# Throw Away Girl and the Pearl Drive Experience



## JackieBlue (Nov 27, 2011)

When Starchild was around five or six months old, Throw Away Girl and Soul Starer were invited to live at a commune. It was a large warehouse that had been used by a mexican hefe to house his migrant workers. There were also two school buses, an airstream, a winnebago, a trailer, a geodesic dome, and a small out building, and a wood heated sauna. The warehouse had a kitchen, pool table, and living area, a community area, two bathrooms and three bedrooms. Our garden consisted of a brick patio with a double sided brick barbeque (one side was used for the communal altar), a willow tree with a cobb bench underneath it, a traditional brick bread oven, a shrine that our mexican landlord had erected in to honor the blessed mother on behalf of his deceased wife, many agave cactuses, roses, naked lady lillies, and numerous other plants. There were 20 of us, including children. Throw Away Girl had always dreamed of living in an intentional community, so this was a golden opportunity, but as they say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

When Throw Away Girl and her family moved in, they were given one of the bedrooms inside the warehouse. It was the only room that had no windows. Both doors opened into common areas of the warehouse. You could never tell what time of the day it was, and as there were living quarters on all sides of the room, there was very little privacy. Everything that transpired inside was shared with the whole community. Honestly, at that time, it was a great metaphor for where she stood in life. In a room without windows.

After a few months a friend gave them a school bus that had been sitting on his property for several years. It was a 1966 GMC 13 window bus. It had once been used to transport loggers, and as Throw Away Girl later learned had been custom altered to house a previous family. The floor was insulated, a window had been removed for putting a stove pipe out, and a sink had been installed, but other than that it was an empty shell. Throw Away Girl was so excited. She had always wanted to live the turtle's life; carrying her home wherever she went, near or far. Throw Away Girl wanted to get to work right away. Soul Starer kept putting it off, finding other, better, things to do, than to give them their own space. 

Several friends came through and slept in their bus from time to time. Throw Away Girl kind of resented that someone else was enjoying her space, while she lived in a room without windows. At this time Soul Starer's anger was growing and growing. So other resentments were building in their family. Throw in the mix; pleasing 20 people, at all times, and respecting each persons space, and needs, simultaneously. It was no small feat While many of them were very close, some had slowly distanced themselves from the others. 

Even in close relationships tensions build. Most of the community worked with one another in some way or another; at harvesting seaweed, or growing wheat grass, babysitting, or other means of gaining money or goods. Pearl Drive also often attended the same events or would car pool to the grocery store or various places. She would almost describe them as a horde! A tightly bound group in which many arguments and heated dicussions were had, but who showed a united front and functioned as a group. Pearl Drive's reputation preceded it.

After a few months Throw Away girl and Soul Starer began become more alienated, from each other. Their family tensions had become more and more a part of the group tensions,as opposed to singluar to their own family. Soul Starer and Throw Away Girl tried to get away together many times, but it seemed that Soul Starer always had a reason to leave her behind. It was at about this time she shaved off most of her hair; so that she wouldn't end up pulling it out.

In August, they planned to go to the Reggae Sunsplash Festival, held on the Pier, in San Francisco. The day approached, and Throw Away Girl made arrangements with an old friend, for them to stay with her for the weekend. It had been years, and the friend went out of her way to be hospitable. The day came, and our carpool never showed up. At 4 in the afternoon, some friends dropped by there happened to be one seat left in their vehicle. Soul Starer jumped in and drove away.

Throw Away Girl sat on the patio and cried, when he left. She looked at Raven Girl ( another member of the Drive), and said to her. "He's not coming back." Raven Girl, just looked at her and nodded. She spent the weekend relaxing, but with a constant undertone of anxiety. Sunday night at around 9 PM, Throw Away Girl got a phone call from a friend telling her that Soul Starer had been arrested for selling five dollars of weed to a cop. Now in most cases this wouldn't be such a big deal, but Soul Starer had previous arrests on his record and had jumped his probation. He was looking at at least 3 months in jail. She was enraged at his stupidity. Pearl Drive rallied around Throw Away Girl.

While it seemed Pearl Drive was outwardly cohesive as a group, the needs, and even, demands of each individual, eventually superceded the group identity. No one is equal or the same, or has the same experiences, hence the sheer impossibilty of meeting every persons inividual requirements. One has to decide wether to agree to the complete compromise oneself, for the need of the group, or to completely extract themselves from, said group. Ultimately fate made the decision for them.

Pearl Drive noticed that there was something wrong with the water, within about 2 years, after assembling . Everyone bought water for cooking and drinking. The water had become contaminated. The septic tank had reached it's capacity before anyone noticed, or remembered to call the septic company. The health department came to test the water, and condemned the whole site. Ultimately they discovered that the Drive was only zoned for one bathroom, and 20 of them had been using two bathrooms for almost 4 years.

So Throw Away Girl needed to find a place to go, and all she had was an empty shell of a bus to make into a home. They had 60 days to leave the premises. Throw Away Girl went on a mission. She went to the dump to look for lumber on the free pile. Not only did she find lumber, but she also found panelling, berber carpeting and a bit of linoleum for her floor. Next she went to the hardware store and bought foam board insulation for the roof and walls. Two of the other community members agreed to go to an abandoned house with their truck. There was a woodstove in the house. The three girls dragged/carried the cast iron parlor stove about a 150 feet, then lifted it into the truck, drove back to the Drive and lifted it into the bus. The next stop was the tinsmith for stovepipe and a metal piece to put in the empty window around the stovepipe. She built a box along the wall in the front. It would function as a couch. She installed a seatbelt for Starchild's car seat. She found a friend who did demolition work when he was in the marines. They went into an abandoned trailer, and ripped the propane oven and stovetop out of the counter, put it in a wheelbarrow and wheeled it to her bus.
She put the panelling up on the ceiling, to cover the insulation and hold it in place. She put Starchild's crib and their rocking chair inside. She built a 3 foot high platform for their king size bed. She lifted, and shoved the mattress through the back door by herself. Her home was almost ready.

Many of the other community members found a farm in Elk, that seemed to meet their needs. Throw Away Girl was invited to come along, but she knew that it was time to break away, to serve herself, before serving the masses. She loved her Pearl Drive family, but she knew that she would walk away alone with Starchild in her arms...............


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## Dmac (Dec 1, 2011)

wrl!ay to go gi


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