Cohousing-L Mailing List: Creating Connection in Uncertain Times -- long-ish

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hello all from Ann in Washington, DC.

It's been a roller coaster month for me since the World Trade
Center/Pentagon tragedies.

With the events of September 11th came an outpouring of feelings from
everyone.  The events were so immediate given the television coverage.  You
could watch the WTC collapse over and over and over and over...

In our grief and mourning, we lit up the email listservs; kept the phone
lines humming; and almost all conversation was about the events of Sept.
11th.  Regardless of political or spiritual beliefs we were focused on the
events of that day.  In the ensuing days, it was my experience that even
with strangers the topic always touched on Sept. 11th.  It was as if we
found a common language to speak.

Now come the events of Oct. 7th.  We bomb Afghanistan.  And a strange thing
happened.  I didn't see a single email noting this on any of the listservs I
'm on.   Hardly anyone I talk to, even here in my cohousing community,
mentions it.   No one is organizing a get together w/ neighbors or pulling
out the TV in the CH to watch the news together.  Thousands of people in
Afghanistan and bordering countries are at risk of dying.  Their fate, as a
people,  is tragic, too.  Although this has weighed heavily on me, I didn't
post anything, organize anything or talk to very many people about it.

I've been thinking that perhaps we are simply too overwhelmed to have any
more emotion about this.  Or perhaps Afghanistan is just too far away to
comprehend the events there, the policies are too complex, or we just don't
REALLY understand what's REALLY happening.

Or...maybe the appropriate forum for expressing our feelings has not been
created.  What am I feeling?   Very confused.  I don't know how to be in the
world right now.  I'm afraid to travel. On Sept. 11th I was going out the
door to the airport for a 10 day trip to the UK which included visiting some
cohousing communities there.  After Sept. 11th, I still wanted to go to the
UK believing that we should carry on w/ our "normal" lives.

Until the bombing of Afghanistan.

Until the bombing started  I had hope that we would find an alternate way to
bring the people responsible for these terrible acts to accountability.  I
fear the bombing has quashed that and unleashed random forces.  What am I to
do w/ this fear and uncertainty?

I feel a strong need to connect w/ you.  And, one thing I can do is create a
place for connecting.

A friend and colleague, Wendy Watkins, has begun using "Dialogue" as a
format for telephone-based sharing. Wendy is a professional coach who, after
the events of September 11, was grappling with the same question that we all
shared: "What can I do?" She decided to use the tools of her trade,
tele-bridge line, to create a telephone-based forum, open to people from all
over her nationwide network. This is an hour-long, "sacred space" available
for people to open up to each other, share their thoughts and feelings and
explore the future together. On Sepember 27 she offered what was to be the
first in a continuing effort to offer spiritual support during frightening
and uncertain times.

I have asked Wendy, to create a second dialogue event, which I offer to you,
my extended family and cohousing network. She has agreed and is grateful for
the opportunity to offer this powerful medium to a wider audience.

To create a context for this conference call, here is the question we are
looking at:

Creating connection and calling forth community:  how do I respond in
uncertain and confusing times?

I invite you to join us in a "TeleTalk" telephone conference call either
this Friday, Oct. 12 at 12 noon EDST or Monday evening, Oct. 15,  8:00 p.m.
EDST.  This service is being offered by The Cohousing Network to cohousers
and anyone else interested in participating, at no charge.  You only have to
pay for your long distance service.

We want to make sure everyone gets enough time to speak and we also want to
create a sense of intimacy during this call.   Therefore, we are limiting
the group in each call to 10-15 people.  We will schedule additional
conference calls if there is a need for them.  If you are interested in
participating please call or email me: zabaldo [at] earthlink.net  202 291 7892
to enroll.    I will send you some guidelines for using the dialogue process
as well as technical information on how to join the call.

Please circulate this to others in your cohousing network.

Thank you!  I look forward to talking with you on one of these calls.

Ann Zabaldo

Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC. -- America's
Hometown!
zabaldo [at] earthlink.net


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