Quantitative Hippie Analysis

You are 35% hippie.

You're in the middle, leaning towards the non-hippie side of things, but you're not afraid to try out some hippie philosophies. Good going! An open mind is all a person really needs to lead a happy life.

Are you a hippie?

I took the test; I'm about 1/3 hippie. Next time somebody asks, I can give them a quantitative response. Because I moved to Pocahontas County from somewhere else, people here often ask if I'm a hippie. In the 1970's, a back-to-the-land movement drew many people here. Donald McCaig, of neighboring Highland County, VA, was part of this influx. While many people moved on, others are still here, and my questioners want to know if I "belong" to that group. (I don't. I moved here in 1999, long after the "real hippies.")

Besides the individual "hippies," Pocahontas has attracted some groups which could be considered outside the mainstream. A few of these have Web presences. Here are some links to give you a sense of the variety.

Zendik Farm is either an intentional arts community or a cult, depending on whether you're talking to a member or a disgruntled former member. Since they've moved here from Asheville, the group has made a commendable effort to get along with the neighbors.

• Zendik.org, their Web presence is mostly taken down, apparently for revision, but you can see some of their literature, podcasts, and products.
• Washington City Paper's article
• Critique of Zendik and Asheville community

If I lost control of a bowling ball in my yard, it would roll downhill to the Gesundheit Institute. This has been the future site of Patch Adams' free hospital for over 30 years. After years of apparent inactivity, the group has started to hold workshops and training sessions on the property.

• Gesundheit Institute
• Wikipedia article on Patch Adams and his "Gesundheit Institute"

The people behind the Center for Bioregional Living appear much too young to be original hippies, but their Web site suggests they share that outlook.

• Center for Bioregional Living One World, One Life: Modalities of Change, Local and Global: Global change through individual choices. Exploring ways of living which regenerate local landscapes by reconnecting people with their local ecologies for their livelihoods.
• Biodiversity Farming in West Virginia

You could call these folks the Anti-Hippies. The Neo-Nazi group National Alliance mails out its magazines, books, and recordings from my local post office. I'm not aware of any recent activity at their Mill Point compound, but they always did keep a low profile locally.

• National Alliance Web page
• Anti-Defamation League's 2005 article on the National Alliance
• Southern Poverty Law Center, 2005
• Another white supremacist group's "post-mortem" of the National Alliance
• White-separatists get prison time for hate crimes from the Salt Lake City Tribune, August 14, 2007
• National Alliance (United States) Wikipedia article