Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Thoughts

[fergyb2 (fergyb2]

    Cohousing is first and foremost a neighborhood, not an affinity group.  
There will generally be a range of skills, interests, motivations, and degrees 
of openness to almost any idea or situation, just as there normally is in any 
other neighborhood.  When someone buys a home in our neighborhood they do not 
abrogate their right to choose what to be interested in or spend energy on.  
The expensive nature of housing in the US is a national problem which is based 
on national economic and social policies which we need to solve as a nation.  
The resentment of the increasingly disenfranchised folks with fewer economic 
resources is entirely understandable but current Cohousing communities are not 
to blame for this state of affairs and should not be targeted.  
     As for Cohousing communities tending to isolate themselves from the wider 
community that has not been my experience.  Many cohousers are heavily involved 
in wider community issues, and the Common House is often used by and for wider 
community events.  It is also true that what is a burning top priority issue 
for one family will be lower on the priority list for another.  If affordable 
housing is your most important issue, work toward it yourself with the 
plentiful others who are thinking about and working on this one. But don't 
expect everyone to have the same point of view or degree of interest.  Be the 
change you want to see.  

             Bonnie Fergusson (whose top priority is better healthcare for all)
             Swans Market Cohousing
             Oakland, CA

Sent from my iPad


On Aug 8, 2013, at 8:38 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:

> 
> We're all in a lot of trouble:  Grossly unequal distribution of wealth and 
> income, partly because the oligarchs have captured Washington, while most 
> voters are watching reality TV shows.  Anthropogenic climate change and 
> despoilation of natural habitat; reverse evolution and despeciation.  Failure 
> to solve the geopolitical conflicts of the Middle East, which have evolved to 
> be an international disgrace of horrific proportions.  Not enough parking.  
> Ever.
> 
> There is no doubt in my mind that many cohousing residents have made 
> individual commitments to work on some aspects of one or more of these 
> challenges, or of similar challenges.  But if a cohousing community as an 
> institution has not yet adopted one or more of these challenges into its 
> mission, then maybe it's not a tragic failure.  Maybe having friends you 
> understand, like and trust, and a communal approach to child-raising, makes a 
> pretty good mission all by itself.  Maybe learning how to do consensus, and 
> how to share, are challenges enough, without tackling peace in the Middle 
> East.
> 
> But I am inclined to agree that cohousing can easily turn insular, isolating 
> itself from the affairs of its neighbors, and the interests of the larger 
> community.
> 
> RPD
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On Aug 7, 2013, at 8:45 AM, MJWB <mjwyogini [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> Hi folks!
>> 
>>    You know, this has been bothering me. Many (not all) of the Cohousing 
>> Communities
>> 
>> we have explored have this attitude of "we're too expensive for you, no 
>> apologies, or explanations, it ...
>> 
>> 
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