Category Archives: Intentional Communities

A reader sent me the following piece he wrote in response to the mens group at his church reading The Benedict Option together. I thought it was quite good, and asked him for permission to republish it here. It has been edited slightly for privacy reasons.I hope you find ithelpful. This is exactly the kind of thinking and conversation I was hoping the book would spark in congregations.

We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pigheaded and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world its pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistakes. Were on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on. C.S. Lewis

I just finished reading The Benedict Option last week. The controversy surrounding this book is both puzzling and predictable. It is puzzling because Dreher is reiterating in laymans terms what Jesus, the apostles and Christian thinkers have said for centuries: that the church must remain the church and should beware of the wiles of the world, whatever the cost. The books controversy is predictable however because the course of action Dreher suggests to remain the church is so contrary to mainstream American culture, and even mainstream church culture, that any of us living in this mainstream are bound to feel the BenOp sting somewhere in its pages.

Its easy enough to say that the church must remain the church, and as long as say, [our church]continues to conduct worship services on Sunday mornings we may safely assume that we are remaining just fine. But when the suggested means to remain the church look quite different from how we actually do church, the implication can be unflattering, either for our church or for the suggested means. I felt the sting of Drehers words often, namely in my often thoughtless and increasing dependence on technology and the internet for so many of lifes necessities and, perhaps more troubling, the complicated dance I enact to sidestep revealing my Christian beliefs in the secular (and sometimes Christian) circles I inhabit. But despite the sting, I felt that I was reading a book I would have liked to have written myself. And, though not able to reach any final conclusions, I nonetheless found Drehers illustrations of Christian life painfully pertinent to our culture, and the consequent implications on how we do church in[our town] to be unflattering.

What strikes me most about many reactions to TheBenedict Option is the persistent supposition that its main thrust is the separation, retreat, and cloistering of the church. It seems that even those who I assume are careful readers of this book, like James K.A. Smith, nonetheless fall into the same misconception: that the book is about withdrawal from society. Similar accusations (though of much more gravity) were leveled at the early church by Roman authorities for their antisocial behaviorthat they wouldnt take part in civic celebrations and feasts in which pagan deities were honored. And if we as Christians seem maladjusted or separatist because wed rather not embrace certain practices of a transient, materialistic, sexually immoral and individualistic culture, then Id say theres something wrong with the culture and not the church.

However, I found the book refreshing because of its positive message: a call to the church to come together. In addition to a lot of railing and complaining about modern society (a practice I am quite fond of) Dreher gives many helpful and time tested examples of how to live differently. In every example given, whether in actual monasteries or in intentional communities, Dreher highlights the increasing need for Christians to resist the isolating individualism of our culture and to live our Christian lives more intimately with God and our brothers and sisters. I believe that if we who are squeamish about accusations of church isolationism were to even temporarily embrace some of the concepts in the Benedict Option we would find ourselves living much more socially and with time, much better equipped to share our faith with those both inside and outside the circle of our brethren. We must also ask ourselves if our fear of church isolationism is really driven by a concern for our non-believing neighbors and non-church communities, or by our own fear of intimacy with our Christian neighbors and church community. So to extend Lewis analogy above, Dreher is certainly calling for an about-turn in relation to our intrenchment in secular culture, which has led many to view the Benedict Option as negative and backward, but the books thesis is both positive and progressive regarding the church; that we must fulfill Gods purpose by strengthening our ties to one another and to God.

Im not sure if Drehers talk of small-o orthodoxy and traditional Christianity betrays a weak ecclesiology, or if so, that a stronger ecclesiological explanation of these terms would have changed his book very much. He acknowledges the inexactitude of these terms and defines them a little betterhere. But I found Drehers ecclesiastical ideas springing fresh from a view of the universe with the church at the center. He reminds us in The Benedict Options last chapter of Ezekiels vision of a stream of water flowing out from the Temple altar, spreading into a river, and that this vision was fulfilled on Pentecost, when God poured out the Holy Spirit on the gathered disciples, inaugurating a new era with the birth of the church. Through the churchthe restored Templewould flow the living waters of salvific grace. This church-centric view is one of the most radical claims of scripture and one of the most subversive to non-Christian cultures. Petersons translation of Ephesians 1:22-23 puts it nicely: [Jesus] is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world: the world is peripheral to the church.

This sharp divide between the church and the world is often portrayed as the separation of church and state which today usually means that the church can have its private opinions (just like the KKK or AntiFa can have their opinions) but ultimately the State decides on public policy and matters of real import. But this (mis)understanding of the separation of church and state does not represent the Biblical distinction between the church and the world. The Biblical view of the worldnot the creation or the material world, but what Paul calls the rulers, authorities, and powers of darknessis antithetical to the church, or as [our pastor] preached from James epistle this morning, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. And the church, namely us, is at the center of Gods plan for the renewal of the world and ultimately the universe. The Benedict Option seems to grasp this almost obscenely grandiose calling for the church and says, so lets start living like it! But, thats not entirely right, what it actually says is, Christians have lived like it for centuries, so lets learn from them! Meanwhile, we at [our church]are asking, Arent we living like it?

In his acknowledgements, Dreher praises the work of Ken Myers, who through interviews with Christian thinkers (including James K.A. Smith and Dreher himself) has sought to illuminate the problems of modern secular culture for decades. It was interesting to me to hear Benedicts name come up a few times in Myers most recent Mars Hill Audio Journal, quite apart from Drehers work. One interviewee, Philip Turner, an Episcopal priest and former dean of Yales divinity school was asked if there was anyone from the patristic era whose vision of the church might speak to our post-modern predicament. He answered: My great example of someone who anticipated in a remarkable way many of the things we now need to learn is Saint Benedict. He knew that to be formed in Christ you had to live in a community over time in which you subject yourself to various practices I think that he understood what I understand to be the major function of the Church; to become a community in which Christ is taking form. Both Turner and Dreher look to Saint Benedict for guidance in our current church predicament, and they commend not primarily Benedicts retreat from the surrounding culture, but his robust vision of Christian fellowship and community.

