hey family,
Just linking you guys to a project in Brooklyn that seems to share interests with our gang. http://www.myspace.com/surrealestatenyc
I personally like the Make Your Own Bike Lane projects that they've taken so gladly on; though, it's too bad Amsterdam is already so cool...
Add it to the registar.
Love and light,
Jeremie (in Canada).
Comments
From surreal estate
Hello, I lived at SE for about five months before coming to Amsterdam. It was a great experience but there were most certainly structural problems and such that made it difficult for me to be apart of the organization. I had already lived at a queer co-op for almost a year and a half in Berkeley and it was different. I personally didn't feel as if I truly belonged there, in Brooklyn at SE that is. There was a lot of inner turmoil because it was hard to get everyone on the same page and since they were "all inclusive" of almost anyone, which is good on one hand it's also hard to get people on the same page when everyone is so different. It was a great experience and I recommend anyone contact them when in NYC for traveling purposes, but it's primarily an activist/artist collective and a little bit of everything else. -N
From an email sent to the Nomad base listserver in January
Yes, they are pretty cool... dumpster diving, food no bombs, close to the critical mass movement, great party-organizers (I've spent there my new year's eve)...
here an extract from an email sent to the Nomad base list-server in January, 18 where I was sharing my first impression visiting this community (specifically reflecting over consensus and collective problem solving)...
"Going to a intentional living house's meeting yesterday night has been one of the more interesting thing I've done in NY in terms of community.
The house is in Brooklyn, 3 floors, 38 people.
A group of the members (something fluctuating along the night from 10 to 18 members out of 38) had to deal with stuff that included:
- possible eviction due to lack of fire security measure and leasing with a commercial contract in an industrial area
- proposal for internal eviction of 12 of their members due to lack of financial contribution (they do not manage to pay the rent and the house is at risk of eviction from the landlord )
- creation of policies for dealing with financial issues
- creation of a zero tolerance policy for violence
-proposal for workshop to deal with civil rights
Now, I was impressed by the way this young community dealt with these issues managing to take decisions and working together towards collective solutions. Despite of the differences in people's opinions and the existence of the radical/mild approach, the community as a whole seemed to work for making things happen.
At the same time, I cannot avoid to notice how difficult is to create policies meanwhile the community is already set up. In some ways seems that even decision that you would generally agree upon based on common sense (if you rape someone you cannot live in the community, or if you fight or provoke fights you do not fit in the house) become a struggle and mild compromises are taken.
(...)
At Casa we have no formal policies in place for aggressive behaviors and sexual harassment. Actually, we have no formal policies at all. Somehow it seems that the right people end up there. Yet, I wonder who would take decision in case of someone's aggressiveness. Somehow the fact that Casa is an individual project shared with a collectivity of nomadism and on hospitality, seems to make some of these decisions more easy to be taken.
When I was there, we used to say that we do not decide much at casa . I wonder if this happens because of its transitory nature or if there are stuff that more stable and numerous communities can learn from. are meetings, committees, agendas, rules and procedures the only way that extended intentional living houses can manage to be sustainable? what is the way for healthy shared living environments? "
BTW: the discussion received great feed backs from Dante and Paxus who spoke of resonance of interests/life views, gifts, and dynamic autonomous zone promoted by an anarchist view that sees people as basically good.
what do you think?