wilderness and community

[chelidon]

A comment in another journal triggered this thought:

Many years ago, as a child I got a chance to spend some time at Paolo Soleri's Arcosanti, when it was still mostly a dream and a few holes in the ground, but I remember at the time there was this incredible grand model of what it was hoped it might look like someday. The people there really believed, burned, glowed with the desire to manifest a long-term vision of building something different, better, more cohesive and sustainable, than the way most people live. That visit, and that vision, inspired me, more than I think anything else, to want to build and be a part of a real sustainable, self-sufficient community. Despite being an only child growing up, and a very solitary person by nature, I found that from the moment I left home, I've lived in group houses, co-housing and intentional community arrangements. And I find that I'm drawn to help build a community now, an oasis of sanity (or healthy insanity ;>). And that's what we're doing, one step at a time.

My earliest memories are of the desert, of growing up in the extreme southwest corner of Arizona (Yuma) -- so hot, so arid, such a stark, inhospitable environment (to humans), but absolutely incredible pristine beauty, and full of improbable life. And tubing on the Colorado River (still at that point in time with some water in it...) which flowed through, and right nearby, the ocean, camping out on the Baja California under the stars. Waters and deserts, searing heat and teaming life, contrasts and paradox...

When it came time to move out to the wilderness, though, I decided to go northeast rather than southwest, because of a love of woods and concerns about global climate change among other things. But I do still miss the desert, though I can find at least some of the very same aspects of solitude, beauty, and immersion in the wild here in the woods.

Comments

[snakey.livejournal.com]

Heh. My one experience of group living (university housemates0 was hell, hell, HELL! However, it did leave us with an excellent repository of funny stories. but I'm rather ocne-bitten-twice-shy.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Um, yeah. Living with the right people is incredible, like being surrounded by your tribe, all of whom are cool, interesting, witty, supportive people you can't get enough of (well, except when you're sick of everyone and just want to go crawl back into your own space for a while, which is also essential. Living with the wrong people is hell, I agree, which is why it's so important to choose well.

In almost 20 years of doing this, we've only had to ask one person to leave a living arrangement, and even that wasn't really bad -- nothing was terribly wrong with anyone, just a case where everyone was better served by not living under the same roof for a while, and we're all good friends to this day.

Some of it's luck, some of it's good instincts, and, I'll admit, having mostly slightly older folks (post-college), who generally are a bit less...volatile, in both firey and earthy ways. It's not always perfect, of course, but speaking just for myself, I've felt blessed to have been, as an adult, a part of the healthy extended family I never had.

[snakey.livejournal.com]

I'd settle for just having people who are a) not psychotic b) not thieves c) wash their towels d) don't make abuse phonecalls, destroy furniture, cause physical harm and/or out you by letter to your entire place of work and e) eat something other than processed cheese (kept in their wardrobe), frozen chicken quarters and kipper fried rice. Sometime we'll have to tell you our Housemate House of Horror stories.... ::grin:: You know, I really used to think that "foaming at the mouth" was a metaphor....

[ravenedgewalker.livejournal.com]

hmm yse I have the first 12 pages or so of a novel I've started about the whole experience..... it was BAD.

Then again while I was an undergrad I shared a house with 3 lovely christainas and had a wonderful time...

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

wow, that does sound like a hideous housemate experience. Fodder for stories, for sure. I think the closest I ever came to that was a couple of weeks with a transient (summer) housemate back in college. He used to collect used condoms in the medicine cabinet as "souvenirs" Bleah.

And again, that goes to the being choosy part-- I took this guy in because I had to, to make rent. One of the tricks I found was to make sure that everyone in the house can go for a least several months splitting expenses by one or two less people than you plan to have in the house, so that you can take your time and find the right person to fill any open spots. It's when you have to fill a spot, and are under pressure to do it quickly, that , er, errors in judgement (or simple desperation) creep in there ;>

[draiguisge.livejournal.com]

He used to collect used condoms in the medicine cabinet as "souvenirs"

Bwah! Ew. :)

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

*rolls eyes* No kidding. Had to do a lot of disinfection when that fellow left...

[erskine.livejournal.com]

I concur.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

thus spaketh a Casa Chaos alumni. How many years did we live together? I know you were at the Henderson house, the Nicholas place, and the Hermitage, right?

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

Hello! This is Telf's friend Kim... from many years ago. It is nice to see you are on livejournal! I remember you fondly. :)

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Hey there, cool, good to see ya here! What part of the world ya in these days?

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm in Laurel, MD. I just bought a house with my partner which I ultimately hope to turn into a haven, a place where my tribe can know they will always be welcome. It's a little small but, ehn, what are you going to do. :) I'm working for a company called Vetcentric in Annapolis doing sql/reports writing.

I'd do anything to go back in time and relive the awesome times I had at your casa. :) Telf and I have been tossing around the idea of having a bardic circle ourselves someday.

I heard you moved off to the wilderness, but that's about all I have heard in the intervening time... :)

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed yerself! ya, a cluster of us are up in New Hampshire now, some pics are here (http://www.mythosphere.com). We're just starting up bardics again in the new locale, in March. Come up for a visit or a bardic some time, Southwest Air has pretty cheap flights from BWI to Manchester, NH.

[snidegrrl.livejournal.com]

Lovely pics. The wall of pumpkins! The snow sprites! The amazingly huge-tailed cats!! :) I would love to come visit.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

if you get a chance, send me your current email, and I'll put ya on the bardic announcement list.

[christeos-pir.livejournal.com]

Never ceases to amaze/amuse me how our paths have crossed, snakelike, with so little actual contact until a few years ago. There are people commenting in your LJ (and v/v) that I had no idea you knew, I too visited Arcosanti many moons ago (briefly, sometime around '70), and so on.

"There is nothing for you to do now but to have a good laugh." - Alan Watts.

WILL / LOVE

- V -

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

*lol* Too true. Using the past as a guide, then, it sounds like our paths will likely continue to cross, and I'm glad for that. I have travelled in a pretty diverse set of circles over the years, and it's always amazing to me who knows who. There aren't 7 degrees of separation, more like 3 or 4. In certain communities, 0 or 1 ;>

Sounds like I would have been at Arcosanti not too long after you. Like I said, mainly holes and dreams at that point, and a dome or two. I remember at the time being impressed that people were visiting and paying *them* to come help them build the place. Even at that tender age, I recognized a good scam, er, creative arrangement when I saw one ;> Seriously, that place taught me very early the creative power of a compelling dream, and opened my eyes to the possibility of manifesting very different ways of living on the earth. I'll always be grateful for that.

-------
Nunc est bibendum, nunc pede libero pulsanda tellus. (Now is the time to drink, now the time to dance footloose upon the earth.)
--Horace