Cohousing-L Mailing List: Understanding Ourselves and Others [was: Thoughts From a Longtime Cohousing Resident

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Mar 18, 2013, at 10:26 AM, Elph Morgan <elph [at] ic.org> wrote:

>> I suggest that cohousing gives us a safe place where we
>> can learn how better to celebrate and honor our differences - practicing
>> new ways to relate to diversity.
>> 
> we value and cultivate our strengths and differences.

One thing we have done, which Ann Zabaldo started, is to have celebrity 
brunches in which a single person is invited to share something of value to 
themselves. Each person who presents invites the next one to share and prepares 
the brunch (bagels, mostly). That lapses sometimes and has to be restarted.

Another idea is having a Johnny Carson Half Hour after a meal with an 
interviewer. 

I've found we know a lot about people's present but not about their past. 
Eastern Village did a program in which the older people told the children what 
their own childhoods had been like.

The Unitarian Church once had a program in which small groups met to discuss 
their own biography. Each person would talk about their lives in turn from 0-5, 
5-10, etc. It formed stronger friendships and friendships between age groups. 
It was also enlightening about life and lives lived. It informed me as one of 
the younger ones about what I would face or should think about before I was 50, 
60, 70, etc. 

(It was at the same time I was in a consciousness raising group with several 
women 20-30 years older than I was. Hearing their stories, I promptly got a 
divorce instead of hanging on hoping for change. So it can be revolutionary as 
well.)

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines

Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org