affect the world by the Way you live.", we have not Given up the goals and visions that i had eve Lyman adds. It s that we realized it takes a lifetime to achieve in May. The group published Yandl. A collection of conversations poems letters and photographs. It contains no advertising or solicitations the group say is not interested in recruiting new members. Another Issue was planned for August. Pretend that we Are strangers on j train together you and i travelling somewhere that we have never been before. Let s not introduce ourselves or ask All u usual questions the Magazine says on its first pa9e let us ask difficult questions and give honest ans who knows what we will find on this unchartered monday
