Greetings on this Thanksgiving Day — the quintessential American holiday.

I’m Ann Zabaldo, one of the Principal Partners in Cohousing Collabortive, LLC, the sponsor of this blog.  I not only build cohousing communities … I live in one.  (In our business model … you eat your own dog food …)

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for describing community.

All over our country, people of all faiths are sitting down to pretty much the same dinner.  In households everywhere will be the burnt casserole, the wail of  “Oh, no! The turkey didn’t defrost!!”  tofurky or Chinese take-out on the table.  There will be spilt milk, frayed tempers, long standing arguments rekindled, Macy’s T’giving Day parade, too many football games, “A Christmas Story”  endlessly playing on cable TV for at least 24 hours, hugs, kisses and … a few tears on arrivals and departures.

In the end we will eat too much, laugh too hard at really old jokes, tell too many stories and collapse in good will for a night’s slumber.

I love all the mishegas (insanity, craziness) surrounding Thanksgiving with “the family.”

Sometimes, when looking at the sturm and drang of the world, I am challenged in the gratitude department.  As I look ahead to 2013 I am optimistic and anxious simultaneously.

What to do?

In the end my grounding is in the relationships and bonds of community.

Keeps me from toppling over.

I have much for which to be grateful!

To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. — Johannes A. Gaertner

Living in community challenges me — gives me the opportunity –  everyday to live in gratitude.  Living in community has stretched me in every way possible.  My “growing edge” has grown tremendously in these last 12 years living in Takoma Village here in Washington, DC.   Living in cohousing has given me a “family” and a set of real friends.

So, whatever “family” and “friends” mean to you …  on this Thanksgiving Day … let us lift a glass of whatever we drink and make a toast to: Family who are Friends and Friends who are Family.

Safe travels if you are on the road, riding the rails, in the air, or cruising the waters.

Wishing you an abundant and Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Ann Zabaldo

Ever grateful member of Takoma Village Cohousing, our larger Takoma neighborhood in northwest Washington, DC, and a partner in my cohousing development company.
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“Thanksgiving at the Trolls” CreativeCommons

For what are you grateful for living in your community?

How will your community celebrate Thanksgiving this year?

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If all goes well,  in the sweet little neighborhood of Mt. Airy in northwest Philadelphia, lies the future of home of Wissahickon Village Cohousing.  The 10 households who make up the current membership want to build a 32 home green and sustainable community on a property owned by Iron Stone Strategic Capital Partners,  a real estate investment and development company that identifies and rehabilitates distressed properties.   An historic home, the Garrett-Dunn House, that once graced the property, burned down.

Iron Stone already has approval to build a 32 mixed townhouse and condo building complex on the site.  Andrew Eisenstein, principal and founder of Iron Stone, became interested in the possibility of cohousing at the site when he was approached by WVC member, Melissa Klein.  “I was intrigued enough by the concept  of cohousing described to me to find out if my current plan was adaptable to the cohousing model” said Eisenstein, “and if not, what other design might be appropriate for the site.”

WVC has hired Cohousing Collaborative,  LLC to create an initial site plan to demonstrate that the site will accommodate a cohousing community as envisioned by the members.  Cohousing Collaborative will also help the community negotiate the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding with Iron Stone should both parties agree to move forward.    One of the many things that Cohousing Collaborative is doing for the group is educating them about the development process so they can make informed decisions.   “We had come a long, long way organizing ourselves to take on creating a cohousing community in Philadephia.” said Klein. “We got to a spot where we needed help figuring out the next right thing to do.  That’s why we turned to Cohousing Collaborative.”

Jack Wilbern, Cohousing Collaborative, leading workshop programming and design session.

Cohousing Collaborative principals,  Jack Wilbern and Ann Zabaldo spent one and a half days in an intensive workshop over the Labor Day weekend focused on two outcomes:  a series of rough sketches of possible site configurations and an action plan for the next tasks including a “Pitch Package” for the developer.  The 1.5 day intensive workshop produced four possible sketches.  The group also brainstormed a Plan of Action and Next Steps for the next 45 days.  “I was gratified to see that two of the four sketches appear to work very wel for cohousing” said Wilbern who is also an architect and who led the programming and site design portions of the workshop.  “The group had excellent suggestions for translating their vision of cohousing into an actual working drawing.”

The group is moving ahead quite rapidly.  “We were thrilled with the progress we made this past weekend.  Challenging process … and thrilled,” said Vanessa Lowe, a long time Philly resident and WVC member.  According to Bob Bernstein, himself an architect in Philly, “…we’re no where near ‘final’ on any of these drawings so it’s a good time to join in.  There’s still lots to do to design our community — both the bricks n’ mortar and the social aspects.”