In this interview, Turner had some cogent insights into the decline of the modern American church. Turner was a missionary in Africa between the years of 1961 and 1971. To say that our culture underwent dramatic changes in this decade is an understatement (e.g. Vietnam, sexual revolution, civil rights activism, etc.) When Turner left America, the church still functioned as a chaplain to a culture that regarded itself as Christian. He said that one could travel from church to school to the town square without ever leaving a largely uniform culture. This was a culture where prayers were said in public schools and Biblical principles could be invoked in public discourse without controversy. Turner struggled in Africa to form a church community in a culture that was largely hostile to Christianity. Meanwhile he watched the American church from afar and saw that it too was clashing with an increasingly hostile culture, and consequently becoming more culturally marginalized. The American churchs reaction to this marginalization however troubled Turner. He observes:

I came to believe that the churches in the United States were addressing their changed circumstances in exactly the wrong way. They were expending enormous energies to maintain their social position, and in so doing they failed to realize the extent to which their previous attachment to social positions and cultural relevance had actually compromised their integrity. I came to believe that the most immediate calling of the churches is to form a culture in which Christ is taking form rather than to transform a culture.

I hope that it is clear from this passage that Turner is not lamenting the good old days when Americans could pray in school. But rather, in those tumultuous years he began to understand that the American church had largely failed in developing a strong enough individual culture to withstand increasing public hostility. I imagine Turner thinking to himself at that time, If thats how the American church reacts to hostility in America, theyd never stand a chance here in Africa. Again, given what the Bible says about the church, its marginalization within any secular culture is hardly an obstacle to Gods purposes. Consequently, when churches begin to obsess about public opinion it reveals weakness of character and misunderstanding of its identity.

How this applies historically to our church is probably better suited to some of our church historians and elder(ly) members. Our church being founded in [the 1940s]was certainly begun in a time of relative Christian American cultural uniformity. And it weathered the cultural changes of the 60s and 70s without too much consequence. We have seen many changes in our denomination and watched both liberal and conservative Christians duke it out for continued cultural market share in their parishes, the [national meetings of our denomination]and in our country. Meanwhile our church in [this town]has for the most part quietly gone about its business, striving to live peacefully and to proclaim the Gospel. We have sought to stay true to Scripture and not to fall into the traps of legalism or heathenism. We can deduce that as a congregation, we never formed inordinate attachment to social positions or cultural relevance (we never had much anyway) and thus feel no need to retain these things as public life becomes more secularized. To return to Lewis analogy, is seems that our church is on the right track and need only press on toward the goal. But it warrants asking (as we often do), what is our goal? And furthermore, what about this business of forming a culture in which Christ is taking form?

While its safe to say that we have a church culture at [our church]; i.e. we are not demonstrative in worship, informal but not loose in temperament, generous with food and money, preferring dry humor over boisterous humor, loving, humble, friendly but not smothering, slow to change, quick to eat, etc., one would still not claim that our church is the source of our daily lived culture. Id dare to say that our church plays a more supplemental role in most of our lives. And, Id say that most of us live more or less good, chaste, wholesome lives. Nonetheless, church is a part of our lives and not the center. This doesnt even mean that we dont regard church and God as the center of our lives. It just means that [our church]is not the most practical, formative, ubiquitous and influential source of our day to day experience. Should it be? If so, how?

It seems to me that we at [this church]inherited a liturgical rhythma way of doing churchthat is distinctly American and characteristic of the age in which our church was founded; those happy golden years when America was largely considered a Christian nation. This liturgical rhythm is not very demanding as most of us meet only once a week, and it functions very similarly to other social clubs which need not be Christian, who also have their roots in the era described above. This is perhaps justified if the surrounding culture is generally Christian and harmonizes with that worldview and sense of destiny. But Drehers book (and common sense) makes the case that this is not the world we live in, not even in [our town]. Its clear to me that our church culture is dictated more by popular American culture than by anything else, mainly because of the churchs marginal, supplemental character. This doesnt mean that we are all superficial, materialistic, self-centered people. It just means that we view ourselves as the ones who choose how and to what degree we outsource all the elements of our livesour health, vocation, education, entertainment, prophetic knowledge (news media), family life, and religion. Our church culture, both explicitly and implicitly, caters to and upholds this worldview.

As Ive been thinking about the differences between the Benedict Option communities and my own lifestyle, Ive been asking myself, maybe weve just never known what real Christian community is? But, I realized that many of us have had little tastes of living in Christian community, particularly if weve been to Christ-centered camps or been on similar retreats or mission trips. Many of us know what a transformative experience it is to wake early in the morning and have strictly imposed devotion times, followed by working or playing side by side with others, living if only temporarily under the care and authority of strong leaders, observing specific rules, sharing meals with brothers and sisters, learning about the Bible, developing relationships and capping off the day with worship and fellowship. Then you wake the next day and do it again! Even in that short time you sense that you are becoming a different person, and its likely you actually are. This is a great example of living sacramentally in an almost liturgical daily rhythm. Is this possible in our normal, daily lives?

However, on the final night of camp comes the inevitable mountaintop experience sermon that goes something like, this week has been an incredible week for us and thats great, but you cant expect life to be a continual mountaintop experience. What matters is how you live in the valleys, when you return home to your families and schools, take what youve learned here and make a difference in the lives of your siblings, your parents, your classmates. This message is also implied or flatly stated in our church too. In other words, all the external supports of this mountaintop experience will be dismantled on returning home, but take the internal reality of it into your secularly ordered life and make a difference. Now, sometimes this is exactly what we are called to do as Christians. We have to faithfully maintain the inner reality of our relationship with God when everything in our circumstances try to pull us away. But is that what Christian community is about?

