Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Who lives in cohousing/ division of labor

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

>The point is that the vast majority of people want to LIVE in cohousing --
>they don¼t want to theorize about it or discuss the details. They want to
>get on their lives. ...they have lives that are
>not focused on any of the issues that we discuss here in detail.
>
I see this as a division of labor, or style. My personal contribution to my 
community includes being probably the only one of us who reads the list, and 
the only one who posts to it. I'm a resource, sometimes going on line with 
specific questions the group is wrestling with, and being able to report back 
that "in three other communities, they do it that way and it seems to work" or 
"listserver replies made me realize that we forgot to consider x". 

The detailed discussions here are carried to wider circles via those of us who 
collect and disseminate ideas. We may be fewer in number, but (read The Tipping 
Point) our influence is sometimes significant. 

I do get frustrated sometimes when I'm faced with the fact that I'm one of the 
few among 24 families who sees us as having responsibilities to forming groups 
or researchers or a "movement". I know that I'm the only one willing to pay a 
bunch of my own money to be able to give us presence at conferences and 
gatherings. Or take a day of my time to be hospitable to people touring 
projects. 

But before I start feeling too huffy about it, I realize how many things in my 
community I do NOTHING about! Not deciding where we invest our capital, not 
whether the irrigation system needs mending, nor many other areas that are 
handled by others. 

OK, I wish there were a FEW more in my community who wanted to network with 
others in cohousing, or promote the movement. But I just heard a neighbor 
wishing a few more would care about mulching the apple trees. 

Lynn Nadeau, RoseWind Cohousing
Port Townsend Washington (Victorian seaport, music, art, nature)
http://www.rosewind.org
http://www.ptguide.com
http://www.ptforpeace.info (very active peace movement here- see our photo)
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