Re: coffee shop community??
From: Lynn Nadeau (welcomeolympus.net)
Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2000 08:15:57 -0600 (MDT)
What John Greene has expressed (about enjoying a feeling of community 
even though not participating much)  certainly is true for me--- despite 
the fact that I am one of those who are very involved in the "doing" 
aspects of this community. We are all nurtured by knowing it's there. 

If we are busily involved with the daily interactions of gardening, 
dining, committees, etc., we are still having that experience at another 
level: we also know "it's there" should we have a physical or emotional 
crisis. Like a child who runs and plays and never looks back, knowing a 
parent is "there", we are given the security of knowing that others are 
potentially there for us, in case we need them in a more urgent way.  
Like the office workers who grind out their work in a cubicle near their 
co-workers, we know that sooner or later we will get a break and 
socialize. That's very different from knowing there is not social support 
there even if we want it. People even feel better knowing they have some 
GOLDFISH alive in their home! Most of us are not deeply solitary. 

If I were to move to a strange city or country, I would be drawn to a 
living-place where I could see life passing by my windows. (I suddenly 
remember the little old ladies in Amsterdam who sit in their bay windows 
over the sidewalk, with a chair facing up the street, and a big rear-view 
mirror from a truck attached so they can also see what's happening down 
the street in the other direction! I once saw a window with two ladies, 
one in each direction, and two mirrors -- they had it all, including each 
other's company.)

Maybe this is a teacher thing--- I too have corrected piles of papers in 
public places. (though there is also the benefit of being AWAY from my 
own phone, kitchen, and other distractions and procrastinations). I 
remember a Thai snack bar where I corrected final exams over a "G7" --the 
owner's trademark concoction of vanilla ice cream, 7UP, and ....gin!

Obviously, in cohousing, there has to be enough "doing" so the committee 
work gets done and the social opportunities get planned and the common 
spaces get maintained, but I agree that just being around it all is a 
benefit we all share. 

Lynn Nadeau
RoseWind Cohousing
Where we got two coats of stucco all over our common house this weekend-- 
lots of work, but also great food and lots of social interaction.
In a month we'll be doing a similar push to get the Structo-lite on the 
interior walls

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