Again, is it possible to live in a daily rhythm of fellowship, study, discipline, work, submission and worship, not just individually, but with other Christians who are doing the same thing and (heres the clincher,) can we do this in a way that is more potent and comprehensive than our participation in the surrounding culture, so that we can say with utmost confidence that we are no friends of the world?

Back to the Lewis quoteI do believe that we at [our church]are at an impasse. I dont know if its because we have taken a wrong turning, or because God has lead us here for some other purpose. And, I acknowledge our increasing wealth and membership and [our pastors]leadership as a blessing from God. But I dont foresee our church maintaining its saltiness as long as we attempt to function for all practical purposes as one cog in the wheel of our outsourced American lives.

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A Letter To The Congregation - The American Conservative

Download our latest brochure:RegenerativeCohousing (2Apr2015)

From Jonathan Cloud and Victoria Zelin:

While were working hard on what we expect to be an avalanche of PACE projects once the new law is passed, weve been giving serious consideration to where and how we might want to live during this next few years of our lives. Like many others in our age group, were officially empty-nesters,and are looking to live more lightly on the land. Wed also like to be part of a genuine community, where wehave deeper relationships with our neighbors, and can work together to bring about more rapid social change.

This has led us to a growing interest in intentional communities, ecovillages, and cohousing. The most practical and least controversial of these is cohousing, where a small neighborhood of 10-35 families share a large common facility, andlive in smaller-footprint individualhomes around this common space

Cohousing itself is not new; pioneered in Denmark in the 1970s, it was introduced into the U.S. by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett more than 35 years ago. There are more than 700 cohousing neighborhoods in Denmark today, many in other European countries as well as Australia and New Zealand, and close to 150 in the United States, with another hundred or so in various stages of development.

New Jersey is something of an anomaly in having no completed cohousing developments. In our view there is considerable interest and potential for development. And it is a uniquely appropriate vehicle for the kinds of regenerative community solutions we are seeking to introduce to NJ communities in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

Creating diverse, walkable, and socially cohesive neighborhoods is worthwhile in itself, but it takes on a larger purpose in the context of a regenerative vision for local communities.Cohousing neighborhoods can serve as vehicles for innovation in designing a sustainable future, and then sharing the most successful outcomes.

Whats different about our approach is that we see cohousing as part of a larger solution set, inside the context of the great transition that our society is undergoing in the face of multiple challenges to the viability of our ecosystem.

Regenerative designis a process-orientedsystems theorybased approach to design. The term regenerative describes processes that restore, renew or revitalize their own sources of energy and materials, creating sustainable systems that integrate the needs of society with the integrity of nature.

Whereas the highest aim of sustainable development is to satisfy fundamental human needs today without compromising the possibility of future generations to satisfy theirs, the end-goal of regenerative design is to redevelop systems with absolute effectiveness, that allows for the co-evolution of the human species along with other thriving species.(Wikipedia)

This vision can be shared with those interested in joining the cohousing neighborhoods, as part of the inspiration for these communities, and part of the economic foundation of the community. These neighborhoods can then become the seeds of change.

This is not to say that every individual living in the cohousing development needs to be actively engaged in the work of social, economic and environmental transformation; there are plenty of good and practical reasons for wanting to live in a cohousing community.

One special aspect of cohousing is its focus on the sharing economy, which is emerging as one of the major complements to the traditional economic model which has led to both much of the worlds economic progress and to the planets increasing ecological challenges. The Sharing Economy has both local and global implications, leading to the more efficient and socially-just utilization of resources in both developed and developing economies.

In cohousing, sharing tools, tasks, and decision-making is a natural part of daily life. Expanding the sharing economy, both informally and formally through alternative currencies and economic models is a central part of the transition we are seeking.

Clearly the desire to re-create community in our lives reflects a larger yearning and demand for transformational change. We believe this vision is coalescing into one that in many ways parallels the views expressed in The Natural Step: that we need to create a more just, humane, and civilized society in order to stop destroying the planet.

Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, societyits world view, its basic values, its social and political structures, its arts, its key institutionsrearranges itself. And the people born then cannot even imagine a world in which their grandparents lived and into which their own parents were born. We are currently living through such a transformation. Peter Drucker, author, Post-Capitalist Society

What is emerging is a global movement for change, expressed in a variety of ways, and still battling an older view that purports to stand for a status quo that never actually existed. The reality is that society is constantly changing, and we can choose to embrace and support this evolution consciously or be dragged along by it. Marching at the forefront of the movement allows us to see where we are going and some of what lies ahead a post-scarcity economy and a flourishing planet.

The CRCS team has the background and the relationships to support the creation of a cohousing movement in New Jersey, given our experience in ecological design, real estate development; residential and mixed-use construction; municipal planning, zoning, and permitting; community organizing, communication and group facilitation; clean energy; project finance; website and database development and sales and marketing.

If you are interested in beinga resident of a cohousing community in New Jersey, download our Cohousing brochure here:RegenerativeCohousingand contact us.

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Cohousing | Ecovillage New Jersey

Reader Dave Kuntz gives me permission to share this letter he sent me:

I just finished The Idea of a Christian Village in The Benedict Option. I commend you for steering your readers away from Utopianism, and including the tale of Ellen whose totalitarian parents drove her to atheism.

That being said, I think that your views are still too Utopian, and that Ellens experience is likely to be the norm for a child raised in a Benedict Community. Heres why: Making a conscious decision the leave mainstream society requires huge commitment. While many parents may make the choice for the right reasons of preserving their faith, I would gamble that a large portion of potential Benedictines would do because they crave a strong sense of control. This isnt the fault of the Benedict Option, but rather, the consequence of it self-selecting the exact types of people it wouldnt work for.

