externalized memory

I am actually stealing my piece today, an extract from an email written by a friend of Lydia's who visited a co-op in Boulder one spring evening. Lydia forwarded his email to us not long after I moved into Haymarket. The author marvels at the warmth and welcome of folks who seem so relaxed and informal, yet quietly depend on a firmly structured community manifesto & rules.

I thought of this passage when I saw the plantains Rachael labeled with directions.



When I was there, I noticed that the collective had a tendency to externalize its memory. There were labels on everything about where things go, and whose chores were to be done when and peg-boards and notes on a white-board. There were notes in the bathroom requesting that the yellow not be mellowed...

After describing a sumptious community dinner, a jam session and meeting new friends, the author concludes with a wish to join a co-op. I have so many questions, but they all boil down to this one, primary question: How much of what I saw is real, and how much is illusion? Certainly this is not what life is like every day for you?

I feel lucky to say the vibrancy of his visit was no exception. And Corrigan's right, there is something incredibly affirming to hear that other houses like ours exist and bring happiness too.