Cohousing-L Mailing List: Celebrating Obama's victory

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

Great point and I wish I had been more inclusive in my title.

My experience is that most cohousers today are fairly liberal - some
downright radical. My personal belief this is large an early adopter
phenomena and that we have probably already broadened as our numbers
have grown and that we will continue to broaden in many different
dimensions as the concept becomes better known and more accessible.

Craig

Hi Ann and all,
I want to say that I, as a decidedly "lefty" kind of person, felt 
relieved by
Obama's win (because I think is way less likely to cause nuclear 
devastation).
I haven't celebrated, and with the celebratory outbursts of most people 
around me
I've been feeling rather isolated.
I'm saying this to point out that not only people on the "right", 
(conservatives), feel
sometimes isolated in cohousing.  And that the idea that we all 
"celebrated" leaves out
people on both sides of the spectrum.

Racheli, Sonora Cohousing, Tucson.






On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 9:51 AM, Ann Zabaldo <zabaldo [at] earthlink.net> 
wrote:
> Hello all!
> I've been reading all the posts on how communities celebrated the 
> election
> last night.  An historic moment.  I share in your joy.
> I also have a question that's been on my mind for a few years ...
> Is there room for conservatives in cohousing?  Or are we islands of
> liberal/progressive thought?  (Not saying this is "bad" or "wrong." -- 
> just
> curious ...)
>
> The reason I got involved in cohousing is that I immediately saw this 
> social
> structure as one road to peace in the world.  (If we can figure out 
> how to
> live together in small communities maybe we can tackle the Middle 
> East.)  So
> I'm always looking for mutuality, inclusivity and connection in 
> cohousing.
> I know there ARE some conservative folks in cohousing -- out there 
> somewhere
> -- but I wonder how welcome we make them feel when it looks as if 
> there is
> "A" kind of political leaning?
> For instance ... the question posed in this thread wasn't:
> What did your community do on election night?
> But rather:
> Did your community CELEBRATE last night?   (emphasis mine)
> The implication of this question is that clearly cohousing and 
> cohousers are
> Obama supporters.   Which is highly likely TRUE ... I'm just wondering 
> where
> "inclusivity" and "diversity" are in this picture?
> Personally, I've always understood cohousing to be non-ideological -- 
> all
> are welcome.  Maybe not?
> This is NOT an indictment of all the celebrations that went on last 
> night
> (and may still be going on!)  There's LOTS to celebrate!  AND if 
> cohousing
> is to reach its full flowering then it must be a possibility for ALL 
> people
> -- not just liberal/progressive people.
> Ok.  You can now start throwing bricks and tomatoes at me!
> :-)
>
> Best --
> Ann Zabaldo
> Takoma Village
> Washington, DC
> Principal, The Cohousing Collaborative
> McLean, VA
> PH: 703 663 3911
> FAX 202 291 8594