Let me elaborate from my upbringing. I am a 28 year-old male who was homeschooled. My parents are both college-educated, and I grew up near a large city. We joined several communities that were similar to how you describe the Benedict Option, including a large homeschool group, conservative church, and Christian debate club. Like your book describes, we had daily Bible readings, prayer, and theological discussions.

My parents did not start out extreme, but a large faction of our Benedictine peers were. As time went on and not all the promises of our community were fulfilled, my mother especially dove deeper into system, thinking we were not committed enough. Here is a list of things that were common in those circles. According to my fiance who was raised in Austin, Texas, these traits are ubiquitous in homeschooler Benedictine-like communities across the country as well:

Chaste Daughter Fetish: I was forced to interact with many families whose daughters were not allowed to talk to boys. This made playing Monopoly almost impossible. You wouldnt want to risk giving your heart away and becoming chewed gum over a property trade, would you?

Militant Fecundity Fetish: This is the flip side of the Chaste Daughter Fetish. Once you get married, you got to have as many kids as physically possible. Im not talking about just liking big families. Im talking about the homeschool patriarchs who described their family size the way my gym buddies described their you know what. I never saw much difference between the two forms of masculinity.

Scandals: The homeschool leadership never could quite keep their hands to themselves, despite all the chastity talks. Two of the three most influential homeschool leaders who are still alive (Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips) turned out to be predators, as youve written about. On the local level, literally all my parents churches broke up.

No Real Vocation for Next Generation: Before its leader went Militant Fecund on his Chaste Daughters babysitter, Vision Forum was one of the biggest homeschool textbook/activist organizations out there. One of its core positions was that higher education was bad, all while the Inner Party and doctorate-laden board of directors touted their own expertise. Vision Forum romanticized the working-class lifestyle while selling their prole followers $400 conferences and $200 pioneer toys. I am one of the few to have a real career, although the homeschoolers from the debate club did better than average.

No Marriages: Ironic, considering how much focus was put on it. But perhaps when you can lose your innocence by just talking to people of the opposite sex, you dont. I more or less tried six different courtships and always got rejected by the parents, despite (or perhaps because of) making more money and being more educated than the father in almost every case.

Conspiracy theories: It is not merely enough to believe that the onslaught of secularism is pushing Christianity out of the West. Rather, many of my conservative friends feel the great need to identify large, secretive organizations, satanists at home and abroad, and weirdly specific plots that were ripped off from 24 as the real reason Christianity is dying.

Weird eschatology: I literally had just walked into a conservative church, and when people learned by profession (artificial intelligence in the natural scientists) I was asked if I thought that the anti-Christ was a computer.

Ive come to believe that a lot of this group-think was inevitable, and would occur in any close-knit community. We are herd animals, and the people trying to make intentional Christian communities simply switched their peer-orientation from the culture toward themselves, where everything became an obsession toward godliness. I call them BJWs, with Biblical instead of Social. Many young people in these communities ended up more apostate than their worldly peers. How would a potential Benedict Community possibly hope to avoid these pitfalls?

Thanks, Dave, for your provocative letter. I have not encountered any of this personally. I invite readers who have to share their strategies for dealing with it.

I think Daves experience which I believe is real, let me be clear is what a lot of Christians tell themselves that homeschooling and other forms of Ben Opping are going to be, as a way of relieving themselves from the responsibilities of raising faithful, morally sane children in this culture. Matt Walsh writes about that here. Excerpts:

Granted, there are still some parents who are utterly determined to guard their childrens hearts and protect their innocence at all costs. But I fear that this is a rather small group, and getting smaller. Every day, more and more of us put up the white flag. There is no use in fighting it, we say. Especially if it means our kids cant watch much TV (meaning, horrifically, that we have to spend time with them). We bow our heads submissively and hand over our children. Well, I tried, we say. But we didnt really try. We didnt even try turning the TV off.

I hear from these surrendered parents all the time. They behave much like the apostate priests in the book Silence, trying to convince those whove retained their faith and their dignity to stop resisting and join them in their treason. These parents, looking at the children whose moral formation they have not concerned themselves with, rationalize their failures by declaring that it would be unrealistic and harmful to even attempt to raise their kids in a way that diverges from the mainstream. You cant keep your kids in a bubble, they explain.

Ah, yes, the mythical Bubble. I encounter this supposedly pejorative phrase every day. Indeed, Ive been told of the Bubble ever since my kids were born, and all I know about it for sure is that, according to most people, I must not let my children enter it. Christian parents are warned constantly that they cant raise their kids in the Bubble. The Bubble is bad. The Bubble is scary. Children of the Bubble are weird and different, and they dont get invited to sleepover parties.

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At any rate, whenever I am accused of keeping my kids in a Bubble, it is always because I have taken some step to preserve their innocence. That is the one thing we absolutely must not do, according to society. Let the TV and the school system decide when its time for your child to stop being a child. That time, by the way, is right around their second birthday and getting younger.

Well, no thanks. I will proudly house my children in this kind of Bubble for as long as I can. They may have fewer friends and a less expansive knowledge of the most popular cartoon shows and sex acts when they emerge from it, but at least they will have their souls. Thats a pretty good trade, as far as Im concerned.

Read the whole thing.

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Children Of The Bubble - The American Conservative

August 14, 2017 6:24 AM

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) People young and old, from all backgrounds and from all parts of Sacramento Valley, marched Sunday night against the rhetoric and violence from Unite the Right, the gathering of White nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia on Saturday that ended in violence with one person dead.

No Trump! No KKK! No fascists, USA! was one of the loudest chants heard as more than 1,000 people marched from Sacramento City Hall to the State Capitol, in an event dubbed as Stand in Solidarity.

My son is mixed. My husband is African American. And what I saw yesterday turned my stomach, said Heather Leonard, a local science teacher who carried a sign denouncing ignorance.

