Out of the communities we have read about in Utopia Drive, I would say that my favorite was Warren’s idea of the Equity Store, or my time for your time. I think this was my favorite because the others – especially the Shakers – seemed like a great opportunity for a community as long as everyone agreed and continued to believe in those ideas.
For me, however, I could see myself losing that drive and passion that I had originally joined the community with. With the Equity Store – and similarly, with the equity village – I didn’t think that it was something I would particularly lose interest in. In my opinion, it seemed easier than the other communities we have read about that seemed to ask for much more of the person. In the equity village, all you had to do was trade your time for someone else’s labor (and time.) It seemed like a perfect idea.
Similarly, Warren seemed the most sound to me. With Mother Ann Lee, I thought some of her ideas were… a little off. I think – after reading about some of the other communities – that you have to be that way to start a movement like Mother Ann Lee and Robert Owen did. But in terms of a community or movement that I would want to join, I thought Warren perfectly embodied a community that would work together and prosper together.
With these thoughts in mind, I thought the equity village was perfectly equitable, a quality that Warren was precisely looking for.
I also liked our discussions about the communities mentioned in Utopia Drive. In Reece’s novel, there is plenty of information, but to discuss the ideals at hand makes it easier to understand the communities and their founders. The book is interesting also in that Reece continually references the communities. He will talk of another community and say, “Just like…” and revert back to a community we had previously talked about. It’s interesting to see just how many similarities these very different communities have.