My roommate, Charles, is in the process of applying to live in the Students' Co-op near the University of Minnesota campus. I'd never heard of the place before, so I asked him a few questions about how the co-op works and why he wants to live there. 

The Students' Co-op has been around since the 1940s and is currently home to thirty community-minded people. The group is mostly composed of students, but recent graduates and young professionals also call the Co-op home. Some housing cooperatives are simply large apartment buildings with individual units which aim to keep rent low; I have lived in a such a place, and it's not what I would call an “intentional community.” The Students' Co-op, however, actually intends to create a supportive, fun and intellectually engaging place to live. In other words, it's not just a place for people who want a good deal on rent.

I'm interested in how intentional communities actually operate on a day-to-day basis, so I asked Charles about how chores and household maintenance are handled. Basic household responsibilities such as cleaning dishes, vacuuming, yard work and so on are delegated by managers. Managers, from what I understood, are elected by the household. There are also weekly meetings where members can express concerns or propose changes; decisions are made by popular vote. Personally, I think it sounds like a wonderful living situation and I'm a little sad that I'll be graduating and leaving Minnesota soon. I wish I would have known about this place years ago, but I'll just have to put my regrets aside and be happy for my roommate. 

Charles has personal as well as political reasons for wanting to live in an intentional community. He's had some drastic philosophical changes of heart over the years that we've lived together and sometimes I jokingly blame myself for turning him into a neo-hippie. Charles believes that community is essential for human happiness. This doesn't mean simply having good, supportive friends (although that certainly helps). Instead, he believes that people were meant to live in groups and we would all be happier if we did just that. He also believes that problems like conspicuous consumption and the depletion of natural resources can by stymied by group living situations. I agree with him, and I could probably go on indefinitely, but the basic idea is that we should be consuming less and sharing more. If that sounds hopelessly utopian, check out this convincing TEDTalk on "collaborative consumption": 

I recently read Forced to Care by Evelyn Nakano Glenn. I'm going to draw on her ideas and talk about care work in the US – who does it, how they do it, what the consequences are and what it says about us. 

Feminists use the term “social reproduction” to refer to the non-economic labor that keeps our modern world turning. Unless we're the ones mopping the floors, we tend to ignore the work that makes participating in public life possible: someone has to make the dinner, clean the house, keep the laundry from piling up, etc. This social reproduction work is a lot more equitable than it once was, but women still overwhelmingly bear the burden. More often than not, this means putting in what's been called a “second shift.” That is, after a day of public, paid labor, many women come home to an evening of private, unpaid labor. I grew up in a family organized in such a way and I never gave it a second thought. Care work is often invisible. 

Social reproduction is one type of caring. Another is care for the elderly, disabled and dependent. These populations have increased over the past few decades and have resulted in what's been called a “care deficit.” That is, there are more people in need of care than there are people to comfortably do the work. People who feel obligated to care for their aging parents (or other relatives) are put in a difficult situation as they typically are forced to forgo or neglect some other aspect of their lives. Careers and relationships suffer, dreams get put aside, and everyday life becomes more stressful as the caregiver attempts to juggle multiple roles. This work is also disproportionately done by women. Of course, some people opt to hire caregivers instead of trying to do the work themselves. Unfortunately, it's no secret that care work is low-paid, offers little or no benefits and is disproportionately done by women and racialized minorities.  

These difficulties exist in part because we organize our lives in separate spheres: public and private. In the public sphere people are totally independent and responsible only for themselves. This is also where money is made so it's considered much more important than the private sphere. In the ideal incarnation of the private sphere it's a place of interdependence, love and friendship. This is where care work is done. The private sphere is supposed to be a refuge from the realities of the public sphere; the two are not supposed to intersect or inform one another. Occasionally there is talk about developing policy that would pay women/caregivers or offer some sort of tax incentive for the work they do in the home, but these efforts have obviously been unsuccessful and care work remains invisible and unacknowledged.  

