Kerista Commune We didn't save the world. We didn't even try. We talked about it sometimes. 1. the commune that invented the words 'polyfidelity' & 'compersion' based in the Haight-Ashbury of San Francisco from 1971-1991 (New Tribe)
2. the 60's free-love movement with houses in NY, SF, LA and Berkeley and outposts in Belize and Roatan (Old Tribe). |
It is a heavy-hearted farewell we give to Azo Also - Daniel Morii, who passed from HPV cancer in January 2018 in Hawaii. Daniel brought much life with him and maintained a kind, gentle, and humorous presence in the face of almost all of life's travails. Daniel had been living in Hawaii for many years and had participated in a wide variety of projects for businesses, the University and the medical marijuana industry in both California and Hawaii. He was a talented producer and videographer who touched a great many lives and made many friends during his work. Daniel was the child of an American soldier and a Japanese women after WWII, who married and tried to live together but had trouble including experience of much racism in both Japan and America. They eventually divorced and Daniel was put up for adoption in Japan by his mother. Daniel was adopted by a American colonel and Japanese-American wife, and was then raised in Monterey after the war with the couple's daughter as older sister. The adopted mother was a cruel and abusive woman, and Daniel was often the target of her cruelty. Daniel left home at 16 to live with friends, and eventually went into the service at the end of Vietnam War, serving in Thailand and training as a medic. Daniel migrated to San Francisco and joined Kerista in 1979. He fathered a child in Kerista in 1979 but left the group in 1985.
on Sunday Dec 13, 2009, in San Francisco, CA. 'He was in nursing home care at the VA after falling and breaking his femur when he went to visit his girlfriend Kay in the hospital a few months ago. After Kay died suddenly about a month ago, Jud's health began to fail and they were just about to transfer him into hospice care. He had various problems with his breathing and oxygen saturation and so this morning he was unresponsive, began to breathe slowly, then calmly and quietly took his last breath...' - geo Bro Jud (originally Jacob Luvich?) was Kerista's voluble cult leader and a dominant figure in many lives for many years. He was most recently in failing health. Without Jud - we ex-Keristans would have never met each other (including my meeting my wife!) - and while I have been more angry than sympathetic with Jud since the breakup of the commune, Let me give the man his due: He was bright and engaging in a warm personal way, highly charming, insightful and charismatic. At his best, Jud could be open and sensitive to all classes of people, and he was psychologically astute about others. He read widely, but tended to take what he could use. His interests were eclectic and he liked to synthesize diverse ideas into his own 'theory' that he could explain for hours but could not be understood. He had many raps. You cannot read Keristan literature or watch Jud without noticing his amazing raps. Whether you agreed with him or not, Jud was always vocal and confident. Bro Jud *loved* to rap, more than anything else (and we were a sex cult!) He was Brooklyn-born and raised by an aunt, a decorated soldier in the Phillipines in the 40's, a New York bar-owner & bohemian in the 50's, and a hippie in Dominica, Honduras and San Francisco. The 12th incarnation of Kerista in San Francisco lasted from 1971 to 1991. After Kerista dissolved, Jud continued to speak and do public broadcast and was a regular in the SF scene. You wouldn't find him working - but you would find him talking loud - often to women - trying to catch a buzz or find an audience, with some hippie-commune-utopian rap about how: you can change the world by changing your mind. Rest in Peace, Brother Jud. You changed our minds. Eve is working on scanning some pictures of Jud. I will print anyone's comments about Jud: memories, experiences, good and bad. You have my permission to express your opinions about Kerista here. Write your story and send it to keristacommune@gmail.com.. |
circa 1971 - Jebby Way Jud Eve Keg About this site (or if this makes you angry) ... © 2002-2012 Tom Winegar. All rights reserved. contact your host at kip@kerista.com |