..........

I have received some letters expressing concern about our nation's policies both foreign and domestic. Some have said that such events make it all the more imperative that we "get in gear". I would like to say that I would not want to make our choices because of fear. These times we find ourselves in are not "the best of times" we are challenged to continue being the best we can be, to do the best we can, and to work for the changes we'd like to see happen, not only in our society but within ourselves as well. I understand the need, the concern, even the fear. I have felt these as do many and we must regard them as real. But just as real is the hope that is ever present in every breath, every heart beat and which resides in the heart and soul of each person, such things are a vital part of what it is to be human. Let us continue on to find our way to our goal, our purpose should not be lost in the swirl of events nor should we cast off lightly or in fear of what the future may hold.

I hold that we will find our way; that we will find peace and establish a community of hope and joy!

As one of us wrote: "If God brings you to it, God will bring you through it."

Another item has come to light, and that is the idea of who we might be. I have heard it said that we should limit our "members" to young adults. While I would want to certainly include such, I am no longer in that category. I feel that age alone should not inhibit us from considering someone as a member. We have, in fact, not begun to decide who is and who is not a member, nor have we required anything from anyone as of yet. To be honest, at some point we will be requiring things from one another in order to make this whole dream come true and be real, practical, and a success. This may be the time to begin thinking about just what we want from ourselves first and then from others. What do we want to give, what do we want to receive?

We need to consider this, a few have talked about getting more organized in this way. So here is the suggestion. We should take our first step in finding our place by discussing what location we would like. Between now, this issue and the next I would like everyone to send me ideas or suggestions for locations. Suggestions can be as specific as a town, or a region, a state or some such. Each suggestion received will be saved and posted either in our Yahoo group as a poll, or in the next issue for general discussion. We are going to try to determine where we want to be. Then we will begin to take the next steps. We already have one idea below:

British Columbia?

I just received your last news letter #15. I am not sure if you have found a place to set up your community yet, but I think that the best location would be in British Columbia. There are many communities and farms like the one you want to start in B.C. as well it has the most beautiful scenery. Ocean, mountains, valleys, and many more. A great place is Tofino B.C. please take this into consideration.

Thank you, Kathy Sager kathysager@hotmail.com

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: the URL for our web Address is this:

http://www.creativeideasforyou.com/commune_land.html

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 additional information there.

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

Vennie Anderson .......... vanderson@midamer.net

I reviewed some of the profiles of people who have indicated interest in your IC. I have some skills that might be helpful (I'm a registered nurse, licensed in Illinois) and have a master's degree in health education. I play piano, sing, and oil paint. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of "survival" or "sustainable" type skills, but I'm good at working with people. The location of the community would be a primary concern and determinant of whether I became seriously interested in it. At age 57 with a bit of a bad back I'm not going to be able to go out chopping wood or building a barn. But I'm good with words, good with details, good with kids, good with elderly people, and a fairly good cook. I think I could find ways to contribute and earn my "keep".

Thanks.

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

Kathleen .......... OKeefe1955@aol.com

I am interested. I have live near Big Bear Lake, CA. Having been wandering around the past few years. I am 46, a teacher that stays home and homeschool my 11 yr old son. I live frugally. Tell me more. Kathleen

Financial Matters

Acquisition of Property? We have received this from a contributor, it may be a way for us to manage what we'd like to do, no matter what location we come to choose:

Advertise your ability to increase the value of property for the purpose of getting a long-term low-cost land lease from someone who has a few hundred unused acres (and pays taxes on it every year)... The idea being to return this property a hundred years later with added value and pay the taxes for them all the while in exchange for use of the property. One would also hope that this long term lease would include the option to buy. A friend in Muncie IN did this and got 70 acres for 100 years... 6 years later the farmer sold them the land for a few thousand, far below market price.

Sign up for Internet Service under $10 dollars a month, at http://isp.BlueLight.com

Mysterey Message?

I would like to have a small something written in the newsletter to a friend of mine. Something like this:

Gator sends her love to Hermit.

A small communities invite inquiries?

Michelle and Wayne here in southeast AZ on a 5 acre parcel. He is 62, I'm 48. Our combined skills in organic gardening, alternative building and such have served us well over the years here where people are the most uncooperative and sharing.

We are soon to build our first dome structure for a commercial-grade kitchen so that I can open a bakery/barBQ. True, it is in bits and pieces as we are alone here with all our skills and work is near impossible to procure since I do not "know" the right people, speak Spanish and not Mexican....lol......but if I needs be go outside the state or country to hold our stand here, so be it.

In any case, we are open to those who want to come and learn what we have to offer. We are always available to talk to. Michelle and Wayne ..... awnmowgli@earthlink.net

Henny Penny Farm, Bisbee, AZ

Originally I was invited to go out and see this property, but it could be that one of us is closer than I am. Would someone care to check this out?

I am located in the beautiful ozarks of North West Arkansas. Probably about 45 miles east of Fayetteville,Ark. I would be glad to have folks come by if they wanted to .

Greetings Dan,

I would like to invite you out for a day or two to show you around a bit...or how ever long you could visit. I think I told you that I had started purchasing this place about 8 years ago and not knowing why for I am not a farmer nor do I wish to be a land baron. I have the 360 acre valley and hills around it for a purpose which is to build a clinic and a place for others to get out of the mainstream a little.

