Choose your own adventure!

• A song
• An image
• An essay

A song

Farewell, good fellows, your ways are not for me
Farewell, good fellows, your ways are not for me
Rest upon your laurels, glad you found your peace, but
Farewell, good fellows, your ways are not for me
Rapping at the chapel door
Sweeping up an enemy's floor
Do not touch or make a sound
Keep your eyes upon the ground
Read your countless volumes
Shunned your many sins
But I cannot find salvation
In the rattlin' of your tins
I wish good to your children
And their own children, too
But your armor will not fit me
Although, fine, it's suiting you
Farewell, good fellows, your ways are not for me
Farewell, good fellows, your ways are not for me
Rest upon your laurels, glad you found your peace, but
Farewell, good fellows, your ways are not for me
A flag is waved, a bomb is thrown
So many names and dates to know
Books upon the books are stacked
To get something so simple back
We're talkin' revolution
But spirals not the spins
Where you fall down, dizzy
And forget where to begin
I wish good to your children
And their own children, too
But your armor will not fit me
Although, fine, it's suiting you
Turn your blessings into weapons
And hold them before your chest
To you and all your comrades
I only wish the best
We may not meet again
For we are treading separate trails
But I'll cast off and think of you
On seas or roads or rails
From chapels to the armies
Magician to the knave
You either blaze your own trail
Or you're diggin' your own grave
I wish good to your children
And their own children, too
But your armor will not fit me
Although, fine, it's suiting you
Farewell good fellows, your ways are not for me

- "Farewell, Good Fellows" by Mischief Brew

An image

Actual painting displayed at Twin Oaks

An essay

I was encouraged to share my thoughts in a leaving letter because, as someone no longer living at Twin Oaks, I'm less precariously positioned to point out issues. I question the value of articulating the issues since those perpetuating them will dismiss this out of hand and say nasty things about me, and those with whom this resonates might well continue to stay silent out of fear. Hopefully preaching to the choir will at least give the ones who need it a sense of catharsis; however, I would urge you all to start speaking out and commit to supporting each other and standing up for each other publicly, each and every time they target one of you.

Racism
Twin Oaks is dominated by white fragility--and fragility in general around any issue that requires privileged parties to engage in self-reflection or admit to having made mistakes/held erroneous beliefs. I can only imagine how it feels to be a person whose skin color doesn't give them the option of easily sliding under the radar if desired; to be lied about, bullied, and put through endless process over nothingburgers, while white members who rape and steal (supposedly some of the actions most antithetical to policy and norms) are treated with patience; to speak out in favor of Twin Oaks following its purported values around "eliminating the effects of racism" and face even more sanctioning than that incurred by white people saying the same things. Even as a white ally, I received social shunning, hyperbolic and nasty communications, and character assassination, which I was expected to absorb gracefully. My only regret about my time at Twin Oaks, other than upholding a particular CMT decision during my plannership, is that I tried to be the bigger person instead of matching energy. I believe there are members of color here who will say I don't have the right to speak for them. You're absolutely correct. I'm not speaking for y'all. I'm speaking for those your community treated like garbage until they left, those who had the same messaging as I did but were punished the more for it due to their lack of white privilege. They matter too, although you don't seem to think so. And I'm speaking for myself, a person who doesn't like to witness stunning levels of injustice and hypocrisy from a place I'd hoped to call home.

Ableism
Toward the end of 2025, following a more flagrant instance of anti-autistic ableism against a prospective new member, there began to be hopeful movement forward on this issue. This was met with regressive backlash similar to that around land reparations occurring at the same time, a backlash that has persisted for many months and now encompasses most domains of life at Twin Oaks. There were disingenuous insinuations made that progress toward equitable treatment of neurodivergent folks "directly resulted" in the squatter situation we dealt with for the first few months of 2026 (see also "Authoritarian Turn and Corruption"). Twin Oaks seems to resent the disabled, from those with chronic illness/injury, to neurodiverse people, to those experiencing a mental health crisis (see also "A Sociocultural Clone of Mainstream Capitalism"). Ethical problems with this valuation and treatment of human beings aside, this will have ramifications for the community's survival if left unchecked. Humans have succeeded as a species through group selection. Individuals did not survive by being the most bootstrapped independent silos, nor communities by being monolithic; communities survived through the wide range of skills and experience that a variety of individuals brought to the group. If you don't want "weird" people in your community, or "people who get taken off the labor system", or people whose mental health struggles appear only as a liability to you--you're going to lose a lot of the variation in skillsets, knowledge, aptitudes, life experience, and companionship that is essential for a community to remain viable.

