Communities Articles
Here is a selection of articles from previous back issues of Communities magazine. All back issues up to issue #184 are available for download here.
For more information about Communities magazine, visit its new publisher at GEN-US.
The Gifts of Gathering
Posted on October 23, 2018 byOrganizing and cleaning up after Midwest Catholic Worker gatherings can be hard work—but are more than counterbalanced by the inspiration, connection, and sense of greater purpose they provide.
The Cohousing Research Network: A Community Approach to Communities Research
Posted on October 16, 2018 byThe collaborative research process in this “virtual intentional community” comes with challenges, but the personal and collective outcomes of collaboration prove worth the trouble.
How to Help One Another: Connecting Cohousing Communities in a Regional Network
Posted on October 9, 2018 byIn the PDX-Plus Cohousing Group, individual member groups find it simultaneously reassuring, daunting, and energizing to learn that their challenges and joys in living intentionally in community are shared.
Inclusivity and Disability
Posted on September 28, 2018 by2 Comments
Cohousing aspires to be as inclusive as possible, but North American culture suppresses conversation about disability and health. How can communities create processes to address previously invisible needs?
Liberation, Networks, and Community
Posted on September 21, 2018 by3 Comments
Movements and networks of liberation show us that community can be a tool either of oppression or of powerful organizing for liberation. It’s time for our movement to get solidly on the right side of history.
On the Potential for an IC Business Network
Posted on September 14, 2018 by2 Comments
Research and data strongly suggest that a network of intentional community businesses could fill a real need for both customers and business owners.
Connect: Now More Than Ever
Posted on September 7, 2018 byTime spent at Lost Valley and La’akea inspires a passion not just for community and its heart-opening, communication-deepening, earth-connecting effects, but also for communal networking and the difference it can make in the world.
Call for Articles – Community Land
Posted on September 4, 2018 by1 Comment
Would you like to write for Communities? We are now seeking submissions to Communities magazine for issue #182, “Community Land.” You are cordially invited to send submissions including articles, photographs, poems,… Read More
Communities of Intention in Peru, Ecuador, and Beyond: A Summer of Travel and Rediscovering Communal Roots
Posted on August 27, 2018 byAs a college project, a child of intentional community explores how others define community, discovering that organic community spaces are possible everywhere.
Leading Edges of Collaboration: GENNA Alliance
Posted on August 26, 2018 bySix key networking organizations come together to serve the regenerative communities movement by forming GENNA, the North American branch of the Global Ecovillage Network.
Answering the “Call of the Mountain” through a Spiralling Network of Sustainability
Posted on August 25, 2018 byOrganizing a networking gathering yields many benefits, but the collatoral trials and tributions take their toll on this organizer—now recharging by prioritizing farm and family.
Notes from the Editor: Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
Posted on August 24, 2018 byIt’s still possible to make it a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Networking Communities, #180 Contents and Free/By Donation Digital Download
Posted on August 23, 2018 byJust as no person is an island, no intentional community is an island. ICs are connected to other communities and cooperative groups locally, regionally, nationally, internationally—whether those connections are actively cultivated or simply present in shared participation in a cooperative experience. Intentional cultivation of those ties—the fostering of networks—can make each participant group stronger and more resilient. In Communities’ “Networking Communities” issue (Fall 2018, #180), authors share their journeys in exploring and creating networks—among communitarians, among communities, even among networks of communities and among communities researchers. They discuss the joys and benefits as well as trials and tribulations of organizing networking gatherings, of attempting to address social justice, ecological, and related challenges through collective visioning and action, of working toward an equitable and regenerative future in concert with others, of exploring the edges of cultural evolution, of learning from others’ experiences as well as their own. They talk about the potential of further networking to help us create the future we want to see. We hope you’ll draw helpful information, inspiration, and insight from their stories. Once again, the issue is available via free/by donation digital download at ic.org/communities.
Remembering Zendik: Mating in Captivity
Posted on August 2, 2018 byHelen Zuman’s debut book describes in detail her six-year-long involvement with a radical intentional community that also fits many people’s definition of “cult.”
