Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Cultural Consistency

[Rob Sandelin (robsan]

I think this thread remained too mysterious to get any replies.

BM Vornbrock asked:  I'd like to know how any groups have dealt with issues
like sexual orientation, religion, racism, ageism, *ism... as they might have
come up in either forming a group or moving toward the completion and move
in to a co-housing community.

I just deleted a past posting from a group which was forming in Santa 
Cruz based on their eating habits (Vegan - which is a form of 
vegetarianism).  Is that a cultural consistency?  In terms of other 
*ism's which come up - seems they express themselves in groups value or 
principle statements usually.  I inflicted the readers of this list 
with a bunch of postings about values a couple of months ago so I will 
avoid doing so now.

My observation of groups around Puget Sound is that we are mostly a 
white, middle class, bunch of folks which makes us kind of Culturally 
consistent.  I have yet to met anyone from any of the local groups here 
whom I would call especially conservative although I can see no obvious 
reasons why a gay Hispanic conservative wouldn't work out in any of the 
groups I am familiar with.

I had a very interesting conversation with a black friend about his 
perceptions of any racial barriers to cohousing.  He put it in an 
interesting context which I hadn't really thought about which was being 
one of a kind in a group is really hard.  I thought about that and 
reversed the positions - If everyone at Sharingwood was black, would I 
still have joined?  I have never considered myself racist but if I was 
the only white person I would be fairly nervous about joining.  Add the 
rural context, red-neck neighbors and It would take enormous courage 
for a black family to move in to Sharingwood.

I wonder if Urban settings or areas with greater racial diversity have 
better luck at integration?

Rob Sandelin
Puget Sound Cohousing Network