Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Political News

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Dear Alice —

Leave it to you to find a way to direct our thoughts and energies this morning! 
 This is what a leader does.  Thank you,  Alice.

I applaud your words and I’m delighted to report I’m now a member of the  Sixty 
and Me community.  

Last night at 1:45 a.m. my neighbor Carrie and I packed up the projector and 
the computer and headed home.  We were the last two waiting out the results.

You might consider the emotions I might be feeling at that juncture in the 
election results would be sadness, anger, confusion, bemusement, bewilderment, 
anxiety, depression, etc.   Instead, I felt profoundly lonely.  I haven’t 
sussed out all that that might mean yet.  May take a while.

But when I woke up this morning at 5:30 a.m. I was profoundly grateful.  I live 
in cohousing.  Now, it’s not just that I have all my neighbors so I won’t be 
lonely.  It’s something bigger than that.  A lot bigger.

Cohousing allows me to tackle the issues I want to tackle.  I’m not waiting 
around for “The Government” to deal with issues around aging.  Or the 
challenges single parents face (and two parent households, too!).  Or, 
environmental and energy challenges.  Or, latch key kids.  Or any of many 
dozens of other social challenges facing society today.  I have a blueprint for 
how to tackle these issues:  Cohousing Communities.  I don’t have to wait 
around for a government program. I can just keep building more communities.

So on this morning after the night before, I am moved to say how grateful I am 
to Katie McCamant and Chuck Durrett for giving me this blueprint.  From the day 
I read the first paragraph in the first edition of “Cohousing” I have never 
wavered in my belief and commitment that community has the power to change the 
world — one cohousing community at a time. That’s a gift, Katie and Chuck.  
Thank you.

As I heard one Wellesley graduate say on NPR early this morning:  we wake up, 
we pull on our pants suit and we start again.  (Editorial note:  only I don’t 
have to “start again.”  I just have to wake up, pull on my pants suit and keep 
doing what I’m doing.)

Thank you to everyone on this list.  We are a community also. Fred, our list 
serve manager, makes this community possible.   

Let’s keep building cohousing!

Now, what color pants suit will I wear today …?

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church, VA
202.546.4654

A friend recently told me I was delusional.  I nearly fell off my unicorn.


> On Nov 9, 2016, at 7:41 AM, Alice Alexander <alicecohous [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> 
> Many of us are in shock with the national political news; other of us may
> feel pleasantly surprised.
> 
> It was helpful to me to listen to Margaret Manning morning show out of
> Geneva with "Sixty and Me," a global network of women whose organization
> would like to support cohousing, with her positive message of working
> together.
> http://sixtyandme.com/america-elects-donald-trump-and-begins-the-healing-process/
> 
> I hope everyone takes care in the next several days as we work through what
> this all means.
> 
> I am pleased that we will be offering a "Cohouser in Politics" facilitated
> discussion with Eris Weaver at the 2017 National Cohousing Conference.
> Please join us.
> 
> -- 
> Alice Alexander
> Executive Director
> http://www.cohousing.org
> [image: The Cohousing Association]
> _________________________________________________________________
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