..........

This issue has a few interesting items in it. There are a couple of places, communities forming and they have websites. I think it would behoove some or all of us to look at what they are doing and how they are doing it. This might inform us as to what we might want, not want, like or not like. Things like this might make our own ideas more clear.

Community of Light

We want to co-create with others a community in a rural area, grow a portion of our own food, create a profitable cottage industry, and so be self employed. We want keep well the land that we live on and engage in right livelihood. We also want to contribute to the community around us and so benefit our society. Ideally, we would want to be near enough to a town of no more than approximately 50,000 or so, a college community. We could each use our talents, abilities, or professions to provide for ourselves as well as whatever "cottage industry" would be.

Consider yourselves welcome to email us to express your ideas about what our community should be. We are, after all, the persons who will make it up.

I imagine there are a lot of ideas out there and I know that what has been written in this or prior issues are meant as to be a working concept, one that is in progress, and meant to be discussed, even debated.

If you have not been to the Community of Lights web page we now have a listing of communities that are forming. It may be educational to visit some of those sites to see what's new in the community universe: Community of Light, Hompage

If you would like to leave a telephone message for us, you can leave one at Wendy's voicemail which is 415-364-3045

Thanks, Dan and Wendy

Email Address: creative1@creativeideasforyou.com

These are the introductions from persons that have written us since the last issue. Please go to Subscriber's Introductions if you would like to see the profiles we have on file currently. Some but not all of these people may have some additional information there.

*************************************************************

Robert O ........... oterorj@iwo-jima.navy.mil

I have been interested in communal living/intentional community since I was a teenager. I always figured it was a fad and would pass but low and behold as I learn more about the reality of life I am increasingly drawn to the idea. I am a 21 year old amateur musician and it's pretty much the driving force in my life. I am not happy with the idiocy of our nation as a whole especially the corporate homogenization that seems to be occurring on a global scale. Please keep me informed.

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G. wells .......... asirahhe@hotmail.com

At this stage I have only lived in a large home with 11 other women and am more interested in single family dwelling then community house dwelling. I spoke with my friend last eve and he stated he is still interested in a community. I like to eat healthy and would be interested in growing own food. I am in my mid years and I am considered to be fairly healthy. I am not interested in a commune which is not seeking a higher spiritual level. I am interested in family setting with children to seniors in the population. I am not interested in any kind of cult activity or violent personalities.

I am interested in a spiritual type setting no drugs alcohol etc. interested in a setting of natural home grown foods as do not have that currently interested in a commune that allows all age groups etc. can contribute in office setting,supervision, training and several other areas.

Asirah

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 S. Taber .......... Taber143@aol.com

This is a sample of the questions that we ask everyone just so we can all have some idea of who we each are.

1) Describe your idea of a desirable community? One that doesn't have a huge government to answer to, with open minded people.

2) What ideals do you feel are important for a community to hold? Kindness. Equality. Non-prejudice.

3) Why do you want to join a community? Because I want to be a part of something that isn't run by the white, upper-class MAN.

4) Have you visited a community or been part of one? No, not yet.

5) What skills could you contribute? I am a good leader with

many skills such as patience, communication, and a great sense of humor.

6) Do you have a family coming with you? Just me and my dog!

7) What does your primary diet consist of? I am vegan.

8) Do you have any health concerns or issues? No.

9) What kind of management system would you like? Democracy appeals to me in the ideal sense, but not the way that the USA handles it for the most part.

10) If we were to be located near enough to a community of 5 to 50 thousand, what kind of work would you want to be able to look for? Work with poor people, animals, mentally handicapped people... but no huge corporations.

*************************************************************

K Sager .......... kathysager@hotmail.com

Hi! I read you're web site and I am looking for a place. I am in tune with the environment adn would love to be a part of your community. Please email me back with some details of the location and so forth.

I wrote this person back but have not been given any more information.

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M Woofuaza .......... Bagelhole1@aol.com

Hi, I am inspired to write after reading the introductions. I feel the same as most all of you.

I would like to live in a community that is unusually beautiful and in a comfortable weather area (maybe outside of the USA) with people who are open-minded and openhearted, who revere integrity, authenticity, creativity, nature, freedom, kindness, and humor. Who love to have fun with whatever they are doing. Where we have everything we need and want, self-sustainability, and our own good company. Lots of creativity, music, singing, and dancing. A community of love.

