HLC Talk (Our Blog)

Community transitions...

2011-01-29T22:00:13Z

Highline Crossing has seen a lot of change over the past year. We seem to be a community in transition. We lost two of our beloved community members last summer and fall and we still mourn our loss even as we hold fond memories of them and their long-lasting impact on this community. Additional changes are being brought about by changes in life circumstances, and in the coming months we will see more transitions.

It occurs to me that our community is much like the seasons: sometimes things are vibrant and colorful; sometimes they go dormant; sometimes they even die; sometimes they regenerate and grow and bloom again. I can't wait for spring...

Learning from other cohousing communities

2010-03-31T04:51:57Z

In June, cohousers from across the nation (indeed, some from across the globe) will descend on Colorado for the 2010 National Cohousing Conference in Boulder. I am fortunate enough to have an opportunity to attend the conference and am looking so forward to it. I'm a long-time resident at Highline Crossing, but a first-time coho conference-goer. It’s easy for me to think of our little community as a land unto itself, but the upcoming conference has brought home the reality that we are part of a larger movement. I believe we have much to learn from one another.

Here’s what I hope to come away with: How to work together and play together more often and more effectively, how to gracefully and respectfully navigate our occasional conflicting perspectives, and I am particularly interested in finding out how we can build a more sustainable community in terms of both human and environmental sustainability.

Thoughts on cohousing from Highline Crossing's resident curmudgeon

2009-06-28T21:27:27Z

They say it takes all kinds, and of course that also applies to cohousing. I have lived in this cohousing community thirteen years, and while some years have been good, others have been even better. At first, the friendly sense of neighborhood and feelings of community were a real challenge for a curmudgeon, but thankfully there is still enough to be cranky about.

This is a diverse community of 40 households and we live separately and apart, we mingle and cocoon, we go over to enjoy brunch or happy hour and we stay home to enjoy solitude. We are a community that includes vegetarians, Unitarians, and even some septuagenarians, a microcosm of the greater community of all Americans.

We're trying hard to be more civil, better neighbors, more accomplished listeners, and some of us believe a little wine at community meetings would lubricate the gears of consensus.

What's it like to live in cohousing?

2009-02-22T20:03:52Z

Sometimes friends and acquaintances ask me what it’s like to live in a cohousing community. My answer is usually prefaced with “Cohousing is not for everyone…”

And it’s true. Cohousing isn’t for everyone. You have to care about your part of the world and you have to be able to see how your part of the world relates to the big picture. You have to be flexible. You have to welcome (or at least have a high threshold for) diverse opinions and outlooks, and you should be prepared to encounter opportunities for personal growth on a regular basis.

Luckily, the hard work of cohousing is interwoven with the joys of living in such a close-knit community. For me those joys are counted in a cup of Saturday morning coffee and a rousing word game with “Grandma” Carol; in a brisk walk with good friends along the canal trail; in an impromptu dinner with neighbors; in hearing children’s laughter on the pedway and looking out my kitchen window to see two four-year-olds (in full-on princess regalia) working out the important matters of the day.

Cohousing isn’t for everyone, but if you want a sense of community and a nearby network of friends, and if you are willing to work together with neighbors towards something bigger than yourself, it can be a wonderful place to call home.

Busy and Hectic

2008-03-07T21:31:00Z

Are you finding yourself constantly rushed, overwhelmed and short on time? Are you running from activity to activity, project to project, list item to list item? That was the motivation for Valorie Burton's new book, "How Did I Get So Busy?" She shares some of her strategies for bringing sanity and ease back into her life. It got me thinking about my own life and whether or not cohousing has made a difference in lowering the stress level. (Maybe a "no" in terms of making life easier, but a big "yes" in terms of making life's simple pleasures much richer.) If you have the time, please also read Rebecca Solnit's poetic and powerful essay on taking the time to slow down, "Finding Time". And then… Tell us what you think? Is your schedule about to take over your life? Have you had times or lived in places where the rat race stopped? Are there cohousers who feel that cohousing was a successful part of their effort to get back their lives and spend more time on what really matters to them?