Closing Contact with the Third Rail of Distress
Almost all people living in intentional community—as well as those aspiring to—value good communication. After all, the heart of community is relationship and that’s pretty hard to develop and sustain with weak communication. That said, all conditions under which communication is attempted are not equal. Some are way more challenging than others. In particular, one… Read More
People first, things second.
Tiny Houses and shared living arrangements are currently hot topics on the COHO-US Listserv, tapping into the consistently popular themes of affordabiity and simplicity. Can these now-trendy models that trade-off square footage and private amenities for more affordable, manageable lives deliver on our high expectations? Since cohousing has already been doing precisely this for over… Read More
Mecklenburg Times: ‘Cohousing’ movement appeals to homeowners seeking fellowship
Alice Alexander describes herself as a “typical baby boomer,” always seeking to improve her quality of life. The 57-year-old, who had devoted most of her professional career to nonprofit management and fundraising, lived in a 1925 Dutch colonial in Old North Durham. But, she says, something was missing. She felt anonymous in suburbia.“I was looking… Read More
Big news today!
The fence went up and the building went down! The countdown clock has started. We are VERY excited to have officially broken ground today. We’ve started a blog page on our website at http://capitolhillurbanwww.cohousing.org/blog where you can subscribe to track our progress. There are more photos posted there but below is one to whet your… Read More
Great Aerial Picture of Mosaic Commons and Camelot Cohousing
My son and his dad went up in a small private plane this past weekend, and took this amazing picture of Mosaic Commons and Camelot Cohousing. Our land extends to the North (left in the picture) for another 50+ acres, but this shows all of the built area.
Budgeting Time & Considering Gifts
Now is the time of year when many cohousing communities review their budgets. Does your community include a budget for supporting Coho/US with an annual gift? Including an annual gift as a recurring donation allows your community to affirm ongoing support without requiring discussion by the finance committee or the whole community every year. What… Read More
Group Works: Power Shift
Group Works: Power Shift This entry continues a series in which I’m exploring concepts encapsulated in a set of 91 cards called Group Works, developed by Tree Bressen, Dave Pollard, and Sue Woehrlin. The deck represents “A Pattern Language for Bringing Life to Meetings and Other Gatherings.” In each blog, I’ll examine a single card… Read More
Off my usual topic of governance but this was a response to a question from a new community that I thought might be helpful to all new communities, and some settled ones. What should we buy of the kitchen? On small appliances: At 14 years we still have donations and have just started buying more… Read More
I received this email from Leah Fisher in response to my opening “Alleviating Fear” article in Cohousing Now! eNews (#71, 10/28/14). Leah makes a compelling case for “fear of regret” as a stumbling block in committing to cohousing, and suggests, “Support for dealing effectively with these concerns could be of great value to prospective members.”… Read More
I was struck by Marilynne Robinson’s assertion in a recent issue of NY Times Magazine (10/5/14): “Fear has, in this moment, a respectability I’ve never seen in my life.” She was referring to what she thinks is a “default posture” of human beings: fear. This recalled for me a presentation at Shadowlake Village that included… Read More
“It is a strategy I think a community could use to jump start their program, and then talk about how to reduce the centralization after a year or more of successful meals. Since we have quite slowly added new households it is quite clear that our successful meals program is what has helped get more… Read More
I’m currently immersed in four days of FIC organizational meetings, where a key focus has been how to make better connections with others trying to build cooperative culture. Essentially, those of us with deep familiarity in community living believe that we’re learning something in the crucible of that experience that has wide application—in neighborhoods, in… Read More
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