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Quest of Future"..................questofuture@yahoo.com

Our idea of a desirable community is one in which people can live in close proximity, sharing resources & responsibilities as well as laughter and ideas. However we are not interested in a "Chairman Mao" type of grey-clothed peasants, breaking rocks for the proletariat type of scene, nor one where everyone "Jumps for Jesus" or "Aims for Allah" A "back to the cave" or luddite mentality, forsaking all things modern is not something we are into (Except maybe a limit on those annoying cell phone ringers!) There is nothing wrong with "home grown" ideas to generate power, and independent self sufficiency should be encouraged.

We are looking for a place where differences are cherished and not merely tolerated, where you are encouraged to be yourself, instead of fitting into 'the mold.' It should be a place where everyone is willing to lend a helping hand or shoulder or recipe... Most of all, we value Trust and Honesty. Trust that what is declared private is private, what is said is accepted as fact, and what is implied is clarified so there is no misunderstandings, and Honesty, well that should be obvious.

*************************************************************

Aquariuswaterbearer .......... LLLinTX@aol.com

My idea of a desirable community is one of individual privacy but shared resources. I like the idea of individual ownership of a private dwelling but with shared community resources.

My vision is a community with diverse dwelling lifestyles suitable for varying tastes, budgets, and ages. Everything from dorms to private rooms to private residences. My personal preference would be for me to have a private residence, depending on cost. However, I could manage a shared residence as long as I had a private room. Sometimes I just really don't want to vote on which television channel I watch or which album I listen to.

Shared resources would include a very large community center with a kitchen, dining room, library, computer room, game room, laundromat, etc. I think it would be great to have options such as cooking once a week for several persons versus cooking for two every single day. Gardens would be many and varied. While I can't physically dig the dirt anymore, I can still plant some and I can water, etc. I especially love herb gardens in addition to vegetable and flower beds. I have researched various methods. I think it would be great to have a running creek, pond, or lake to use the naturalized "scatter" method for planting tons of flowering bulbs, etc. After a hard day's work I envision being able to walk on grounds like these and get "re-centered" and serene again.

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Bernadette .......... greengorillatheater@yahoo.com

I'm a visionary artist and would like to live and work with other creative/artistic people: writers, musicians, actors, poets, etc.. My two children are now grown and I am single, so I have the freedom to try just about anything.

I like the idea of consensus, but I've seen some horribly tedious efforts to reach it, so I'm thinking that a revolving leadership group would be ideal. Everyone would take turns being part of a core decision-making group. The group could be small enough to allow for consensus in making decisions without becoming overwhelming and it could take input from the rest of the community.

I want to live with people who consciously create their reality and believe that they are unlimited spirits here to enjoy a physical experience.

I like the idea of a village where people form natural friendships, rather than a close-knit group that must always participate in the same projects.

I received this brief note, it might be something that we'd consider later on when we are considering how we might grow our own food:

I'm thinking of intentional community too, but I'm not sure where yet, though yours sounds interesting. I would like to help you in your endeavors regardless, by making you aware of a way to grow food that is time efficient, water efficient, and space efficient, called "vertical aquaponics". Go to the home page at Bagelhole.org Information Center and also the Food, Production, Vertical Aquaponics for info about the large version which would probably be more appropriate for your community. This project is not for profit, we just want to move the world towards self-reliance, towards a critical mass. So,anyway we can help, advise, we will be happy to.

 I was asked about finding information about consensus,
and some one wrote me advising me of the following URL.
Since this is a method of management I have mentioned
before and since I think it might be something to base our 
own  system of managemtment on you all might want to
at least take a look at a well written article on the subject:
         A Guide to Formal  Consensus 
         
         

Words of Wisdom:

   Some one wrote us, Moma June, and we might take what
she says to heart.  We do not need large, complex plans, or
"everything for everybody" but rather something more personal,
more scaled back, more human in perspective., Dan
         
         
         
