Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: WHAT CREATES COMMUNITY

[Kevin Wolf (kjwolf]

My list includes:

1.  Knowing each others parents, brothers and sisters and family who do 
not live in the community.  When one knows where a friend has come from, 
the relationship is stronger. 

2.  Going through conflict and resolving it.  

3.  Time.  Both past and future.  How long will the people in your 
community be living with you, will you know them?  There is a change that 
happens when one knows that they will "belong" to a community for as long 
as they live or as long as they want.

4.  Spontaneous meetings and discussions.  Whenever a major change is 
being considered, there are often hundreds of short and long 
conversations about it between almost everyone in the community.  By the 
time it is officially considered on the meeting agenda, the community is 
much clearer about the best decision to make.  These discussions happen 
because we constantly see each other as we wonder from place to place in 
the community.

5.  Sharing life together with all of its good and bad,  from births and 
death, marraige and divorce, kids, vacations, eating, playing, working 
etc.  This builds common memory and language which increases one's 
confidence in their belonging to the community.  

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Kevin Wolf
724 N St
Davis, CA 95616
phone and fax: 916-758-4211