She was among those who attended, including state law makers and Sacramento city council members, taking a stand against the recent rise in white nationalism and the events from Charlottesville.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg spoke at the rally. Like many, he was critical of President Trump for not calling out white supremacists, especially when Candidate Trump was so critical of President Obama for not using the words radical Islamic terrorism.

Words matter. What a leader of a country does and does not say matter, said Steinberg. President Trumps intentional failure to call out white supremacy and white supremacists is deeply disturbing.

Data from The Southern Poverty Law Center points out that more Americans have been killed on U.S. soil by white supremacists than any other extremist group. Data from the Anti-Defamation League, or ADL, suggests that from 2007 to 2016, 74 percent of people killed by domestic extremists groups were killed white supremacists.

Such statistics can be hard for many immigrant communities.

Well, yeah, it makes it difficult to live in America. You are brought up a basis that we are all united. And when you see (what happened in Charlottesville), you just feel like your entire life living here is a lie, shared Marwa Amin, an Afghan-American student from Elk Grove who came out with her family.

For many African Americans, the images of Charlottesville take on different meaning, given their communitys history with racism.

Honestly, I was shocked and I was in disbelief. Some of the images I saw on social media really hurt my heart, said Erin Campbell, from Sacramento. She is student studying sociology. She says she came out as a way to fight back against racism and hate, but to also point what see calls a double standard in American society.

If it were African Americans doing this, the tables would be turned. They would be getting arrested. Everyone would be called out to put them away. But Caucasians and nothing happened, said Campbell.

The peaceful march concluded at the State Capitol close to 9 p.m. No arrests were made.

Originally posted here:

Critical Of Trump, Marchers Stand With Charlottesville In Sacramento - CBS Sacramento

Within the hills and dales of northeast Missouri are far fewer miles of paved roads than rivers and creeks. Signs at one-lane bridges warn of flooding, and roadside markers are positioned to measure high water, foot by foot.

These are not comforting details to notice when driving under a flash flood watch. The occasional farm or town seems miles apart from the next, but my final turn onto a lonely gravel road with lush vegetation arrived before the rain.

The solar panels, thigh-high grasses, shed with bicycles and one-of-a-kind buildings some a patchwork of materials were not a surprise. Then came The Milkweed Mercantile, which when I visited sold Walla Walla Onion Relish by the jar, Farmhouse Ale by the tap and four cozy, homey rooms without frills by the night. On Thursdays, a crowd gathers for thin-crust pizzas, topped with organic mozzarella and feta cheeses, both made within this unusual village.

The two-story Milkweed building with screened porch looks conventional, but under the lime plaster is straw bale insulation. Add energy from solar and wind power, a rainwater cistern, composting toilet and note to not use hair dryers.

We dont have nearly enough doilies for the B&B crowd, jokes Alline Anderson.

She and Kurt Kessner built and opened this business in 2010, one year after moving from Berkeley, Calif. They are a part of the 260-acre Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage, whose 40 residents are toddlers to retirees who opt to live simply, peacefully, compactly and off the grid. In the mix are global travelers and Ph.D.s, farmers and teachers, midwives and mediators.

The community was established 20 years ago and has since gained international attention. The Milkweed is owned and operated by eight of the Rabbits, as the intentional community refers to itself.

Dancing Rabbit is the largest of three such communities in Scotland County, population 4,800, just south of the border with Iowa and 40 miles west of the Mississippi River. Just six of Missouris 114 counties have a smaller population and only the county seat, Memphis, contains more than 1,000 residents in these nearly 440 square miles.

The Milkweeds guest rooms are named after environmentalists Aldo Leopold, Wallace Stegner, Rachel Carson and David Brower. There is Wi-Fi but no television, ceiling fans but no A/C. Add a shared bath and communal dining.

Its not for everybody, Anderson says. We make people eat with us and actually talk to us. People usually come because they want to change their eco footprint or make a change in their life but are not real sure what it is.

The inns caf does not accommodate drop-in visitors but feeds overnight guests at a long table and single seating. Whats for dinner depends upon the pantry, garden harvest and foraging. Cornbread might arrive in a cast-iron skillet. Zucchini and just-shucked peas might be mixed with beet greens and fresh mint during late spring. Decadent treats include gooey cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Repeat visitors include folk/pop singer Kristen Graves, a Green Bay native known nationally for her music, activism and humanitarian work. Visiting Dancing Rabbit will expand your imagination and open your eyes to different ways to live in the same world, she says. There are examples of ingenuity everywhere you look.

The place serves as an environmental inspiration, not as a way to shame people who are new to learning about conservation, but as a way to meet people where theyre at with discovery in order to help them learn new and different ways that they can live a more sustainable life.

Nik Garvoille of Spring Green, an artist and graphic designer, arrived as a visitor and stayed for years, which is not unprecedented. Travelers come for a tour, an overnight, multi-day workshops (yoga or writing to food preservation or permaculture design) and multi-week immersions in the lifestyle (through an internship or work exchange).

We dont pretend to have all the answers, but we live lighter ecologically, Anderson says. Brooke Jones of Dallas, an anthropologist, made a Dancing Rabbit energy audit her thesis topic in 2013 and stayed until this year, long after completing her project.

I expected culture shock but didnt feel it until I went home for a visit, says Jones, who concluded Dancing Rabbits resource consumption is 10 percent of the national average. The community exists because West Coast eco activists wanted to live what they preached but couldnt afford to do it with California prices and building codes. So they formed a nonprofit community land trust in 1993, but a lack of income sharing means this is not a commune.

We really had to create our own culture and entertainment, Alline says, of the early years. Today that means Tuesday potlucks with a neighboring farm, Wednesday song circles and occasional no-talent shows. Touring musicians, in addition to Graves, pass through. So do organized bike rides, like the Big BAM (Bicycle Across Missouri).

