Communities and Co-ops
Can Intentional Communities Teach Us Compassion?
- Published on Sunday, 16 October 2011 02:44
- Written by Sara McCracken
- Hits: 272
- Category: Communities and Co-ops
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.
Communitarianism
- Published on Sunday, 20 December 2009 14:45
- Written by Ron Anderson
- Hits: 1395
- Category: Communities and Co-ops
Robert Putnam defined the social capital as the "collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that arise from these networks to do things for each other." In other words, social capital is the sum total of compassionate interrelations within a community or society. These 
interrelationships have two components: the actual and the potential. Some of the compassionate interactions are ongoing and others are potential. Those that are potential will not be put into place unless a crisis arises or another need for help emerges.
The Students' Co-op: An Experiment in Compassion
- Published on Wednesday, 09 November 2011 01:39
- Written by Sara McCracken
- Hits: 254
- Category: Communities and Co-ops
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.
Intentional Communities and Compassion
- Published on Monday, 12 December 2011 01:36
- Written by Sara McCracken
- Hits: 227
- Category: Communities and Co-ops
A few months ago I wondered if intentional communities could teach us anything about compassion. Between then and now I spent a lot of time learning about intentional communities and the people that choose to make that their home. I examined specific communities and discussed the state of care giving in the US and how intentional communities deal with care work and, by extension, compassion. I learned about them primarily by reading books and articles on the subject and by talking to a friend of mine who is involved with intentional communities. After all this, I think it is clear that there are connections between intentional community and compassion.
What can intentional communities teach us about compassion?
- Published on Monday, 13 February 2012 21:23
- Written by Sara McCracken
- Hits: 399
- Category: Communities and Co-ops
A few months ago I wondered if intentional communities could teach us anything about compassion. I spent a lot of time learning about intentional communities and the people that choose to make that their home. I examined specific communities and discussed the state of care giving in the US and how intentional communities deal with care work and, by extension, compassion. I learned about them primarily by reading books and articles on the subject and by talking to a friend of mine who is involved with intentional communities. After all this, I think it is clear that intentional community and compassion go together.
