Finding a Community  Cohousing is intrinsically an affordable model; here’s why and how.  An older generation learns to let go as a younger generation steps forward.  Kibbutzes, ecovillages, cohousing communities, and pocket neighborhoods offer us opportunities to make a new start.  After 6,500 miles of pedaling and 100 community visits, a couple documents the promise of intentional community and cooperative living.  By learning necessary physical skills, these ecovillagers transcend the limitations of their middle-class educations.  To create a thriving, diverse community, we need to learn how to host and integrate new people in ways that support them as multi-dimensional human beings.  An organic farming volunteer learns surprising new lessons from his Argentinian hosts—such as how to relax, how to enjoy practical labor, and how to contribute more sustainably by putting personal work first.  Overcoming her resistance to waking up at 5 a.m., a veteran community seeker learns transformative lessons at Deer Park Monastery.  In the author’s first, very intense intentional community immersion, revealing the truth led to love and intimacy. He left that group, but, in many spheres of life, emotional and intellectual honesty became his religion.  Despite widespread desire for community, structural and cultural obstacles to intentional community in the modern world loom large.  Ten European ecovillages show the way to a brighter future.  After confronting an identity crisis worthy of adolescence, a 65-year-old finds a new home in community and discovers that elderhood is a blessing, not a curse.  Howling, shouting, cries of despair, and The Pierced One greet a parent on her first visit to her daughter’s adopted community. Luckily, through lots of talking and listening, things improve.  In a healthy community, leadership and followship are equally important roles, each with vital skill sets that can assure effective teamwork.  The author identifies additional leadership skills, cautions against blind followship, and reflects on the many types of power in cooperative groups.  After several years teaching about community in the abstract, an anthropologist and environmental studies teacher finds that direct student engagement with intentional communities provides the spark needed for personal inspiration, connection, and the potential for social transformation.  A mother responds to empty-nest syndrome by discovering her new family in community.  Geoph Kozeny’s community documentary brings forth reflections on Hearthaven, discussions among neighbors and friends, and ultimately a new intergenerational family community.  Reviews of two great books on community living, one on life in a convent with surprising insights even for the most secular, and one on the history of utopian experiments in Oregon.   A long-time events organizer reflects on the rewards, challenges, logistics, and community dynamics involved in hosting gatherings large and small.  Participants in NFNC’s Summer Camps explore intimacy, transparency, freedom of choice, personal responsibility, sexuality, and new ways of being, teaching, and learning. Tree Bressen traces her own path of exploration from commune to collective household, discovering that community isn't always drawn in black and white. Communities magazine asks interns, work exchangers, and residential course participants what they think of us. Do our programs deliver what our websites promise? Are they comfortably housed and fed? Do we treat them well? Jules Pelican of OAEC in northern California examines the mutual influence of interns and community members. Is it painful to invest emotional energy in people who will soon leave? Does living in community, even temporarily, nevertheless benefit people?
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