Danielle Williams, executive director of the Center for Sustainable and Cooperative Culture (a nonprofit within the village), arranges programing there and online. One overriding message: Living a sustainable life doesnt mean a life of deprivation.

Reality TV producers have called, but the Dancing Rabbit is wary. Its a very difficult balance between living our lives and feeling like a Disney exhibit, Anderson says. She and Kessner this year expanded Milkweed Mercantile ownership to include six other Rabbits because wed like to have that simple country life that we keep hearing about, especially as they near retirement age.

Your column feedback and ideas are welcome. Write to Midwest Features, PO Box 259623, Madison, WI 53725 or mary@roadstraveled.com.

Excerpt from:

Roads Traveled: Off the grid: Living a sustainable life in Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage - Kenosha News

This past Friday night, as thousands milled around downtown in their Old Spanish Days getups, smashing cascarones on each others heads and getting smashed on margaritas, a very different scene took place at El Centro, a volunteer-run community center nestled within the lower Westside, which describes itself as a radically inclusive space for the community, by thecommunity.

The event, which kicked off at 4 p.m. and lasted till 10, was many things at once: an art session, a barbecue, a birthday celebration, a send-off, and a powerful and packed open mic. It also coincided with the approximate one-year anniversary of El Centro, the end of Escuelita youth-oriented summer program, and the inauguration of an enormous mural. For five weeks the students of Escuelita had added fresh paint to the wall, manifesting the themes they had learned that week in workshops, ranging from Gentrification to Intersectionality to Chumash Ecological and SocialPractices.

El Centro is big on radical organizing and de-Colonial teachings, but instead of an anti-Fiesta demonstration, it was holding its own remembrance of history. Kids were painting large green and violet leaves onto a dark purple wall (soon recruiting passing reporters with paintbrushes), while other youngsters raced around a group of teenagers who sat laughing in a circle on the lawn. Outside, men grilled ribs and chorizo next to a spectacular array of torta fixings, salads, fruit, and cookies. One womans exploratory toddler was passed between at least five different sets of arms throughout the night, bathed in coos andkisses.

Delineations between friend, family, neighbor, and collaborator were indiscernible. Nearly everyone held some role: board member, youth mentor, organizer, resident poet. Boardmember Simone Baker explained that this is very intentional: Each community member has something to give to the space. Citing a principle central to the Black Lives Matter movement, for which she is also a local cofacilitator, Baker explained, We are dedicated to having a low-ego and a high-impact. Its intentionally not about just one person or one identity but rather community andyouth.

Vivid murals border El Centro: a beautifully detailed dark-skinned woman with brown wavy locks and bright red lips lined with yellow roses and a blue hummingbird, next to her a yellow sunset behind green and blue trees, and an adjacent purple wall detailed with white, green, and lavenderleaves.

Fem God, responded youth art and mural instructor and El Centro boardmember Gabriel Cardenas when asked who the woman was on the wall. He circles back to earlier Mexican muralism where women arent portrayed in a dominant role following traditional patriarchal standards. We try to use the space to get in touch with our cultural roots, Cardenas said. Growing up with his mom and sister, Cardenas was motivated to give thanks to the women in his life by creating this mural also representing her as Mother Earth and showcasing what she gives to the world. Along with local rapper and activist ALAS, Cardenas was one of the Noche de Poetrys featuredpoets.

About a year ago, Boardmember Chelsea Langhorne, a program advisor at Santa Barbara City College, and other local organizers began the process of reclaiming the vacant building, which had previously been managed by the county, to create a community center that would respond to the needs of the lower Westside, a mostly Latino neighborhood that Baker described as underserved and overworked. Initially, SBCC students utilized the space for youth to access often-overlooked artistic resources. Organizers then formed writing circles for formerly incarcerated folks, which expanded to encompass people of allidentities.

Noche de Poetry y Open Mic Night grew about half a year later an event that welcomes individuals of all backgrounds and languages. Poetry is an important aspect of El Centro since it is seen as a connecting force within the Santa Barbara community. Jonathan Gomez, research assistant at the UCSB Center for Black Studies Research and boardmember of El Centro, describes the night as a space where people can speak out loud about the things that people demand and need. El Centro is now the regular home for danza azteca classes, a pop-up bookstore and caf, and local justice group meetings. Community is not found, its forged, its created, Gomezsaid.

Most recently El Centro hosted Escuelita, an educational and cultural program designed to fill the gap in locally relevant ethnic studies programs in Santa Barbara schools. Organizers went door to door in the surrounding neighborhoods to get the word out to parents and kids. They modeled the five week summer program after a volunteer-run, independent Saturday School in Los Angeles called Escuelita Aztln and the Freedom Schools of the civil rightsmovement.

Youth mentors and partner organizations (Future Leaders of America, Ethnic Studies Now, Black Lives Matter, CAUSE [Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy], Just Communities, and the Museum of Contemporary Art) led educational workshops on Tuesdays and Thursdays, cultural food and danza classes on Wednesdays, and arts sessions on Fridays all free of charge and accompanied by ameal.

While more than a few open mic performers called attention to the brutal colonial history that Fiesta celebrations happily brush over or even reinforce it also became clear that the event was not about being in opposition to anything, but rather a celebration of the community that El Centro hasbecome.

We at El Centro are more than what we are against. We are for each other, which means we also spend time investing in our own communities, Baker affirmed. This is resistance aswell.

Read the original:

Across Town from Fiesta, El Centro Celebrates Community - Santa Barbara Independent

I think we have been doing a lot of excessive urban sprawl. Since 2003 weve been building and building. Has anyone read up on permaculture urban growth or intentional communities? See http://www.ic.org. (These folks arent a bunch of hippies get past the prejudices and read on.)

