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Kerista Articles - Overview of the Kerista Commune
Overview of the Kerista Commune
copyright 2003 Tom Winegar
Kerista started in the 60's as a hippie free-love trip. The Keristan Commune was a moderately successful urban commune based in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, existing from
1971 to 1991. Membership varied over the years, but at its largest it was slightly less than 30 members. Founded by Bro Jud and Even Eve in 1971,
the commune developed a reputation for:
Social Contract Consciousness - All members agreed to the same social contract in order to join. Social contract standards
ranged from 'Total Rationality at All Times' to 'Clean Up Your Own Mess'.
Gestalt Therapy - members would verbally encounter themselves, friends AND sometimes strangers about their neuroses. This could be uncomfortable,
and many people came away from these encounters with ambivalent feelings.
Polyfidelity - members were faithful to a family group, called a B-FIC (Best Friend Identity Cluster, pronounced: 'beef-ic'). A B-FIC was composed of more than two and up to 18 people
- 9 men and 9 women. We used a balanced rotational sleeping schedule to determine who slept with whom every night.
Publications - The Storefront Classroom was the first newspaper, first published in 1974.
The Utopian Classroom was a free newspaper distributed in the Bay Area for over 10 years. Kerista also produced
two other free newspapers in the 80's, Rockhead and The Node, as well as a series of books.
Rap Groups - Kerista had free rap groups near Stanyan and Frederick several nights a week for many years.
Abacus, Inc. - The Kerista Commune members formed the executive leadership and many staff positions of
Abacus, Inc, a moderately successful microcomputer reseller in the late 80's and early 90's.
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