Category Archives: Community living
12 hour van ride+10 people+civil resistance=Jonah House, Baltimore
Over spring break, my Vincent and Louise housemates and I traveled to Baltimore to learn from Jonah House, an intentional community rooted in faith, nonviolence, social justice, and civil resistance. The week was spent in playing with the livestock that roamed … Continue reading
Filed under Community living, Travel
V&L hosts Open Mic Night
Performers of all walks, songs, poems, and acts of life showed off their talents at last Thursday’s night Open Mic Night—a Vincent and Louise House tradition. The evening maintained an informal, yet joyful rhythm as members of the DePaul community … Continue reading
Filed under Community living, Events
A Kibbutz experience in Israel
While in Israel, I was introduced to a collective communal experience in Israel called a Kibbutz. Traditionally, Kibbutzes were based agriculture with ties to socialism and Zionism. Back before Israel became a state in 1948, the Kibbutzes served as utopian driven movement formed … Continue reading
Filed under Community living, Travel
Simple living, a choice and cause
Simple living is not meant to deprive ourselves of things. It is easy to think of simple living more as acts of taking away, giving up, or saying no. And yes, in some cases, to lead a more simple … Continue reading
Filed under Community living
A visit with the Jesus People
A barefooted youngster in dinosaur pajamas skips to the grab a bowl of cereal. A man, in his early 20s, also shoe liberated with banana in hand, joins his friends for breakfast. An older man sits on a bench outside … Continue reading
Filed under Community living
Salvaging food
By the time Alex and I open the red van car doors, it’s still dark. My housemates are all sleeping and I’ve somehow managed to remain vertical despite the few hours of sleep the night before. But still, it’s time … Continue reading
Filed under Chicago, Community living
Localized communities
While scanning the web tonight, I stumbled across a professor of anthroplogy from Brigham Young University, Charles Nuckolls, who recently spoke on ”The Community Solution: How New Residential Patterns Can Re-Shape Our Future in a Troubled World.” Rising oil prices may make … Continue reading
Filed under Community living
Is the honeymoon over?
I’m back in forth contemplating the thought. Not that this is a bad thing, rather it’s completely natural. It does not mean that the genuine love or best intentions for my housemates have faltered. However, my housemates and I are often working to … Continue reading
Filed under Community living
Cohousing trends
Here are some basic facts about intentional communities from this past summer’s National Cohousing Conference. 1. Cohousing is growing: There are now over 12,000 web site visits from 85 different communities A new monthly magezine that has introductions into the … Continue reading
Filed under Community living
A visit with L’Arche Chicago
Last Thursday, my housemates and I visited the community of L’Arche, which in French, translates into The Ark (as in Noah’s Ark). Upon walking through the front doors of this 3-story community located in the neighborhood of Austin, I initially … Continue reading
Filed under Chicago, Community living