Our unwillingness to acknowledge the contributions of caregivers suggest that we don't value community. A society that values community would not pay its caregivers so little, ignore the importance of their work, or treat its dependents so poorly. In Forced to Care, Glenn lists goals for creating a caring society. To summarize:

I want to highlight one of the most controversial songs in the United States. American singer song writer Pink released her fourth album with a song called "Dear Mr. President" in 2006. (The lyrics are given below.) Pink dedicated this song to then President of the United States, George W. Bush. It was almost perceived as a publicity stunt, but still a lot of the populace enjoyed the song itself. And I think it is very important.

This song is one of the most compassionate songs i have ever listened to. The lyrics of this song are very touching and the melody compelling. In her song, she talks about homeless people on the street, homosexuals, and war victims. She expresses her emotional feelings in a straightforward way, and it swayed people. The power of compassion becomes greater when a popular celebrity sings it. Therefore, people can agree with her and easily feel similar compassion. To be honest, i am a fan and one of those people. I think it embraces lonely people like i was before.

The year when i first came to the United States from Korea was also 2006. I was introduced to YouTube and that's how i got to know this song. I was listening to a lot of American pop songs back then to learn the English language. In the process of searching, i found out about the singer Pink, and got attracted to her songs. When i heard this song for the first time, i was very shocked how freely American culture allows singers to release a song like this. If it were in Korea, the government and the President would have blocked it from people.

On YouTube, a lot of people argued about this song. Some people said this is inspirational, and other people said that she shouldn't have written this kind of political song since she is a well-known public person. They believe that the government does a lot more work than we can imagine, and we shouldn't criticize them by singing the song. I will leave it up to you to decide what side you are on about this controversial release, whether it be the current president or the previous one. Here is the song and the lyrics.

Is parenting about producing another generation of productive, successful people? Or is its greatest meaning in being a compassion parent? Emily Rapp answers this question in a beautiful, touching article, "Notes from a Dragon Mom", in the Oct. 15, 2011 New York Times. It is worth reading and re-reading.

Intentional communities are planned living situations in which membership is often contingent on adhering to certain social, political and/or environmental values. Communities like this are often stereotyped as utopian playgrounds bound to fail, lackluster retreats for people who just couldn’t cut it in the “real world” or simply as “hippy communes.” In reality, the network of intentional communities is wide-ranging, inclusive and endlessly diverse. 

The most rewarding volunteering experience i had was teaching Korean language at church. I am from South Korea and came to America about 5 years ago in 2006. I am bilingual of Korean and English currently, and am also Catholic. I used to work with little kids at church and teach them the Korean language. I volunteered at the St. Andrew Kim Catholic church in St. Paul for the past few years. It's the only Korean Catholic church in Minnesota, so i went there with my father after i came to Minnesota. This church provides education for those who don't know how to speak Korean, and i was one of volunteer teachers and assistants. 

Mindfulness has reached a milestone in its evolution as a social movement. Mindful.org and Omega Institute, lined up Jon Kabat-Zinn (see photo on right), Congressman Time Ryan, and a few other speakers in the mindfulness movement, and then advertised a day and a half conference called “Creating a Mindful Society” to be held in New York City on October 1st, 2011.  How many people would you guess paid $275 each to attend this event?

Keep in mind that the vast majority of Americans don’t know what “mindfulness” means, and those that do, often cannot explain it to their friends. Those who talk about mindfulness often note the need for hours upon hours of meditation and discipline. I’ll give you another hint, Professor Kabat-Zinn, a key spokesman for the movement, warns his audiences about the pitfalls of proselytizing.

Despite these obstacles, over 500 showed up for the event, half of them arriving from outside the City. In addition, another 5,000 signed up to watch the event on their computer screens around the world, thanks to Google setting up web-casting. The “Creating a Mindful Society” event itself did not disappoint. Over 20 audience participants spoke from the floor at the final session, from which it became clear that most were inspired and fired up to share their enthusiasm with others. 

Conference Online Free until Nov. 1, 2011

If you missed the event, it is still possible to experience the entire conference online free. Just go to http://live.soundstrue.com and enter your name and email address to see professionally produced video of what Jon Kabat-Zinn said should be called a “gathering not an event.” The catch is that it will only be online and free until November 1, 2011. After that, presumably you will be able to purchase the DVDs.