Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: cohousing lifestyle query

[Fred H. Olson (fholson]

On Fri, 27 Nov 1998, Jan Gordon wrote:

> worked out for you, community-wise.  Has the friendliness and camaraderie
> gone past the superficial level and have you  fond true friends, folks to
> confide, cry with, celebrate with, etc, on a deeper, best friend level?
> 

Jan, I dont live in cohousing but I've visited a number of them.  I think
a general answer to your question would be risky.  I can imagine getting
close to folks in a number of communities and difficulty doing so in
others.  I think the individual differences between the people in
communities ( and differences in what appeal to people (you) ) differ a
lot.  This is true beyond cohousing as well.  I always say
generalizations about cities are risky.  Tho I think the Twind Cities are
hard to beat, I'm sure it depends on what you like, where you live, who
you know etc etc within the city that determines how one experiences it.
I remember two (or more) very different impressions of Chicago on
different occasions when I was doing different things with (or without)  
different people.

In general I suspect cohousing types are more likely to get to know given
that they have chosen to live in close contact and cooperation with
others.  But and extended visit, staying on site so you are exposed to the
community at all housr of the day, attending meetings and workdays etc.
would help a lot in decideing.  And even then it's hard to know in
advance.

Fred


-- 
Fred H. Olson  fholson [at] cohousing.org    Minneapolis,MN   55411  
(612)588-9532  Amateur radio: WB0YQM          List manager of:
Cohousing-L  See www.cohousing.org        and      nbhd-tc  the
Twin Cities Neighborhood issues list. See www.freenet.msp.mn.us