Category: Uncategorized

My Keene Project Sight designed to be easily navigated.  Right now, the contract is up as the “home” page when you visit.  This is going to remain on the front of the website until it is finished.  This ensures that if anyone visits the sight that they will understand that it is being built.   The different tabs on the side of the page include About the Authors, History, Home Page, Interviews, Life and Responsibilities, Photo’s, Principles of the Community, and Programs Offered. These are going to be reorganized in a different order (If I can ever figure it out, someone told me and I forgot already!).  I have deleted an “analysis” page that I originally intended on having to extend my thoughts in the community, however, I will integrate this information in with the rest of the website.

I plan on having many links embedded into the website that can take the reader to new places to continue their learning of communities.  Soon we will have pictures and quotes integrated into our website to add to the presentation.

The co-founders of MorningSun community studied under and worked with Thich Nhat Hanh.  He is a peace activist and spiritual leader.  Both the co-founders of MorningSun and Thich Nhat Hanh study Plum Village tradition.  This focuses on peace and mindfullness.  You can hear this tone in the following Plum Village song,  Happiness is Here and Now.

The words to this video are posted below, as found on SoundCloud.

A Plum Village song. Words and music by Eveline Beumkes.

This performance and arrangement © Monica Max West

Happiness is here and now
I have dropped my worries
Nowhere to go, nothing to do
No longer in a hurry

Happiness is here and now
I have dropped my worries
Somewhere to go, something to do
But I don’t need to hurry

The readings by Kanter and Sosis lay an argument that more successful communities require high standards and practices.  I do believe that groups with high requirements and standards are more likely to succeed.  Especially when the group is already well-established.  For example, Sosis mentioned Greek life as a modern day example… The hazing that many individuals go through would not be tolerated if the individual did not believe that it would be worth the pain in the end.  With religion, if you are willing to take up the same beliefs and practices, there is such a strong community waiting for you already.  These high standards may be more difficult in a community that is not as well established.  A member would need to have a level of certainty about what they are involved with in order to put in an adequate amount of effort.

In groups that follow a more communistic approach, I think power lays in numbers.  Too many people and it is easy for individuals to begin to slack off, or not do their fair share.  As soon as this begins, it is nearly impossible for the community to stay together for any extended period of time.  Additionally, as Kanter suggested, the importance of taking people as they are I believe would help many communities.  Paying too much attention to life outside of the community may be harmful in certain situations.

• Has reading about the communities in Reece made you ask yourself a question about either the principles underlying intentional communities or the practical problems they have to solve? Share your question and explain why your reading gave rise to it.

When reading about the communities in Utopia Drive, it is difficult not to wonder what it would take to create a more permanent society.  Most of these society’s fail, in a relatively short period of time.  Comparatively, America itself has not been established long… it has been only 250 years since we had declared our independence and our country as well as our government will be tested.  Many greater nations have lasted centuries longer before their fall.  What would it take for the intentional communities mentioned to have a longer lasting impact, and keep the affections of their members from one generation to the next?

In America, it is possible that the lifestyle of many intentional communities would make it difficult to remain faithful over many years.  Intentional communities often mean giving up the member’s current way of life.  Restrictions in how members live their life can be a frustrating if a belief in the cause is not one hundred percent, and a crack in this foundation can grow immensely.  Reece explained how Owen attributed New Harmony’s end with a lack of charity, meanwhile, Warren believed it was how individuals were treated as their individualism was suppressed (134).  It is difficult to pinpoint one reason for the end of any society.  Warren’s Utopia, what is deemed as a successfully community, ended because it lacked room to grow… However if it truly was so successful, why did members leave at this point?  The majority who joined had never owned a house before, and in the end many members left for Minnesota where the land was cheap.  This paints Utopia close to a rehabilitation program— a way for members to get back onto their feet.

To create this more permanent society, the member’s beliefs would need to be almost timeless… What is true for the first generation of members would need to remain true to the later, younger generations.  I find it sad while reading that many of these communities begin and end so quickly, while many hearts have gone into the work of establishing a community.

Just like communities we have been talking about, our class as a virtual community has a common goal.  We meet and talk with one another just as any other community- meeting online does not stop our common goal.  A concern to our community is that everyone needs to be fully committed to our goal as researchers and students. Just as any community, it is important that everyone participates and believes in the goal.

-Savannah

It is always surprising when you come upon a piece of knowledge that has such a big impact on real life when you did not have much information about it beforehand.  It is like learning that millions of years ago, all of the continents formed one giant land mass.   Pangea.  Up until this point, you had seen the world map.  Looked at it over and over, knew the continents and oceans by heart and can point out at least a dozen countries- BUT, you had never made the connection that South America and Africa would have fit together like a glove.  You had seen it, but the connection hadn’t been made on its own.  This is the same concept for me as intentional communities.

Until reading through some of these links, I almost had no idea that intentional communities existed anywhere outside of movies.  The concept was foreign, and made little sense, so my initial reaction in discovering them was to categorize the various groups of communities I was finding.  As far as intentional communities go, I found that sustainability and religion were very important.  However, there are many types of communities that share a more uncommon theme, like this millennial utopia.

It seems that the glue to an intentional community, much as in any community, is that everyone needs to have the same shared beliefs.  Or, at the very least, a common belief. To me, the most fascinating communities revolved around individuals who believe in making life better for one another.  It is frustrating to grow up in a world with so much hate and distrust.  Communities that believe in peace and harmony and who wish to make the world easier for one another are something that I am fascinated in.  I stumbled upon the treehouse community in East Hampton Massachusetts when beginning to search for the community that was physically made up of treehouses.  The Easthampton community is a place for people age fifty-five and older to move and provide a home or safe space for foster kids.  It is a safe place for children, and gives many people a chance to help and give back.  These interactions are life changing, and those like it contribute to the world, not just the intentional community.  Each person who is touched in this community can spread their own positivity in other places throughout the world. This community is here for one another and is advocating for peace.

Discovering, learning, and linking these communities together to find what the most common threads are would make a captivating area of study.  By researching and making connections from community to community, I would be able to learn in a broader sense what makes a community work, and what holds it back.  It will show what people in these communities value above all else, and produce evidence for the positive side of humanity.