Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Washington Post Article

[shandin (shandin]

> hello (for the first time),
>         being a member of one of the intentional communities mentioned, east
> wind community, and a former member of valley oaks village cohousing in
> chico, california, i'd like to offer my thoughts.
>         my first response is to celebrate the media exposure.  true, i would
> have wished for a much different article, but i've come to accept what
> we get from big media.  i think it's worth losing the people turned off
> by the misinformation, to get the people who notice the mention of
> our existence and write for accurate information from us.
>         i agree that writer alissa quart did a poor job of differentiating
> cohousing and more communal intentional communities.  there are many
> models along the continuum of individual to communal holdings and
> decision making. these are well represented in the book she almost
> mentioned: the Directory of Intentional Communities.  it has everything
> from cohousing groups to mixed model eco-villages.  the one thing that
> these groups have in common, and what perhaps distinguishes them from
> many 60's era communes, is that they are intentional.  this is true of
> east wind community.  though we started in
> '72 we have not stayed there.  we use some of the same structures and
> ideas as many cohousing groups. the biggest difference is that we've
> also decided to hold our labor and income in common, as well as our land
> and commonhouses. we have just taken the cooperative nature of cohousing
> a few steps farther.
>         if yer interested in knowing more about yer 'more communal' cousins in
> this movement, please check out Communities Magazine, the Directory of
> Intentional communities, our web pages, or write me.
>                                         in community,
>                                         shandin 
(writing from my personal perspective, being just one of 78 folks here.)
>                                         shandin [at] eastwind.org
>       ...where the strawberries have been yummy and plentiful this week.
> east wind community/ federation of egalitarian communities (fec)
> hc-3 box 3370
> tecumseh, mo 65760
> ph(417)679-4682
> fax(417)679-4684
> visit [at] eastwind.org
> http://www.well.com/user/eastwind/
>         fellowship of intentional communities (fic)
>         rt 1 box 155-cb
>         rutledge, mo 63563
>         ph/fax 660-883-5545
>         ph 800-995-8342
>         fic [at] ic.org
>         http://www.ic.org/