In the same way that Cohousing Collaborative is educating the WVC members, they are also clarifying the benefits and the particulars of working with a forming cohousing community to Iron Stone. “One of the great joys of working in cohousing is working with experienced developers new to the cohousing model,” said Zabaldo.  “Once they understand the benefits of the model to the developer — and there are many –  they are ‘sold’ on it.”

Want to live in cohousing in the “City of Brotherly Love?”  You can find out more about Wissahickon Village Cohousing by calling Libby:   215-842-3949.  Or email:  info@WissahickonVillageCoho.com

Members Wissahickon Village Cohousing

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Do you sit in cohousing meetings with architects who speak “archi-babel?”  You’re not alone!

Grant Snider may be studying to be an orthodontist but that doesn’t stop him from having quite a wry wit about ordinary things.  He is the artist behind the comic poster series Incidental Comics.

In his comic  poster on architecture, Snider takes a  look at what architects are REALLY saying.

How did he get the inspiration for drawing this poster?  According to Snider, “ I didn’t feel like sitting at my drawing table for this week’s comic. I decided to walk outside and sketch my neighborhood!”

Just so you don’t think we’re targeting architects … we’ve included another of Snider’s posters about planning.   Check out all of Snider’s posters on his website.  He has all of his posters archived.  Be warned!  You can get lost in Incidental Comics for a long, long time!  Check Incidental Comics every week for a new poster.

A  hint:  if you’re dealing with professionals who speak “jargon-ese” order one of Snider’s posters to hang up in a meeting as a humorous way of reminding them to speak English.  Or Spanish, Portuguese, or Japanese!  He has posters in several languages!!

Did these bring you some smiles today?

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As if you needed yet another video supporting your belief that community and connectedness are the  two fundamental qualities of life for which people on the planet are yearning.

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 08: Director Tom Shadyac arrives at the premiere of Shady Acres Entertainment's 'I Am' on March 8, 2011 in Los Angeles, California. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Yet … here it is.  Tom Shadyac’s I Am.

Perhaps you already know this documentary by Hollywood  director Shadyac .  Shadyac directed Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor  and Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.  

In I AM,  Shadyac asks two questions:

What’s wrong with our world?

What can we do about it?

What he ends up finding out is … oops! don’t want to give this away!

Shadyac talks to such luminaries as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Howard Zinn, Lynne McTaggart and many, many others.

“Shadyac also discovers that, contrary to conventional thinking, cooperation and not competition, may be nature’s most fundamental operating principle.   Thus, I AM shows consensus decision-making is the norm amongst many species, from insects and birds to deer and primates.  The film further discovers that humans actually function better and remain healthier when expressing positive emotions, such as love, care, compassion, and gratitude, versus their negative counterparts, anxiety, frustration, anger and fear. Charles Darwin may be best known for popularizing the notion that nature is red in tooth and claw, but, as Shadyac points out, he used the word love 95 times in The Descent of Man, while his most famous phrase,survival of the fittest, appears only twice.” (From the film’s promo on the I AM website.)

We in cohousing already know all of this.  Still, it’s refreshing to see the rest of the world catching up to us in such a delightful way.  And this video can be very useful when talking to the “powers that be”about how cohousing can enhance everyone’s life throughout the community not in just the cohousing community.  There’s a wonderful section in the film about collaboration and empathy and connectedness that makes the case for cohousing .  With its provocative questions, the film can be used for education and outreach about the benefits of living in community.

Why am I writing about this today?  Because for a very, very, very short time  you can see this film for FREE on Gaiamtv.com.  The company is offering a 10-Day trial for viewing films on its website.  Yes, you have to sign up.  Yes, you have to have an account secured with a credit card AND you can cancel any time within the 10 days.  So you can see a lot of films for free!  After that … like Netflix it’s $9.95 per month.   (The film is also available on  Comcast, DirectTV, DishTV, and a host of other cable and satellite providers — but you gotta pay for it …)

Here’s the trailer.

What do you think?

What’s RIGHT with our world?

What's RIGHT with our world?

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Use Google+ Hangouts to connect with members all over the world!

As is often the case in developing a cohousing community, many times there are households that do not live in the immediate area.  When Takoma Village here in Washington, DC  was in development we had households in Florida, North and South Carolina and … Germany.  Roberts Creek Cohousing in western Canada had households from all over the world including Asia.

Including people from around the country and around the world is one of the challenges a group has to resolve.   Almost every group has an email list connecting all households no matter where in the world you are.  People outside the local area can connect with other members and easily stay up on the activities the community is engaged in and current issues confronting the community.  However, it is limited to the written word.  Active participation in real time is not available.

