Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Common house use COHOUSING-L digest 287

[RowenaHC (RowenaHC]

In a message dated 3/6/00 10:55:38 AM Eastern Standard Time, HeidiNYS [at] 
aol.com 
writes:

<< So, please give uses of CH input such as:  What areas of your Commonhouse 
get 
 used and how much?????? 

Most used are the kitchen and dining room (not just for community meals but 
for dances, "No-Talent Shows" and other performances by musical groups and 
storytellers, weekly lunches for people working at home),  small childrens' 
playrooms (one active, one quiet, and toilet room - we have lots of little 
ones and some cooperative care), 'rec room  (ping pong, pool table), library 
(used for all our committee meetings, as a study for teens and home office 
for adults escaping small children at home, as well as library functions) and 
the bike rooms (I swear we have at least twice as many bikes as people).  We 
also have a small room which was originally designated for teens but has now 
morphed into a music room with drums, keyboards, electric guitars and other 
loud items (we are an urban group which means apartments and attached 
townhouses, so noise can be an issue).  

The "dining patio" which is outside sliders to the dining room and faces the 
lawn and older children's play structure gets a lot of use in summer and does 
attract informal hanging out.  The common veggie garden and flower gardens 
are also centers of informal socialization except in winter.  Our workshop is 
fairly well  used, but not exactly a center of social activity, particularly 
when the table saw gets going!

The living room, however, is underutilized.  It's quite a pretty room - lots 
of light, a fireplace, and an eclectic but clean and comfortable collection 
of furniture from residents' "extras."  We also have a grand piano, fish 
tank, plants, an excellent supply of magazines (from shared individual 
subscriptions), and a wonderful collection of artwork created by community 
members.   We are having more and more organized activities there ranging 
from recitals to poetry readings by poets from local universities.  Recently 
our Events Committee has been organizing "Friday by the Fire" evenings with 
such activities as card and other games, readings from works by our own 
residents, as well as conversation.  Some cooks have been serving hors 
d'oevres there before dinner.  Having a specific time when people know there 
will be others around seems to work.  The space remains underutilized, 
however, and don't know if we'll ever have people using it as a place to drop 
by.

Underuse of the room has led to discussion of its use for private parties.   
Initially we had just allowed individuals to "reserve" the dining room and 
kitchen for family parties and such, but we are now experimenting with 
including the living room in such reservations. Such parties are not 
permitted to interfere with common meals but so far the system has worked 
well and a wide variety of celebrations and social activities have taken 
place there.

Also underutilized is our exercise room.  Although reasonably well-stocked it 
isn't particuarly appealing and we haven't had much luck organizing yoga or 
tai-chi.  Joint exercising consists mostly of walks through the near by parks 
or birding expeditions to the locally famous Mount Auburn Cemetary and 
bird-sanctuary! 


 What brings folks to Commonhouse?  
Food:-^)    The mail room is there as are the many notice boards. decision 
board and community calendar.   The most lively part is the "white board" 
which has a constantly changing stream of information, questions and 
comments.  
Does doing/not doing laundry there matter  >>
Unfortunately, our laundries are not designed for socializing, although there 
are certainly discussions which take place in the area over folding and 
ironing.

We are still working on creating community after nearly two years.  I suspect 
it will go on indefinitely.   Keep trying different things and don't discount 
the small group activities - going for walks, theatre or movies, joining a 
chorus together, camping or hiking trips, forming a band, trips to the garden 
centers, book clubs!  I don't think having a community means being "best 
friends" with nearly 100 people - it makes more sense to find  a sub-group 
with common interests and have a lot of "good neighbors"!

Rowena
CambridgeCoho