Issue #164 • Fall 2014
Community Conversations: Theme Articles
Deepening Community: The joy of togetherness By Paul Born
Community grows when we make time to share our stories, enjoy one another, take care of one another, and work on building a better world together.
Creating a Movement By Rachel Brnjas
Seeking Community and other initiatives of the Tamarack Institute aim to catalyze a community revitalization movement.
Community Conversations Campaign: Final Thoughts and Next Steps By Derek Alton
In an age when prioritizing community is itself radical, self-awareness, self-care, and storytelling are essential to deepening our connections.
A Community Conversation at Whole Village By Sylvia Cheuy
For intentional community members, community comes with added benefits, unique challenges, and a call to authenticity.
The Community We Built By Carly Fraser
Residents of Guelph, Ontario, build community with intention in an existing suburban neighborhood.
Village Conversations: Delburne’s Story By Nora Smith and Karen Fegan
Nearly half of a Canadian town’s residents, from “all sides of the street,” participate in its Community Conversations initiative.
Sharing Stories and Rituals By SILC Guelph
By sitting down to talk, a forming intentional community reconnects with its reasons for coming together.
Kawsmos: The Unintentional Community By Mary Wharff, Elizabeth Schultz, and Deborah Altus
After 11 years of gathering, a group of Kaw Valley’s cosmic explorers realizes that community has happened to them.
Love and Bucket Brigades, Interdependence and Evolution: A Community Conversation at Lampa Mountain Community By Sara Donna
A small communal family discusses how they got good at cooperating, and other essentials of collective life.
A Welcome Intimacy, or Too Little Privacy?: Community Conversations at Lost Valley By Macy Osborne
Is community living the best thing since sliced bread, or the worst thing since sliced bread? It depends who—and when—you ask.
Meta-Conversation: an Exercise in Whimsical and Critical Facilitation By Melanie Meltzer and Mollie Nisen
When they crave an especially deep or challenging discussion, Gesundheit!’s meta-conversers excuse themselves (from the mundane)—then stir the collective pot, lie down, or go for a walk.
Conversations, Continuity, and Community By Paul Freundlich
Dancers learn to embrace change, cooperation, and the physical component of communication.
Conversations Take Wing: The RareBirds Housing Cooperative Story By Mary Jordan
Friends explore their visions and shared purpose, and an intentional community is born.
From Conversation to Community: How a Bunch of Mates Bought Some Land Together By John Hepburn
“Wouldn’t it be great to buy a block of land together in the bush?” Dinner party conversations yield unexpected fruit.
On the Ropes at Harbourside Cohousing By Margaret Critchlow
When creating community becomes a literal tightrope walk, how do the actively aging fare?
● Senior Cohousing in Canada
Oakleigh Meadow Cohousing Hard at Work “Building Community, One Conversation at a Time” By Cindy Nickles
Members of a forming community learn about empathy, understanding, conflict-handling, and other elements of healthy communication.
Voices
Letters
Publisher’s Note: Enhancing Community Where You Are By Laird Schaub
Stephen Gaskin Dies at 79 By Laird Schaub
Notes from the Editor: Talking about Community By Chris Roth
Jewish Intentional Community Building in the US By Rachael Cohen
Agriculture, Wild Foods, and the Future: a story about how changing community changed my perspective By Wren Vile
It Is My Turn By Marianne Gueymard
Koh Panyee: A Thriving Community, Defying the Odds By Peter McGugan
The Investment’s Fine—Join the Pool! By Richard Grossman
Radical Governance Changes in Two North American Ecovillages By Diana Leafe Christian
Earthaven and Dancing Rabbit embrace their groups’ evolution and growth with innovative new governance and decision-making methods.
Creating Cooperative Culture: Seeing the Good in the World, Part II: Transformative Learning Experiences at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage By Morgan Middlebrooks and Joshua Lockyer
While helping communitarians measure their progress toward sustainability goals, a college student finds herself unexpectedly changed.
