Welcome to Dawes Hill Commune
Dante was thirteen when his dad offered Dante and his brothers what his dad considered to be a great opportunity. `You should go and spend some time with some really amazing people at Dawes Hill Commune.' Nik and Avrum weren't interested. Dante was intrigued by a chance to live with some twenty-year-olds and he soon found himself driving with his dad up a dead end, rural, dirt road near Ithaca, NY. They pulled up to the main cabin. Several young moms were milling about with flowing hair and flowing skirts. A naked two-year-old girl tottered to a spot near the car door that Dante was stepping out of, squatted, and peed in the dirt within inches of Dante's foot. Dante's dad introduced him to several commune members. Lisa, a short chesty ex-student of his dad's, was particularly friendly. Dante noticed his dad slip tall, lanky boyfriends a $20 bill as he said his farewells and told Dante that he would be back in a few weeks. Dante knew that his dad was in thralls of one of an endless stream of infatuations with one of his grad students and was eager to get back to that unencumbered by a child hang aournd.
There was no telephone, electricity, or plumbing at Dawes Hill. The communal buildings included a large workshop with a loft where Dante slept, a building for cooking and dining, and a large rough-hewn barn. Sprinkled amongst the hay fields pastures, and gardens were living quarters for the couples, mostly yurts. A marijuana field was often referenced. Dante wasn't privy to it's hidden location.
Dante's orientation included a tour of the farm animals, clear instructions on how to distribute the poop judiciously in the two-seater outhouse, and a stern promise that he would work hard and pull his own weight at the commune concluded the orientation.