[BCN] (no subject)

[rwbussewitz]

New Commmunity Projects

Now that's historic. I appreciate the recollection.
I don't know when Project Place began, in the 70's
i think, Boston south end, and then i believe NCP
grew out of that, and there was some great energy
and outreach and the spirit of inclusiveness. Almost
painful to recall, knowing that the hope and idealism
of that era has dispersed, as the core people of this
period dispersed....Robbie Gas was one of them who
some folks today may know of, and his wife who i can
picture but whose name doesn't come up. I know many
in this community moved uåçp to a farm in southern NH
which may have left a legacy up there.  I was also
one who left for the north country at this time.

I'll be honest in regard to my personal attitude vis
a vis co-op living and community. I lived in one of
the first communal houses, in cambridge, on trowbridge
street in the 70's. I had some familiarity with another
kind of "sister commune" in somerville. Ours was in a
sense an overflow of that one.

In a nutshell, what i got from all of this, added to
my subsequent life experience was that for a group to
come together based primarily on values social/economic
sort is not sufficiently binding to afford the kind of
stability needed to sort out differences when they arise.

I say that in the context of having been involved in
communities with strong spiritual ties, specifically
the insight center in barre, ma. So i've witnessed
the willingness of folks find the way to open their
hearts to each other when there's a common ground based
in personal growth as well as care for "other".

I think this is my criticism of the wonderful spirit
of idealism and sharing, and the notion of Community
Change which i hear in the discussion here. It's the
tension i've always felt between social activism and
work on oneself. Of course it's also about finding
that balance. I don't mean to dampen anyone's enthusiasm
either. This came out of my deep appreciation for some
of those pure energies which you reminded me of, and
which may yet linger in this city in ways i'm not at
all aware of. It's not possible to convey in words
more than a glimmer of what i feel to express, but
perhaps it's worth doing.

buzz (i forgot to sign my name last time)






On Jan 13, 2007, at 6:30 PM, Joshua Laskin wrote:

> Tom,
>   My guess is that the old list probably
> disappeared with whoever was attempting to
> compile it.
>
>   The co-op households of greater-Boston have
> always been primarily inwardly-focused and
> independent, so have never been successfully
> organized or integrated into a comprehensive
> umbrella.  The closest may have been 'New
> Community Projects', in the '80s, which operated
> out of the original community-room of the old
> Boston Food Co-op, in Allston (before BFC became
> Harvest, after purchasing the floundering
> Cambridge Food Co-op).  Those old NCP records
> have probably been trashed long ago, but would be
> completely out of date, anyway--though of
> historical interest...
>
>   This Boston Co-op Network list is the new
> effort to connect the movement, but Adam's
> probably right: many co-op residents aren't
> interested in a broader movement, and whoever IS
> interested is probably already on the list.  But
> it's possible that some may still not know about
> it, so every opportunity should be taken to
> spread the word.
>
> Joshua Laskin
>   (currently not co-living, though planning a
> new, suburban attempt for the near future)
>
>
>
> --- T B <pfadfa at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Then does anyone know how I could obtain the
>> un-updated list?  Or know of
>> any coops other than those listed at
>> bostoncoop.net, the Franklin St. Coop,
>> and the Cambridge Coop?  (I ask both because
>> of the Harvest discussion and
>> so that we might use this opportunity to
>> attempt to compile an updated
>> list.)
>>
>> -Tom
>> Franklin St. Coop
>>
>>
>>> From: Adam Rosi-Kessel
>>>
>>> There used to be such a list, but it hasn't
>>> been updated in several
>>> years.  You can see the list of coops on the
>>> front page of
>>> <http://bostoncoop.net> -- they should all
>>> have contact information.
>>>
>>> My guess is anyone from any coop that would
>>> be likely to participate in
>>> this meeting is already subscribed to this
>>> email list.  There are nearly
>>> 200 people subscribed here.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 1/11/2007 5:28 PM, T B wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Is there some kind
>>>> of list of all the coops in the Boston
>>>> area (preferably with contact info)?
>>>>
>>>> -Tom
>>>> Franklin St. Coop
>
>
>
>
>
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