In an effort to be more inclusive, some communities will conference in outside folks via a telephone speaker system so the folks outside the area can hear the discussion of those in the room and participate whenever there are questions, go-rounds, etc.  But this is a tedious process for folks on the phone.  And one which requires expert facilitation so phone participants are fully integrated into the process in the room.

Until recently, video conferencing of multiple people has been an expensive alternative.  Video conferencing or video chat allows people to see each other.  Almost sorta like being in the room together.   Free video services such as iChat, gmail video chat, CHAT, etc. are generally limited to 1-3 users.

Now comes a solution.  From our friends at Google, of course, we give you:   Google+ Hangouts!  According to Google’s promotion material:

Unlike the old video chat, which was based on peer-to-peer technology, Hangouts utilize the power of Google’s network to deliver higher reliability and enhanced quality. You’ll be able to chat with all the same people you did before and, in fact, with Hangouts you’ll now be able to reach them not only when they are using Gmail but also if they are on Google+ in the browser or on their Android or iOS devices.

All Gmail users will benefit from this upgrade, but if you and the person you’re chatting with also use Google+, you’ll get even more from the Hangouts experience. You’ll be able to video chat with up to nine people at once, watch YouTube videos together, collaborate on Google documents and share your screen. Plus, Hangouts has a bunch of fun effects that you can try out…because any conversation is better when you’re wearing a virtual mustache or pirate hat. 

This new platform is ready today.  Watch a video clip and learn more about the technology.  You can conference up to NINE people plus yourself at a time.  This platform opens up possibilities to bring cohousers together from across the street or all over the world!

How do you handle out of town members in your deliberations?  What technologies do you use?  Do you think this new technology from Google will help you?   Have you used it?  What do you think about it?  Let us hear from you!

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Come hear what we learned in Oakland!

Cohousers of all stripes — those living in cohousing, building cohousing or just starting their cohousing journey — are gathering together on Sunday, July 22nd, 2-4 p.m. to hear reports on various workshops by those who attended the conference.

This is an opportunity for those who could not attend this highly successful conference to get current information on a variety of topics from facilitation to emergency preparedness to marketing to the health of the cohousing movement … and more!

Cohousing coach, Raines Cohen, from the San Francisco Bay area is a featured guest of the event.  Raines is the founder of East Bay Cohousing.    He has visited hundreds of cohousing communities in the U.S. and abroad.  He lives in Berkeley Cohousing in California.

Mid Atlantic Cohousing, a regional consortium of 13 cohousing communities in DC, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia,  sponsored this event last year and it was such a success the organization decided to reprise the event.

According to Tom Lofft of Liberty Village Cohousing near Frederick, MD  ”This is an excellent way to disseminate information and maximize the learning so many more people can benefit from the conference.   It’s also an opportunity for cohousers in the region to get together, mingle and mix.  It shows the power of having a regional organization that can plan and execute events locally.”

The event is FREE and open to the public but you must register via Meet  Up.    The event is being held in a private home.  Address given  upon registering.

If you attended the conference and would like to present on a workshop, please contact Ann:

ann@MidAtlanticCohousing.org

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Richmond, Virginia Skyline. New Cohousing Group Forming in State's Capital City

Richmond, Virginia will be the home of a new cohousing community.  Hear what this forming  group is planning for their socially and physically green and sustainable cohousing community.

Interviews of Richmond Cohousing group co-founders Adele Maclean and Jana Hayes and Cohousing Collaborative principal Ann Zabaldo will be on air this Wednesday May 16 at 12 noon on 97.3 WRIR and online http://wrir.org/

Sunny Gardener, host of Lightly on the Ground, conducts the interview.

Cohousing communities often serve as a center for progressive and inclusive lifestyles.  This is once again demonstrated in the heartwarming story of Susan Galereave and Kiki Zeldes, two mothers who were recently married by a justice of the peace in the Rocky Hill Common House.   Read the story as it appeared in the New York Times here.

Here is a great little video from the World Wildlife Fund on the carbon footprint of a single latte.  It makes you gag a little bit towards the middle… but there is hope!

Rethinking a Latte

The Times reports this morning that a growing number of men and women in their 50s and 60s are opting out of marriage and venturing into old age on their own. The surge has been driven by several factors, including longevity, economics and evolving social mores, according to sociologists.

Read More

If this is the case – cohousing is more relevant than ever.  Providing social support, often physical aid and support into old age – cohousing is a great way for independent adults and elderly folks to maintain their autonomy, while not losing their community…