Classism
Twin Oaks struggles to move past its upper-middle-class white roots. This presents additional hurdles for anyone who hasn't kept much company with, or had a similar education as, this demographic. Classism dovetails with other -isms including those already discussed. Those who can't or won't culturally assimilate to the community's well-to-do whiteness often experience more problems finding labor (a process which is absolutely a social activity and something of a hazing ritual for new members) and issues with having their voices heard. If a comment isn't written or spoken in the "correct" way, its content is disregarded (see also "Exceptionalism"). The most impactful issue of class at Twin Oaks is differential access to outside resources, both financial and social. Having family or friends that can finance travel and deposit steady streams of money into gift accounts allows for an upper tier of members who have significantly better quality of life. This of course means there is a lower tier of members who experience a good deal more chronic stress, from which there is little relief and whose effects can be cumulative. The upper tier get more creature comforts, morale boosters, self-actualization experiences such as travel/retreats/concerts, and time away from the community to de-stress and re-center when they need it. I'm not arguing that they shouldn't get these things. I'm pointing out that having a life of greater ease, and then turning around and putting less fortunate members under a microscope for hiccups in their money or labor balance, resembles mainstream attitudes such as "Have you tried just not being poor anymore?" and "I've got mine, screw you" (see also "A Sociocultural Clone of Mainstream Capitalism").

A Sociocultural Clone of Mainstream Capitalism
The community functions more like capitalism than egalitarianism, with humans being valued based on how much work they do and whether they do the "right" work (the term for this is "workism"). Whether a prospective new member already has an extensive resume seems more important than their work ethic, love of learning, creativity, kindness, compassion, innovation, or other positive qualities that make community thrive. Those who struggle to find work, to work through illness or disability, or who suggest that quota could be lowered/eliminated are viewed with dislike and suspicion. Since Twin Oaks offers few cultural, philosophical, and ethical divergences from the capitalist mainstream, the community seems to feel a subconscious need to distinguish itself somehow, most notably by the visible and smell-able lack of cleanliness characterized as ruggedness, simplicity, or environmentalism. A lot of cultural value and social approval is placed on not purchasing items or not doing work that would impart cleanliness.

Hierarchy
Aside from informal socioeconomic tiers (see "Classism"), there is an unacknowledged hierarchy in play around types of membership. Visitors and guests provide indispensable labor that no one else wants to do, do it uncomplainingly since it impacts their ability to stay, and are often treated as nuisances. New members do much of this labor as well and spend months carefully monitoring their behavior, then when they're full members they are treated as though their opinions don't matter. Only longer-term members seem entitled to have opinions or a voice in what happens at Twin Oaks, some showing little gratitude for the revolving door of folks who contribute so much. An interesting twist is that it's not the longest-term members who are most implicated in perpetuating this hierarchy. In fact, many of them have also been left feeling silenced, targeted, and unappreciated this year by a cadre of medium-long-term members. This faction of members in the 2 to 10 year range appear to center themselves at the top of the hierarchy; they seem to see themselves as having more of a right to speak than new members, yet claim that longer-term members don't deserve special treatment for their tenure.

Exceptionalism
Some expect rules and norms to apply to others but not to themselves, especially around communication. The most shocking and cruel things can be said and written, if done in the appropriate "egalitarian" and "policy-compliant" way, if one has the right group of friends to join them in going on the offensive while also defending them.

Factionalism, Pettiness, and Grudges
A remarkable amount of labor hours--in a community that is stingy with hours in most situations--have recently been poured into process around years-old grudges. Factions form and strengthen around attempts to kick out guests or take peoples' managerships. Think of how nice the community could be if all that energy and all those hours were put toward something positive instead of sowing division and resentment. Someone from another community recently told me that this kind of behavior simply would not be tolerated in their community, and that those engaging in it would be shown the door.

Authoritarian Turn and Corruption
The confluence of misfortunes (Harmony fire, squatter, mental health incidents, internal conflict) at the start of the year has been leveraged to prop up the conservative backlash against the hopeful social progress that was occurring at Twin Oaks in the latter half of 2025. The squatter, a once in 60-year occurrence, was used as pretext to impose stricter guesting policy that is having negative impacts on members. Surveillance and monitoring of labor and money budgets, targeting of individuals for personal and illegitimate reasons, corruption and overreach by persons on CMT/PTM/Econ Team and others, is not--or rather, should not be--normal. I admit to being perplexed that many don't seem to see how closely this all parallels the current presidential administration.

Cultural Hegemony and Dissent
Those who speak out about these problems have been treated badly and vilified both during and after their membership. Even the gentlest of suggestions that the community has work to do in order to follow the values stated in its bylaws gets met with hostility and punishing/silencing measures, and then the same parties carrying out these measures wonder why progressive voices in the community become less polite and more strident.

Cultlike Tendencies
"Against policy" and "inegalitarian"--If you were to replace these with "condemned in the scriptures" and "sinful", the way these terms are regularly leveraged to delineate an ingroup, attempt behavior modification, and exert control/chastisement would be quite similar. I found cult deprogramming literature helpful and illuminating in my journey to leaving Twin Oaks. If you're feeling like there's something weird going on and can't quite put your finger on it, if you're feeling shamed or gaslit or ostracized for having what seems to you like a pretty normal reaction to unhealthy things you witness and experience here, look into this. An institution doesn't need to be religious or have a charismatic leader to have cultlike, abusive traits. You deserve better. Good luck!