The Winter 2018 edition of Communities, focused on “The Culture of Intentional Community,” is now available by donation for digital download.
The Culture of Intentional Community: Issue #181 ● Winter 2018
Letters
Readers write about Living Room Conversations and the inspiring legacy of Fred Rogers.
Introducing This Issue: A Culture of Collaboration By Marty Klaif
A certain way of being in the world creates a cultural bond and sense of the familiar among those who live in intentional community.
● Magazine News
Notes from the Editor: Slices of Life in Community By Chris Roth
Every day in community life is a new one, and part of the picture—but never, on its own, the whole picture.
Changing Skies By Karen Gimnig
The culture of intentional community is about the commitment to venture out together into the blue skies and the grey; it’s about not only joy, but also the hard work of growth.
Cat Karma By Troy Matthews
Visiting Dancing Rabbit in a springtime Visitor Session was akin to a leisurely drive through beautiful countryside; becoming a new resident has been more like a nighttime traipse on wet, winding, unfamiliar roads.
Reflections from a Communitarian Entrepreneur By Larry Stopper
Most people don’t see the intensely competitive world of business and the twists and turns of community as being very compatible—but in some ways they can be.
A Day in the Life By Marty Klaif
A day’s interactions in a rural intentional community in central Virginia show that it is much more than a “hippie subdivision.”
An Evolution in Community By Chris Roth
Full immersion in a residential intentional community transforms over the course of a decade and a half into a much wider experience of community.
Mind the Gap: How the Cultural Difference between Incoming Residents and the Community Can Indicate Whether They Will Stay By Colin Doyle
A small culture gap between a new resident and the community correlates with greater chances of a long-term fit; a large culture gap makes this much less likely, but not impossible.
Planted in Good Soil: Cultural Roots and Community By Julian Washio-Collette
A community may achieve an ideal balance by drawing upon deep cultural roots to inform its structures and common life, while remaining vitally open to fresh insight and creativity in response to the present.
The Shaker “Culture of Cleanliness” By Susan M. Matarese
Because of their commitment to a culture of personal and community cleanliness, the Shakers largely escaped the cholera epidemics which plagued the rest of the country in the 1800s.
About That Clothesline… By Josina Guess
After a communitarian’s love affair with line drying starts to wane, and eventually withers, she leaves community—partly to pursue an evolving relationship with a clothes dryer.
My Unintentional Community By Sheryl Grassie
A move to a smaller house comes with an unanticipated benefit: a neighborhood gathering place and a strongly established unintentional community coming together at “The Garage.”
Bringing a Little Fairy Dust to Corporate America By Allie Stafford
Cultivating community within the monotonous setting of the corporate grind takes true intentionality; in difficult spaces it is worth the effort to remind ourselves that we are human and connected.
Musings on the Culture of Connection By Joan McVilly
A good and worthwhile life is one that answers the quest for quality of three “p”s—people, place, purpose. A lifelong community seeker reflects on the permeable boundaries of community.
Skill Building for a Culture of Collaboration By Joe Cole
To build a healthy cultural infrastructure, it’s important to clarify your cooperative decision-making process, adopt conflict tools, and commit to the ongoing development of collaborative skills in your group.
Narcissism, Dependence, and Culture Change By Yana Ludwig
Two aspects of the cultural transition we are working toward are little discussed but directly impact our daily relationships: narcissism and dependence dynamics. By unpacking them, we can turn the tide.
Building a Culture of Care at Black Bulga By Geoff Evans
As it evolves toward being a more residential community, this activist group’s most crucial cultural practice is the attention and investment made in group processes and learning positive communication skills.
Climate Change Activists’ Community By Camille Bru
Richmond Vale Academy provides an immersion in collective living and activist education for those who want to not only understand climate change, but respond to it in their own lives.
Adventures in Remote Simplicity: Four Distinct Community Styles By Philip Mirkin
Experiences in wildly differing intentional communities suggest that the more egalitarian, interactive, and focused its members are on shared labor, the stronger and more long-lasting the community will be.
Many Shades of Green: Establishing a Culture of Sustainability in a Diverse, Developer-driven Expatriate Community By Nermin Dessouky, Angela Sanguinetti, Alan Meier, Sarah Outcault, and Richard Tutwiler
In Dubai, The Sustainable City’s innovative sustainable design strategies and strong role of management in promoting community and sustainability make it unique, and also pose challenges.
Turning It Around: Culture, Compassionate Inquiry, and Transformation in a Community By Michael Johnson
At Ganas, the culture of self-questioning, self-doubt, and reflection creates opportunities to better understand others and oneself and to transform destructive zero-sum patterns into win/win ones.
Growing at Ganas By Jessica Curtis
Over 16 years, a member increasingly recognizes her responsibility for her own reactions, and her story of “not belonging” transforms into feeling an integral part of the community.
The False Dichotomy of Urban Life versus Community Life: Small Community Culture within Big City Culture By Leon Tsao
Intentional community is an effective means to fill what is missing in urban life; big city and community cultures can not only coexist, but help balance each other.
Life’s Little Victories: Twin Oaks Version By Valerie Renwick
Whether over dessert, on the O&I Board, in an unpleasant conflict, or with a last-minute junk food purchase request, some Twin Oakers have been winning so much they may get tired of winning.
ONLINE ONLY:
GaiaYoga: The Art and Wisdom of Living Holistically, Unifying Spirit, Self, Community, and Earth By Ano Tarletz Hanamana
The cofounder of GaiaYoga Gardens traces the life journey that led him through various intentional community experiences and teachers to seven “yes”’s—ultimately forming a comprehensive vision of a new “Domain 9” culture consciously designed to be in alignment with all of who we actually are.
(Article available at www.ic.org/gaiayoga.)
Excerpted from the Winter 2018 edition of Communities, “The Culture of Intentional Community”—full issue available for download (by voluntary donation) here.
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