Cohousing-L Mailing List: conference topics we'd like to see

[Lynn Nadeau (welcome]

As I scan the list of desired workshop topics for the Denver conference 
in June, I come back to an idea I've had while attending previous 
conferences. 

I've fantasized about having a workshop called the Dark Side, meeting in 
a pitch black room with anonymity assured, talking about all the ways 
cohousing at times drives us nuts, makes us want to leave, is much harder 
than we imagined, elicits burn out, despair, pettyness, power struggles, 
email flames, nasty individuals, liability suits, gnashing of teeth and 
tearing of hair, makes you cry, or anything else that is just the 
opposite of the sunny cheerleading we love to indulge in. Of course 
nobody wants any potential joiners to think THEIR group might have a dark 
side, so Homeland Security would also have to weed out any wannabe 
voyeurs who might try to slip in, prior to the issuance of the brown bag 
to go over the head...

All statements could be in the third person. "I have a friend who lives 
in a group where...."
Just to be sure. 

Or maybe it's really as Sunshine-y everywhere in Happy Camper Coho Land 
as the publicity suggests? Oh, right! 

Lynn at RoseWind
where we really are very happy most of the time, but are currently trying 
to figure out how to reconcile those who want provocative amateur art in 
highly-common areas even if some people don't like it, for the sake of 
spontaneity, creativity, and individual joy, and those who would rather 
have neutral stuff than things some people don't like, in common areas.  

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