Home arent built well, with not enough insulation in the walls or attic. There is no whole-house fan (that arent noisy) put in besides air conditioning and where are the solar homes?

Have you ever been to towns in other areas of the United States or the world? Not everything is new. Its refurbished, recycled. There are more trees and natural grasses. Folks started pushing big in 2000 for this kind inconsideration. Why are we going in this direction? Homes being built on top of that former dump out there (Highway 32)? Come on.

The only thing thats changed is the council and those working for the city. How big do you want this town to be? Because the Bigger we get, the more costly it will be to maintain and we cant do that now.

The life has been sucked out of downtown. They cut down the trees and those replanted arent being maintained properly. Have some consideration, some ethics and morals. If we were truly supporting local folks, wed send them to SCORE or 3Core for their business education and plans for the next 3-5 years. That way theyd be successful and unique. Thats what made Chico special..

Elizabeth Daniels-Currey, Chico

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Letter: Chico forgets what made it a unique city - Chico Enterprise-Record

Back in January, I wrote about the abysmal county health rankings in Deep East Texas and the fact that Angelina County has been named the county with the highest obesity rate in Texas. Almost four out of 10 of us arent merely overweight, we are downright obese. Lets just admit it; were fat. And that fatness is a major factor in the development of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and many cancers, among other illnesses.

Obesity is a double-edged sword that is both killing us early and costing us a lot in terms of ongoing health care expenditures and lost productivity. Smoking is, of course, another huge factor in our high cost of health care and poorer health outcomes. We must do better.

The rhetoric on the national stage is all about the skyrocketing cost of health insurance and how to tweak (or get rid of) Obamacare, as if that would solve our health care problems. The government cant do it for us, folks. Regardless of what happens with health care reform, we need to collectively get off our fat behinds and take more responsibility for our own health. We need to do this individually, yes, but we also need to work on this as a community.

I mentioned in January the groundwork being laid by the Texas Forest Country Partnership. They hosted a series of strategic planning sessions to set goals for growth across a broad spectrum of our regional economy, from forestry and tourism to manufacturing and health care. Part of their health care recommendation was to raise our county health rankings in the region.

Since then, Episcopal Health Foundation, whose goal is to improve the health of the 10 million people living throughout the 57-county region served by the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, hosted a community meeting in Nacogdoches specifically to deepen their relationship with organizations working to improve community health in this area. Other foundations have expressed a similar interest.

But lets be very clear: No foundation or partnership is going to do the work for us. We all have to be involved. The amazing thing about Angelina County is the number of resources we already have, along with the incredible people behind them. These resources need to intentionally focus on both individual and community health and work in a coordinated effort to put the pieces of our health puzzle together.

Hospitals must strengthen community outreach, especially with diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer education. Physicians must expand care for the indigent in our communities. It is our duty. The Angelina County & Cities Health District deserves our full support for the incredible care they already provide, but they can, and must, do more. That requires funding, whether from grant support, state government or within Angelina County. Their primary care outreach is crucial to the health of our county.

Organizations like the American Cancer Society, The Coalition, ADAC and Burke must expand outreach and education about healthy lifestyles and disease prevention, cancer screening, smoking cessation and immunizations. Womens Special Services at CHI St. Lukes Health Memorial will continue to apply for grants for low-income women to get breast and cervical cancer screening.

Lufkin went smoke-free years ago and is better off for it. What about other cities? Diboll? Angelina County? Texas? Our state legislators need to use that proposed bathroom bill as toilet paper and instead pass smoke-free legislation, which we know will both improve the health of our communities and save taxpayer dollars.

Chamber businesses need to provide or strengthen wellness programs for their employees, encouraging healthier lifestyles, diet, exercise and smoking cessation. Maybe if people had to climb two flights of stairs to buy their cigarettes rather than drive through a barn or stop at a convenience store, fewer people would smoke. And theyd lose weight while they were at it. Is it just as easy for us to shop for healthy foods as it is tobacco and junk food? How do we encourage and facilitate healthy eating?

Our educational institutions from elementary school through college should have comprehensive, intentional programs to promote health and exercise. It is discouraging when I see employees at both our local hospitals riding the elevator to go up one floor when taking the stairs is much more beneficial.

Active events like the Neches River Rendezvous, Pineywoods Purgatory and Relay for Life are fantastic. What other events can we organize that will involve an even larger and broader swath of people year-round? Find a reason to get outside. Participate in a fun run, even if you simply walk a mile or two. A stroll around the zoo can be good exercise and lots of fun. Or, spend an hour or two hiking the trails at Kit McConnico Park. Itll do your heart and soul good.

City sidewalks have been a great addition in recent years. Use them. Our Parks and Recreation Department has a website with programs and classes as well. Do we have a master plan for parks and recreation activities? If not, maybe we should.

I have a dream of a coordinated community effort where healthy living concepts infuse everything we do. Will Angelina County catch the vision to join in this effort? Lifestyle changes are hard. Nothing happens overnight. Changes in community health are measured over years decades, even. We cannot get discouraged. Slow, meaningful progress over time will make a difference.

One early step coming up is the Texas Forest Country Partnership Economic Summit Nov. 7-8 at the Pitser Garrison Convention Center. Included in that summit will be a Rural Health Care Symposium. Though it will address more than just Angelina County health care, it will be an important venue to discuss and brainstorm together. The Texas Forest Country Partnership should continue to take the lead in bringing groups together, applying for and administering grants, and monitoring progress and effectiveness.

As we plan for a healthy new direction in Angelina County, I encourage everyone to get involved. Be prepared to work. Come up with concrete ideas that you (or your business or organization) are willing to implement. Where philanthropic support is necessary, we will approach local, regional and national foundations for assistance.

We must become the change we want to see and move the needle on health in Angelina County out of the red zone and into the green. Whos with me?

