Re: A very moving portrayal of the diversity element most
From: Chris Poch (chrischrispoch.com)
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2016 08:47:25 -0800 (PST)
I am glad this conversation is continuing - I think it's very important as
we learn just how divided America is today.

The strongest communities reach across all kinds of lines. We really
develop understanding when we understand not just the positions of our
neighbors, but also the why behind them. Community is a fundamental desire
of people and while we may not all have the same ideas about how best to do
community, it's one of the few things that crosses all kinds of barriers.

Where we have to be careful is that we keep major things major and minor
things minor. What is a foundational value to your community? Where do you
desire diversity (meaning encourage different values/expressions)?
Personally, I like keeping the foundational values simple and centered
around the community itself and how you want people to treat each other. I
think we're stronger when we focus on our commonalities as people while
agreeing that it's ok to be different. I think the key things here are
being willing to be nice with people you disagree with and being willing to
listen.

Personally, I want to live in a community that accurately reflects my
surrounding area - culturally, politically, racially, economically, length
of tenure in the community. Of those, the hardest one when it comes to
housing is difference in economic conditions. You can find people of all
political stripes at different income levels, but if the smallest unit
costs $300k, you're not going to be able to include a household making
minimum wage. It can also be a somewhat related issue for first generation
immigrants that don't speak English or struggle with it. It would be
frustrating and hard to fully participate in a community where you couldn't
understand most of what is being discussed.

I don't think there's an easy answer, but my challenge to all of us is to
broaden your horizons. If everyone you interact with agrees with you on 85%
of things and sees the world more or less the same as you do, you're
missing out.

Chris

On Fri, Dec 2, 2016 at 11:03 AM Tiffany Lee Brown <magdalen23 [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

>
> ty, that’s really interesting. could you say more about how you imagine
> co-housing or other communities might best form in these different areas?
> would “diversity” in the Berkeley sense even be a goal of those communities?
>
> like the SNL “Bubble” skit i posted a link to on YouTube, sometimes
> communities, official community organizations, and housing options actually
> function to give folks a way to find likeminded people to hang out with.
> and sometimes likeminded ends up meaning a lot of people with the same
> religion, race, gender or gender preferences, general attitude toward life.
> do all communities need to be diverse?
>
> on my great-granny’s side, my family came from the Melungeon “race” in the
> Appalachians and included a Cherokee ancestor who ran off from the Trail of
> Tears. i’m out on the West Coast and have spent very little time in the
> South, so haven’t gotten to experience what you're talking about, other
> than some wonderful time spent in New Orleans and on a friend’s farm out on
> the Bayou. and painting any place with a wide brush can be misleading. even
> Berkeley. you’ll find many different subcultures/etc throughout areas of
> the West Coast that are assumed to be 100% enlightened progressive
> post-hippies, craft brewers, and tech kids. it just doesn’t get a lot of
> press because hey, for example, the Portlandia side of Portland is more
> interesting than the 85% of residents there who are similar to regular ol’
> people in towns across the US. so folks assume that all Portlanders =
> Portlandia TV Show extras, and in many cases, they’re not at all.
>
> cohousers at large: what do you think? is “diversity” of all opinions,
> subcultures, races, religions, values a true goal of your own organization,
> and in your mind, should it be a goal of co-housing at large? or are you
> more concerned with getting a diverse, larger pool of Americans interested
> in cohousing— but not necessarily try to shoehorn them all into the same
> actual cohousing community?
>
>
> thanks for offering your perspective…
>
>
> tiffany
>
>
>
> > On Dec 1, 2016, at 4:57 AM, Ty Albright <tmalbright [at] verizon.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Re:
> >
> > Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:30:48 -0500
> >
> > From: David Heimann <heimann [at] theworld.com>
> >
> > To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> >
> > Subject: [C-L]_ A very moving portrayal of the diversity element most
> >
> >          difficult to include in cohousing
> >
> > Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.4.61.1611301311310.4390983 [at] shell01.theworld.com>
> >
> > Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/11/10/american-right-inside-the-sacrifice-zone
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks for sharing, this is a good first attempt but I must share that
> when
> > reading this article I was reminded of the African Safari ride at Disney
> > Land, it's like someone from a faraway land with a pith helmet showed up
> in
> > Louisiana and came back home with amazing stories, and quite a bit of
> > misinterpretation.  Overall, a good attempt from an "Berkeley Outsider" -
> > and the article does demonstrate that not every place in this country is
> the
> > same.
> >
> >
> >
> > This story speaks about the Tea Party's as if it were some sort of actual
> > real organized political party.  It's not, and I do not know anyone who
> > refers to "the tea party" as something they belong to.  I believe this is
> > just an easy label some have come up with to explain a grass roots belief
> > system that has rejected the institutional political parties (both
> democrats
> > and republicans).
> >
> >
> >
> > Culturally I must tell you that Southern Louisiana is a very unique
> place,
> > and cannot be directly compared to the rest of the Deep South, and
> certainly
> > not the mid-west.  There was a time in this country's founding where many
> > languages other than English were spoken, and they still speak creole in
> > parts of Louisiana; they also have some great Cajun food, Zydeco music
> and
> > friendly people (just don't show up unannounced or you risk getting
> shot).
> >
> >
> >
> > If anyone wants to better understand about the culture of the Deep South
> I
> > recommend the documentary "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus"
> >
> >
> >
> > But beware, that regionally there are great cultural differences in fly
> over
> > country. Southern Louisiana is uniquely different from the Deep South,
> as is
> > the true mid-west, as is Texas, as is Oklahoma (formally Indian territory
> > where Andrew Jackson forcefully relocated multiple people groups to make
> > room for white settlement).  I believe these different sub-cultures are
> why
> > many still believe in the importance of "State Rights".
> >
> >
> >
> > From a cohousing perspective - these different cultures, in my opinion,
> > require a different approach for "forming community" than what may
> typically
> > work in other locations.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Ty
> >
> > Ty Albright Project Management
> > Little Red Hen LLC
> > 214-336-7952 <(214)%20336-7952>
> > <mailto:tmalbright [at] verizon.net> tmalbright [at] verizon.net
> > <http://www.linkedin.com/in/tmalbright> www.linkedin.com/in/tmalbright
> >
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
> >
> >
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/
>
>
>

Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.