Hopework-l Mailing List: November Hopework Supper this Sunday

[Lynn Englund (lynn]

Dear Hopework Friends,

It is Thanksgiving week and already time for November¹s hopework supper.

A month ago, eleven of us gathered for October¹s Hopework supper to continue
our thread of conversation on intentional living, including cohousing and
other forms of intentional community.  We feasted on the bounty of fall¹s
harvest and shared stories that represented (or were the opposite of)
qualities of intentional living that have inspired us. Our responses were
wide ranging. My notes remind me of the wisdom of what was shared:

* Our need for private spaces is minimized when we feel safe and share
intimate emotional ties with others.
* The affinities of group members may work as the means to community and may
also become the ends we seek for community.
* Shared agreement and flexibility in the rules for living together makes
life go smoothly. 
* Diversities of ethnicity, age, income, etc. enrich communities.
* As we age, we can become more introverted and isolated; we benefit by
being drawn out into community and being stimulated by others.
* Places of vibrant community are good places to visit; they enliven and
nourish us. 
* We can live lightly, with ease and increased efficiencies and reduced
consumption by living together with intention.
* Intentional communities can be instruments for social change.
* When working well in a community there may be no sense of pressure but
great productivity can result.
* Opening ourselves to be available to each other is a choice that we have.
* When we create an integrated wholeness in our way of living, as an
individual or a community, a kind of magnetic field is created that extends
beyond us and affects others.
* We sometimes fall into unintentional patterns of living that work against
us. 
* We must be mindful to honor the relationships that nourish us and never
take them for granted.

This coming Sunday, after you have slept off the turkey and are ready to be
social again, come to my apartment for a showing of Geopf Kozeny¹s
90-minute video, ³Visions of Utopia: Experiments in Sustainable Culture.²
It¹s a wonderful look at seven very different intentional communities. We
will have a potluck supper at 4 pm and watch the video after dining.

I am now working with Phil Stevenson, a Realtor, to explore possible sites
for intentional community and an anchor for the future of Hopework. I am
actively looking for a beautiful space that would allow for 4-12 residential
units and have space available for a common kitchen, dining, and living
areas. We¹re looking at urban properties within a radius from the U of M,
but I also have moments when I dream of living rural... Let me know if you
are aware of any place that seems to fit the (not very clear) vision, or if
you¹re interested in investing in it in some way.

Here¹s what¹s planned for Hopework¹s pot-luck supper on Sunday, November 25.
  * Eat at 4:00 pm, but come as early as 3:00 to cook and visit
  * I¹ll provide a vegetarian soup or main dish and water, tea, and coffee
  * 90-minute video on intentional living after dinner
  * Depending on our numbers, we'll finish up about 6:30
  * I appreciate the help of those who can stay to clean up at the end.

Please respond if you will join me. Bring food or your favorite
beverage to share. If you need a ride or want to carpool, please put a
request on the list.

I can squeeze 12 around my table and there's room for up to 20 if we spill
over into other areas.

A map to my apartment is online at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=90+Malcolm+Ave+SE,+Minneapolis,+MN+55414,+USA&;
ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

The 4-unit building is brick with cream colored columns. Please call if you
need better directions.

Lynn

90 Malcolm Ave SE, Apt. 3 (top of the stairs on the right)
Minneapolis, MN  55414

612-331-2263 (apt)
612-710-7287 (cell)