Dr. Sid Roberts is a radiation oncologist at the Arthur Temple, Sr. Regional Cancer Center in Lufkin. He can be reached at sroberts@memorialhealth.org. Previous columns may be found at srob61.blogspot.com.

More:

ROBERTS: Moving the needle to improve our health - Lufkin Daily News

Companies want customers to love them. Bosses want people to love their jobs. Yet many leaders will tell you, emotion has no place in business.

This is cognitive dissonance at best, dangerous at worst.

Lets start with the cognitive dissonance. To think you can strip emotion out of the workplace, and create a successful business is lunacy. Human endeavors are by their very nature emotional. Success depends on goodwill, cooperation, empathy, and other nuanced emotions, including love.

When Mark Zuckerburg talks about Facebook, hes emotional. Hes passionate; he cares about how Facebook is impacting the world at large. In a recent commencement address he said, The challenge for our generation is creating a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.

Without emotions, business becomes nothing more than a mere transaction. An exchange of money for goods or services with no loyalty or attachments, which is hardly a recipe for creating an engaging workforce or a lasting brand.

Instead of avoiding discussions about feelings, leaders like Zuckerburg leans into the emotional yearning we all have to be part of something bigger than ourselves. Zuckerburg has chosen the missionary path. His organization is going to make a difference and he knows that emotions play a big role.

Another organization leading with emotion is Procter & Gamble. Their recent ad campaign, Lets Talk About the Talk, featured snippets from different generations of African Americans talking to their kids about how to handle prejudice.

Some say its a not a consumer products companys place to wade into social issues. But if you read P&G purpose statement on their web site you see phrases like, improves the lives of the worlds consumers, now and for generations to come. P&G focuses on helping the communities in which we live and work to prosper.

As one of the worlds largest companies with 23 Billion-dollar brands, P&G touches the lives of consumers every day, serving over 5 billion people around the world. P&G has made a choice, theyre going to do more than just sell product. Theyre going to address the emotional issues of our time. Their ad campaign is the result of a long held focus on higher purpose, which includes embracing and promoting diversity.

Being driven by a noble purpose to improve lives (the missionary approach) causes leaders in organizations like P&G to make different decisions about what they pursue and what they dont pursue. Theyre intentional about addressing the emotional impact they can have on their clients, and ultimately the world.

It may seem safer to shy away from emotion. But the results indicate otherwise. Leaders unable to connect to the emotional needs of employees or customers create transactional organizations, solely dependent on the economic self-interest of the players involves.

Which leads us to the mercenary approach. Examples abound of organizations and leaders who lost touch with their people and clients, and saw their businesses fail. Without an emotional rudder, and without leaders who are intentional about what people often call the soft side, its easier for greed to prevail. One need look no further than the Volkswagen debacle and Wells Fargo scandal to see what happens when leaders fail to create a positive emotional narrative for the organization.

Emotions are messy and people complicated; ignoring this reality never works. If youre in business, its going to get emotional. Address it up front, and you create an organization will missionary zeal. Leave it to chance and you may get attacked by your own mercenaries.

Lisa McLeod is the global expert in Noble Purpose. She is the author of the bestsellers Selling with Noble Purpose and Leading with Noble Purpose.

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McLEOD: Is your business a mercenary or a missionary? - Gwinnettdailypost.com

She held the greeting card beside her like Vanna White showcasing a piece of jewelry on the gameshow "Wheel of Fortune."

"Remind you of anyone?" my West Coast gal pal wryly asked.

The card showed a scene from the 1930s of two stylish ladies raising their glasses in a toast, with one gal grinning profusely at the other, who looks a bit like she just swallowed a moth. The caption read, "Ever notice how the worst decisions make the best stories?"

I grinned profusely.

The events of the day actually began weeks before, when my West Coast gal pal began inundating me and her husband with information about "intentional communities" -- those planned residential communities designed with a high degree of social cohesion and teamwork, according to the all-knowing Wikipedia.

"You mean communes," I said.

"They aren't communes," she disputed.

"They look ... like communes. I bet the little druggies sit in a circle, hold hands, sing Kumbaya and run around naked."

"No, they don't!" she protested. "They simply want to share things."

"I'm sure they do."

"If you're uncomfortable going, then I'll be uncomfortable, so why don't you just drop me off?"

"There's no way I'm just dropping you off at the Donner party."

"They aren't the Donner party! We've emailed several times, and they seem nice!"

Our banter continued until we pulled up to an old farmhouse surrounded by overgrown vegetation and a faded red barn. A friendly farmer greeted us. He showed us around the farmhouse, and then invited us to attend their business meeting, which was about to begin.

As we made our way down the dirt lane to the lighted pavilion, I noticed a weathered sign with an arrow pointing toward a pond. In yellow paint, it read "Clothing Optional."

Folks of varying ages made their way from all corners of the 300 acres to a wide circle of chairs. The facilitator passed a small empty bowl around the circle -- whoever had the bowl, had the floor.

"Like the conch," I said, alluding to the Lord of the Flies, and cringing a bit as I recalled how that book turned out.

The group was clad (thankfully) in cotton T-shirts, tanks and shorts, with hiking sandals and boots, and tousled hair and deep tans.

"We start by holding hands and praying for a peaceful meeting," the facilitator announced.

They shared about their week and discussed points of business regarding the property. One man told of his bike trip through Iowa on acid tabs.

"We don't all do acid," whispered a pleasant fellow.

"Duly noted," I replied.

After a tour of the off-grid cottages and blueberry and wildflower farms -- which were actually quite interesting -- my friend and I got back in the car and drove off into the noncommunal sunset.

"I am never going to live this down," sighed Pollyanna.

And thus is the story of how one gaudy, glittery greeting card is now prominently displayed in my little home. Someone's laughing, my Lord. Kum bay ya.

NAN Our Town on 08/10/2017

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Kum Ba Yah - NWAOnline