     You have a grand dream of a worthwhile community, but
please take some small advice from this ole woman.  Don't put
off your dream somewhere down the road, for each and every
day that road gets longer and longer.  I know I've been there.  I
have found that we the people complicate everything that we
touch, we tend to forget simple ideas and things can be as
constructive as elaborate ideas.   In fact most ideas I have seen
lately are way out of perception and elaborate that it would take
a lifetime or more to even get off the ground; and I have to
admit that at one time I was also under this mode.  And finally
over the years I have had to take a good hard look and scale
back and now thing are really beginning to fall into place. 
Instead of huge homes, small functional cabins, teepee's, etc.,
is what we are now looking into. If our forefathers were able to
survive in them, why can we not do the same? After all we have
the advantages of more technology than was known in the
past.  For example lets taking raising of vegetables. What used
to take a huge amount of acres can now be done is probably
1/4 or less of the space it once required.  Which means less
acres are needed.  Not to mention the harvest now is much
more plentiful that it used to be, which mean some surpluses
that can be sold for funds. Same thing applies to all aspects of
living off the grid. 
         
Anyway I thank you for your offer and I am honored to have
been asked. I really hope and pray that your community is not
long in forming and that all will go well with it. 
         
Mama June 

D

 This letter is from the Biogems website:

Last fall, in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, I asked for your help in turning back repeated attempts by the Bush administration and pro-oil senators to rush through an energy bill that would have opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling under the pretext of national security. Hundreds of thousands of us deluged the U.S. Senate with messages opposing this blatant attempt by the oil lobby to use our national tragedy as an opportunity to advance their own narrow interests. We succeeded because of our collective action. Our voices were heard.

Your voices are needed once again. Please, take one minute to speak out, go to NRDC BioGems

OR:

Working Assets Long Distance: The Alternative

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I just received an interesting note from a person developing their own electrical system see: Human electrical power.

Based on your desires for a power source, I suggest you go and check out, Stirling Engines. an invention almost 200 years old

In terms of what I would like to see used for our community in terms of energy generation might be based on this idea that I have had from time to time:

What I have in mind is one that requires only water as its driving force. A certain amount of water that is circulated between freezing and boiling. To do this we would use a combination of solar cells, frensel lenses, mirrors,and electrolysis. In the proper setting such a plant could produce substantial amounts of electrical power, and it would be dependent only on sunshine, water and gravity. It would be power in our hands beholden to no one, only the forces of nature providing us with the limit.

This is, of course, where those of you who are engineers, and materials scientists, or physicists, would have the proverbial field day. "

If you want to research intentional communities this is a good place to start.

Communities Magazine comes out regularly and it is a resource for those seeking to explore the life in a commune. The directory that they have is a great primer in understanding the variety of life out in the community universe. You can write them at the address given below. This is their office address.

Communities Magazine, 138 Twin Oaks Road, Louisa VA 23093 USA or call them at: Tel/Fax: 540-894-5126. Their website is at Intentional Communities They have a list of places seeking members, communities forming see their: Reachbook

You might also find the resources on the Northwest Intentional Communities site to be valuable. There are lists of legal documents, process advice, how to find people, etc. They can be found at: Northwest Intentional Communities

Our Yahoo Group is up and running!

We now have a Yahoo group established. We can post our messages to each other as well as to the group. So I am now encouraging everyone to look into this possibility. The link to go to is: Community of Light's Yahoo Group

I am not now comfortable with publishing email addresses in the newsletter and so I have had to consider how else to allow everyone to talk to each other.

Free Long Distance Calls? Via AOL? It can be done!

I have noticed that nearly half of the email addresses we have use AOL. It is not surprising perhaps but could be useful.

AOL has an instant messenger that is free to download from their site and allows voice chat between users. I have talked cross country and although it has some quirks, it does work, and it is free.

I am encourage all of us to use this AOL service. I would like to be able to talk to some of you, it would be fun, and we'd learn quite a bit. Once you log on any friend that is also online becomes available. Any one of you who would like my user name will be welcome to it all you have to do is ask.

This information came from a friend and so I pass this along. He wrote: We pass along jokes; we pass along just about everything. Do think about passing this information along. It could really help someone.

Place the contents of your wallet on a photocopy machine, do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. , you will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed us in your name, address, SS#, credit, etc. Un! fortunately I (the author of this piece who happens to be an attorney) have firsthand knowledge, because my wallet was stolen last month and within a week the thieve(s) ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more. But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know.

As everyone always advises, cancel your credit cards immediately, but the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them easily. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where it was stolen, this proves to credit providers you were diligent, and is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important: (I never ever thought to do this) - Call the three national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and SS#. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the Internet in my name. The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit. By the time I was advised to do this, almost 2 weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them in their tracks.

