Where I Want To Live
For years now people have been telling me that I should be trying to join an existing intentional community aligned with my goals and values, instead of or before trying to start my own again. I would actually love to be able to spend more of my time on things other than instigating and maintaining such a community. To that end, here’s a description of the environment in which I want to spend the next 5-20 years of my life:
- Many of us have an ownership stake, having dedicated significant effort and/or financial resources to the establishment and continued existence of the community and its physical presence.
- Most of us share at least most decision making authority about the direction of the community, within long term bounds which change much more slowly.
- We enforce our rules internally with low tolerance for community goals being derailed by misbehavior.
- We have a variety of large scale common amenities, particularly including well equipped workshop space, high ceiling and high seating capacity event spaces, acres of available land for growing food, and sporting or other recreational facilities.
- We prioritize enabling participants to earn a living using the common amenities, individually or in groups, such as by running home businesses or hosting paid educational events.
- We host a wide variety of events, including educational, artistic, camping, musical, and adult oriented activities, on weekly to yearly cadences.
- We share a significant amount of grocery purchasing and meal prep, and at least some common dining time.
- We regularly have friends and family visitors for hours to days at a time.
- We regularly cross pollinate with a major city event and social scene, either by being within convenient driving or transit distance or having frequent day and weekend trip carpools.
If you know of such a place and think I’d be a good fit, please point me in the right direction, or put me in touch with the right people. If not, I’ll keep trying to build it myself. Estate of Mind was a big step in the right direction, and CoDwell promises to be even closer to the mark. Most of you reading this will be welcome to join me in those future endeavors.