Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: common house meals

[Kay Argyle (argyle]

> IMO stipulating that those who want to eat should
> cook or clean makes sense.  I think I would feel resentful
> if some people got to participate without having to
> contribute any labor.

People use the grounds without having contributed labor to the landscaping
installation or upkeep.  Do I feel resentful?  Yes, because landscapers and
cooks aren't valued equally.  I don't expect everyone to be out there
digging sprinkler trenches if they want a lawn; why should the cooks expect
everyone to cook if they want to eat?

If cooks/cleaners eat an average of 13 meals a month, they pay $33.  If I
spend the same five to ten hours they spend cooking/cleaning, staking out
the community garden instead, I pay $65.  I can't justify that on a tight
budget, so I don't eat, so I feel disconnected from the community, so
instead of experiencing landscaping as joyful service, I feel like (in a
fellow-gardener's less-than-tactful phrase) "somebody's yard nigger."  It's
a nasty phrase, but then it's a nasty feeling.

I have fantasies about selling "sniff 'n' play tickets," to be punched every
time you take a deep breath lingering by the common house flower beds, have
a game on the lawn, or sit under a tree; sold at a reduced price to
residents who do landscaping and at a higher price to everyone else (modeled
on our meal tickets), funds to finance landscaping purchases (the budget
intended to pay for landscaping went almost entirely on stuff cut from the
construction budget).

I always assumed I was going to be cooking.  I looked forward to the
challenge; I was on the committee setting up the kitchen.  However, I feel I
need to serve where I can do the most good, and I'm a better gardener than
cook.  It hurts that the community puts pressure on to get the landscaping
done, and then rewards people for cooking instead.

Kay Argyle
argyle [at] mines.utah.edu
Wasatch Commons
Salt Lake City

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