Where as I have been open to others that find there way here, the web site you saw is not linked to anything, I have been concerned about who come in......I have never thought of a commune but after thinking about it and after talking to some others, it may not be a bad idea at all. Or could have a commune within a community. I am not sure how that would work but ..

I am pretty laid back, like to work on things like hydrogen energy or even calcium carbide , wind etc. etc. etc. but I am also aware of what is going on around the country and world, and suddenly feel an urgency to get something done. This is not something I want to do , but rather feel it is something I am supposed to be doing...

I also have 80 acres that is 5 miles as the crow flies from here that is much more isolated and nice land . There is a another story on how that came to be in my hands also...........

Anyway, think about it..... you are most welcome. I think you are close to my vintage, I am 60. but with a 13 and 14 year olds.

Mike ..... maheshwa@cswnet.com

..........

If you want to help save America's last wild places, visit http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/.

There, you'll learn how the Bush-Cheney energy plan endangers Yellowstone and other unspoiled wild lands of the Rockies -- and how you can help save them.

Thank you Sincerely yours,

Robert Redford Trustee, Natural Resources Defense Council  

Send free faxes to Your Members of Congress visit True Majority Action Center: http://www.truemajority.com/index

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

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: http://www.ic.org/nica/resource.htm

This is a list of places seeking members, communities forming and the like. I have come across it at the F.I.C.'s website: http://elph.anu.net/reach/reachbook-all.html

It might be a place for some of you to do research and get a good impression of what is available in your area.

Hello everyone,

I am the communications coordinator for a conference being held in Picton this May. We hope to feature real, sustainable alternatives in waste management and involve many members of the community. Please take the time to read the event description below and forward this information to anyone you think might be interested. Thank you,Tracy Ryan, Communications Coordinator, tracyryan50@hotmail.com (613) 272-5395

ECOFLUENCY: INNOVATIONS IN ECOLOGICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

A two-day fair and forum on Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4, 2003 in Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario to feature creative waste management solutions for towns and rural areas. The fair and forum will concentrate on three waste streams: sewage/septage, garbage, and manure

Visit our web page:

http://www.safewatergroup.org/ecofluency/ecofluency-index.htm

Participants, drawn primarily from southern and eastern Ontario and the states bordering on the eastern Great Lakes, will explore safer,more environmentally sustainable, and ultimately more cost-effective ways of dealing with the waste we create. Participants will include: innovators in ecological waste management, municipal representative sand staff, farmers and farm organizations, small businesses, youth, environmental researchers and educators, and concerned citizens.

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.

I would like to know how many of us would like to use either or both of the methods below to encourage communication between us all. Both methods have advantages and so I am asking for feedback. Please let me know which means you'd prefer or if you have other ideas.

Free Long Distance Calls!

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 encouraging all of us to use this AOL service so that we can talk to one another. 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.

Yahoo's email/listserv?

Another avenue to increasing communication between us all would be to create a email subscription listserv group at Yahoo. One of us suggested that idea and it has its merits as well.

A contest was recently held for people to submit new theories on ANY subject. Below are the winners:

4th RUNNER-UP Probability Theory

If an infinite number of rednecks riding in an infinite number of pickup trucks fire an infinite number of shotgun rounds at an infinite number of highway signs, they will eventually produce all the world's great literary works in Braille.

3rd RUNNER-UP Biomechanics

Why Yawning Is Contagious: You yawn to equalize the pressure on your eardrums. This pressure change outside your eardrums unbalances other people's ear pressures, so they then yawn to even it out.

2nd RUNNER-UP Symbolic Logic

Communist China is technologically underdeveloped because they have no alphabet and therefore cannot use acronyms to communicate technical ideas at a faster rate.

1st RUNNER-UP Newtonian Mechanics

The earth may spin faster on its axis due to deforestation. Just as a figure skater's rate of spin increases when the arms are brought in close to the body, the cutting of tall trees may cause our planet to spin dangerously fast.

HONORABLE MENTION Linguistics

The quantity of consonants in the English language is constant. If omitted in one place, they turn up in another. When a Bostonian "pahks his cah," the lost R's migrate southwest, causing a Texan to "warsh" his car and invest in "erl" wells.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER Perpetual Motion

When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands buttered side down. It was proposed to strap giant slabs of hot buttered toast to the back of a hundred tethered cats; the two opposing forces will cause the cats to hover, spinning inches above the ground. Using the giant buttered toast/cat array, a high-speed monorail could easily link New York with Chicago.

She is 92 years old, petite, well poised, and proud. She is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coifed, and her makeup perfectly applied, in spite of the fact she is legally blind. Today she has moved to a nursing home. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making this move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, where I am employed, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet curtains that had been hung on her window. "I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.

"Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room...just wait," I said. Then she spoke these words that I will never forget:

"That does not have anything to do with it," she gently replied.

"Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not, does not depend on how the furniture is arranged. It is how I arrange my mind. I have already decided to love it.

It is a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice. I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do work. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I will focus on the new day and all of the happy memories I have stored away...just for this time in my life.

Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you have already put in. I believe-that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.

I believe-that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I believe-that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.

I believe-that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.

I believe-that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I believe-that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them. I believe-that you can keep going, long after you can't.

I believe-that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I believe-that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I believe-that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I believe-that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I believe-that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.

I believe-that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will be the ones to help you get back up.

I believe-that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I believe-that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I believe-that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others.

Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself. I believe-that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I believe-that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I believe-that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever. I believe-that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I believe-that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I believe-that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you you will find the strength to help.

I believe-that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I believe-that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.