Tamar Etingen, a native Californian, moved to Maine in the 1970s. Today, almost fifty years later, she still lives in New England. The link below provides an indexed, transcribed, and segmented version of Tamar Etingen’s oral history: Tamar Etingen’s Oral History
The Story
Tamar Etingen’s frustration with the government can be traced back to her college years. During Tamar’s 6-year college career at UC Berkeley in California, governmental helicopters and guns circled the campus. “It was very, very formative,” Tamar said, recalling her college years. “I’ve been shot at. I’ve been teargassed, and the National Guard occupied the campus.” After college, she continued her activist career by working for the United Farm Works Union in Arizona. Her future partner — Ernie– crashed at the headquarters one night after his motorcycle broke down, and he ended up staying to work for the United Farm Workers Union as well. When they ended their work with the Union, Tamar climbed on the back of Ernie’s motorcycle, and the two of them motorcycled up the west coast, across Canada, to New Jersey for a little, and finally ended in Maine.
In Maine, after a series of house switches, Tamar and Ernie eventually became founding members of the Creep City Land Trust. Several young homesteaders pooled their money to buy a piece of land. Together, they made community guidelines, shared the cost of snow-plowing and other various expenses, and held regular community meetings. Tamar was a member of the Twatones, an all-women homesteader a capella group. In addition to her musical performances, she worked on sets for back-to-the-landers’ plays and served as a founding member of an annual Fourth of July parade.
Today, Tamar lives in Cambridge with her husband Paul, where she works as an artist. Her interview traces the chronology of her move back-to-the-land and also offers insights into the vibrant back-to-the-land artistic community.