Cohousing-L Mailing List: Introduction

[Kaye L . Brubaker (klbrubak]

Hello.  I'm new to the list.  I don't know much about cohousing, but
I'm eager to learn.  My interest has grown from several directions: 
a religious tradition that values community, yet personal burn-out
from attempts at heavy-duty "Intentional Community"; and a personal
eco-ethic that values compact living.  Currently, I live in graduate
family housing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; our
building has a shared study room, laundry room, children's play
room, lounge/party-room, outdoor picnic area and playground.  This
arrangement has given me a taste of what co-housing might offer 
(although I think that sharing these amenities with 20 families
would beat sharing them with 200 families!)

I will now leap in with a few questions:

(1) Who's active in cohousing in the Boston/Greater New
England area?

(2) American life tends to be very mobile.  How much stability does
successful cohousing require?  I have the impression that c.h.
works in Europe because Europeans tend to be more rooted than
Americans.
In my experience in our building, student families that only stay
a year or two don't take much responsibility for community, and
don't get much out of it either.

Kaye

=====================================================================
Kaye L. Brubaker   klbrubak [at] mit.edu | "I think I can, I think I can,
Dept. of Civil & Env. Engineering   |  I think I can, I think I can."
MIT 48-320 Cambridge, MA 02139      |          -- W. Piper