The numbers are:

Equifax: 1-800-525-6285

Experian (formerly TRW): 1-888-397-3742

Trans Union: 1-800-680-7289

Social Security Administration (fraud line):

1-800-269-0271

Now that I subscribe to a several interesting Yahoo Groups for instance this one: Community of Light's Yahoo Group I am getting some interesting letters:

The following is one of them. I thought it might be helpful for some of us to see how someone is doing what we want to do. These people are up in Canada.

Jeff Gold .......... jgold@netrover.com

The Whole Village www.wholevillage.org is going to start construction this spring and we are looking for volunteers to help us.  Room and board provided.  Could you spread the word about this?  Thanks,

From: Michelle ........ jardinsfelins@voila.fr

What about France ? I have 14 acres on the edge of a small village in a vast woodland area, in warm South West region. I have open planning permisson and have passed various plans easily (I'm always changing them ! I'm looking for people who will enjoy the woodland setting, like to do their own garden, swap and share produce with eachother, live in small wooden chalets.

Open to all ideas and energies, M

This information came through that same Yahoo Group, and I post it here in so we can see what a forming community is like, it is, if you will,a model for what we are trying to do.

This is from Meli .......... WaterSpryt@aol.com who wrote:

I have run an e-mail list called PIC (Pagan Intentional Community) for over 4 years now, and networked like crazy in the interest of building a real life egalitarian consensus community in Costa Rica. It has been a long 4 years, and I have felt discouraged many times by the lack of commitment,money, and land for my proposed project. I now have a wonderful announcement to make!

Ray Beise, of La Pura Jungla Eco-community and I, have officially joined forces on the community building front. Heclosed on February 20th, 2002, on a 130 hectare piece of property (That's about 320 acres!) near La Pura Jungla, which is near the town of Paraíso, on the northern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. He has opened that piece of property up to the PIC project (which is soon to change names!) and has invited our family down to live in the tiny Tico style house that already exists there. We are now doing our damnedest to get our house in Oklahoma sold in 60 days, so we can down there and move in. Needless to say, we are really happy about this development!

If you want to see something about this place select the following URL: Lapura Jungla, Costa Rica

The property is also open to others who wish to help build become part of this new community project. Ray has asked me to be his representative, and to take on the job of disseminating this information to the PIC list, and the world at large. This is a partnership that has been almost 6 months in the making, and Ray and I have been communicating behind the scenes on how best to combine our two projects. We are in accord on all the important issues,and open to coming to a consensus on the rest, once we have a few core members together on the property. Basically, if you like/agree with the ideas set forth on the PIC Site, and are open to creating this new project together with us, we are ready to join forces with you!

Here is the URL for PIC: P.I.C.

Here is a little information about the property itself. It has two working wells on it. The land is situated in an area where it becomes very dry for half the year, and is almost desert like, in areas where there are few trees for shade and water retention. That being said, there are also wooded portions of the property, and a gorgeous ocean view. It is very near to what looks to me like a great beach! The place is hilly, in part, and open cow pasture type land in other areas.

The property is close to a few small stores, and if you want to go to a real, good sized grocery store, you must drive, walk, or hitchhike 20 miles. There is also a bank, post office, and other establishments, 20 miles away. The place is 200 miles from Costa Rica's capital city of San José, and an hour and a half from Liberia, which is a good sized city, with an International airport.

     A boy was crossing a road one day when a frog
called out to him and said, "If you kiss me, I'll turn into a 
beautiful princess." 
         
    He bent over, picked up the frog and put it in his pocket.
The frog spoke up again and said"If you kiss me and turn
me back into a beautiful princess, I will stay with you for
one week." 
         
    The boy took the frog out of his pocket, smiled at it and
returned it to the pocket.The frog then cried out, "If you
kiss me and turn me back into a princess, I'll stay with you
and do  you want." Again the boy took the frog out, smiled
at it and put it back into his pocket. Finally the frog asked
         
   "What is it? I've told you I'm a beautiful princess, that I'll
stay with you for a week and do  you want. Why won't you
kiss me?"
         
    The boy said, "Look, I'm a computer programmer. I don't 
have time for girlfriends, but a talking frog is really cool."