Cohousing-L Mailing List: Was Looking Glass...now, Respects and Responsibilities

[PattyMara (PattyMara]

Dear List,
Three requests have been sent to me from the list for the article I mentioned 
from Communities Magazine.  I have only a xerox copy of the one page article 
with no indication on the date or issue of the magazine.  Perhaps someone on 
this list is in contact or works with Communities mag and can get a better 
reference.  The title is "Our Communities 'Ode' of Respects and 
Responsibilities" by Jan Bulman from Community Alternatives Society in 
British Columbia.  

I have only the hard copy, but will be happy to snail mail copies to anyone 
who sends me their addresses.  

By the way, I brought up our own stalled discussion about Tierra Nueva's 
proposed "R & R's" as an agenda item at our business meeting last night.  
We've had them floating around since August of 1999, and for six weeks or so 
they were written on posters and up on the walls around the dining room to 
stimulate feedback and conversation.  The moms' committee translated the 
language into kidspeak and created a marvelous document which the adults 
swiftly consensed.  But.  Smile.  When I suggested we create a similar 
document of guiding principles for behavior for the adults there was 
resistence.  A few of us have committed to continue to hone the language (to 
sound less like the Ten Commandments, as one member described it) and it may 
mean overhauling our 10 year old vision statement. 

One member's comment really made deep sense to me...he suggested that the 
document itself, the end product, is not really the most important 
thing...rather, the process by which it is created is the nourishing nugget.  
The journey getting there, in other words, is what will build community bonds 
and thus influences how we behave around one another.  

So the saga continues.

coheartedly,
PattyMara Gourley
Tierra Nueva, central CA coast, where we had a new year's casino party in the 
common house called Nueva Millennia or Y2Kasino.  Great fun, but we only had 
small hand drums.  I loved Marty's story about TAW's taiko drumming, and the 
chocolate cake and champagne at 3 am.  And best of all, the short walk home 
to bed.  We had a lefteovers brunch, made by the clean-up crew, and someone 
brought in the sunday paper, which we passed around and read together.  I 
thought about you Marty, and your sunday paper vision.