Author: sullivan

This past month (November) has been a very busy one. Through the constant contact with LEF we were able to plan a visit in the early weeks of the month. Our first visit was amazing. It was extremely eye-opening, not only because it was the first intentional community we had ever been to, but becuase it was so neat to meet the families, interact with the children, receive a full tour, and have lunch with them.  During our first visit we took some notes/pictures on the tour but towards the end of the day we had already began discussing the next possible time we could come back. The following week the interviews were conducted the interviews. I loved this part because it was so personal and very interesting to hear the different thoughts people had about the community. After the interviews the children gave a tour of the ducks and their home. It was an extremely wonderful experience to feel so included within the community. As we finish up our project in the coming weeks I hope we are able to really open the eyes of others to this unique way of life. I think the areas we have within the website work to section off the different information and allow for people to fully understand the desire for this community.

Sarah and I spent the morning going over how we want to design our archive. Our goal is to focus on specific aspects of the community and using those topics as the main features on the site. This would allow for visitors who are navigating the sight to use the visuals as a tool in order to understand the main areas of the archives. When they click on a specific picture they will be taken to a new page that will hold all the information collected regarding it. I think this will allow for both a very well-functioning site that people can learn a lot from and also be very pleasing to the eye. We were also planning to have a bar that have a few sections such as about us and our contract. This will allow for a little background information on how we created the archives and why.

I am very excited to continue our research regarding this community. Their focus on sustainable living is inspiring in both how they go about doing so, and the way they speak about it. I found this video about LEF and I find it very inspirational. The founder of the community is so passionate in his quest to create an environmentally friendly community and he notes how one of the most necessary aspects to creating this is cooperation. Many people focus on the technologies required to be a fossil free community however, even more so, there needs to be cooperation between everyone involved in achieving that goal.

 

What I find so interesting about these two authors is that they both focus on the lack of natural investment not just within our economy, but our society as  a whole. Reece notes in the final pages of his book that even though these communes may not have succeeded in terms of length, they succeeded in other aspects that many would deem much more important. These communities were able to create a society that was so different from what we see today in that, for example, they work for the value of it and don’t cut ties with their environment for the purpose of profit. Similar to this, Thoreau focused on people getting back in touch with their natural environment and aiming for a life without the material aspects we deem so important within today’s society.

What I find so interesting about the starters of communities is how they are able to convince others to join them. Looking at it from a religious point of view I can understand how if someone is preaching about something you believe in, it may be easy to blindly follow them and accept anything else they have to say. However, when these ideas become to outlandish I find it interesting how these leaders normalize their ideas to their followers. Especially, for example with the Perfectionists, how mothers and children were not to have natural relationships in order to prevent exclusion from the rest of the members.

What I found surprising about this reading was the discussion on what makes a community successful. While there are those that think the sheer length of time that the group has been established equates to their level of success, there are others that think it focuses more on the emotions of the people. Although, yes it is important to remain a community in order to grow and organize, the mindsets of the people are also a major determining factor.  The discussion that “personal satisfaction and social congruence or original ideals and existence” (128) are good ways to note the success of a community.

Going off of this, the longevity of a commune was said to go hand and hand with a “dedicated and obedient community”. I suppose I never really thought about it but the idea of strict commitment in these communities was never really something I considered, more just that these people all came together with a shared goal. The author states, ” for example, as certain contemporary communes emerge as a group, though they would resist the implication that they are “building commitment,” they nevertheless begin informally to develop ways of binding a person to the group and cutting him off from his past or from life outside the commune” (134). What I find surprising are the examples that the author gives, of ways in which people show their commitment, and how so many communes view this as necessary.

Both the Fair Use Checklist and Creative Commons allow for users to understand which works are under certain restrictions and which are not, and how people can use them when needed. The Check List is described as a “road map” and allows for people to use the steps but also insert their own research and analysis when determining which steps to they need. These will be useful as we further develop our own research on our own community.

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meager life than the poor.

Thoreau discusses how luxuries in a “civilized” mans world is a hinderance. They do not allow humans to see the most natural and beautiful things in life. Work and money have forced people into lives that don’t allow them to live their fullest life. Reece discusses how Thoreau explains that division of labor turns people in machine (pg. 261) . It doesn’t allow people to live their true lives. Both men pay attention to the “utopia of solitude” and how this is is beneficial to mankind.

It’s an exciting time for Sarah and myself. We have decided to research Living Energy Farm!! Our decision came about over a meal at the on- campus Qdoba, a great way to end a delicious meal (See Above Photo). We decided on Living Energy Farm because it incorporated aspects that both Sarah and I were very interested in.  The community has ties with Virginia Organizing and functions as an education center and an all around community. They are totally off the grid, while generating 90% of renewable energy, producing over half of all their own food and sharing in nearly every other aspect. We are very excited to advance our research regarding this community and hopefully visit and interview the members involved.

Within the past few weeks I feel that the main focuses of past intentional communities and current ones are centered around equality and sharing a common goal. Each community that has started or is created today both come together for the purpose of a specific goal, whether that be sustainability or a certain religion, these people come together because of their shared mentalities. Equality and understanding are, for the most part, a constant within communities. This ranges from gender, ethnicity, and even age. These communities were created because of a shared purpose and because of that, everyone involved is treated with the same amount of respect.