The Concrete Thinking of Hobbits
Posted on July 27, 2018 byWhat makes Maitreya Mountain Village’s multi-functional Hobbit Hole so eco-friendly is that it’s constructed of concrete. Yes, you read that right.
From Blight to Beautiful: Renovating an Urban House By and For Community
Posted on July 20, 2018 byAn overgrown lot with a dilapidated house transforms into an urban permaculture oasis thanks to the efforts of the Bread and Roses Collective in Syracuse, New York.
A High-Performance Building for Cohousing: From Vision to Move-In
Posted on July 13, 2018 bySo you want to design, build, and live in community in the most ecologically positive building that can be built? After a decade-long pursuit of that goal, a co-creator of Capitol Hill Urban Cohousing recounts lessons learned along the way.
Good Neighbours with Earth: Using natural building materials in community-scale construction
Posted on June 29, 2018 byEarthsong Eco-Neighbourhood offers their mistakes, successes, and learnings in the hope of encouraging the wider use of natural building materials and systems in cohousing projects.
Eco-Building at the Ecovillage (I Have Built a Home)
Posted on June 22, 2018 by1 Comment
At Earthaven Ecovillage, the experience of planning, building, working with others, and living in the sensual, earthy “Leela”—part temple, part hideaway—proves to be a dream come true.
Building with Respect
Posted on June 15, 2018 by1 Comment
Green building could be our salvation or hasten our destruction, depending on what we pursue and how. Here are a dozen suggestions to make the former more likely.
Ionia’s Barn Project: Where Community and Natural Building Meet
Posted on June 8, 2018 byAt this cooperative ecovillage, the barn is magical, a space that will make a liberating special meeting area, meditation nook, reading loft, and more…once, after nine long years of building, it is done.
Building in an Ecovillage: Lessons Learned
Posted on June 1, 2018 byYes, you can build your own house; you don’t have to do it alone; you don’t have to do it all…and 18 more tips from a professional builder who learned his trade at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage.
Harmonious Homemade Habitat
Posted on May 30, 2018 byHaving built the strawbale house of her dreams, a Tolstoy Farm resident encourages others to use natural building and eco-materials to construct durable, nontoxic, low-impact, energy-efficient, and creative structures.
Building Collectively Is Greener, Easier, and Cheaper
Posted on May 28, 2018 byEco-building in community offers both opportunities and challenges, benefits and potential drawbacks, as compared to doing it alone.
Adventures of the Mini Moon: Realities of building your own earthen house with reused materials and volunteer labor
Posted on May 26, 2018 byBecoming a general contractor for a project way beyond one’s abilities can be a powerful, humbling, community-building learning adventure, especially when the house is made of horse manure.
Eco-Building, #179 Contents and Free/By Donation Digital Download
Posted on May 24, 2018 byFor reasons both practical and ideological, intentional community has long been a hotbed of eco-building activity. In Communities’ “Eco-Building” issue (Summer 2018, #179), authors share their eco-building journeys, ranging from nearly-free stick-framed shelters to high-end green developments. They examine how to assess whether a building is actually “eco,” hard choices they’ve needed to make, the benefits and challenges of taking on eco-building projects in community, or of retrofitting vs. building new, and much more. Once again, the issue is available via free/by donation digital download at ic.org/communities.
It’s Not Just the Curtain: Crossing the Class Divide at the Bloomington Catholic Worker
Posted on March 28, 2018 by1 Comment
Distinctions and boundaries between community members and their homeless guests can be problematic sometimes, but they are also what allow the sharing and caring to continue.
Combating Racism, One Community at a Time
Posted on March 26, 2018 by1 Comment
Catholic Worker communities throughout the Midwest examine themselves, make changes, and reach out in an effort to overcome the insidious influences of white supremacy.
Class, Race, and Privilege in Intentional Community
Posted on March 24, 2018 byA co-owner of Heart-Culture Farm Community explores ways to use her privilege to help create a society where people are truly equal.
I’m Not a Racist, But Racism Is In Me—and in My Community
Posted on March 22, 2018 byPredominantly white communities are going to stay that way until they acknowledge and address racism. Here is some guidance for doing that.
