Best of Communities: I. Intentional Community Overview and Starting a Community

Book excerpt: Best of Communities: I. Intentional Community Overview and Starting a Community Many people yearn for community-for a greater sense of connection and belonging-yet genuinely wanting it and accurately knowing that it's good for you are not enough to guarantee that you'll be happy in intentional community, or that others will want to live with you. These 15 articles in "Intentional Community Overview and Starting a Community" provide a peek behind the curtain at some the pitfalls and challenges facing community builders, so that you'll have a more realistic idea of what it will take to survive your start-up years and actually become a home. You'll find first-hand stories from forming communities, as well as sage advice about legal structures, the importance of community spirit, how to understand "cults" as a pejorative label, how to assess prospective property, and the importance of making process agreements before you need to apply them. This Digital Issue includes the following articles: 1. In Community, Intentionally by Geoph Kozeny, Directory 2007 2. Setting the Record Straight: 13 Myths about Intentional Community by Diana Leafe Christian, Geoph Kozeny, Laird Schaub, #112 3. A Communitarian Conundrum: Why a World That Wants and Needs Community Doesn't Get It by Timothy Miller, #151 4. You Know You Live in Community When... by Virginia Lore and Maril Crabtree, #124 5. "Cults" and Intentional Communities: Working Through Some Complicated Issues by Tim Miller, Directory 2007 6. Community Spirit, Community 'Glue' by Geoph Kozeny, #107 7. Wisdom for Within, Wisdom from Without Karen Iona Sundberg, #159 8. Six Ingredients for Forming Communities (That Help Reduce Conflict Down the Road) by Diana Leafe Christian, Directory 2000 9. Legal Structures for Intentional Communities in the United States by Dave Henson, with Albert Bates, Allen Butcher, and Diana Leafe Christian, Directory 2000 10. Buying Your Community Property by Frances Forster and Byron Sandford, Directory 1995 11. Throwing in the Founder's Towel by Ma'ikwe Schaub Ludwig, #144 12. Emergency Community by Jesika Feather, #144 13. Yes, Wealthy People Want to Live in Community in Sustainable Ways Too! by Jennifer Ladd, #159 14. My Advice to Others Planning to Start an Ecovillage by Lois Arkin, #156 15. Dandelion Village: Building an Ecovillage in Town by Maggie Sullivan, #156