I bitched yesterday about the weird impact of peeling potatoes on my hands, and got some surprising support for my experience. Today I am still feeling it.
But I'm fine, I'll live.
Tonight I'm thinking about "KP". In my first intentional community, a college co-op at Oberlin, there were two jobs nobody wanted, so when signup time came, they were always available.
One of them was cleaning the bathroom. There were several bathrooms, it was a big building. Nobody wanted to clean the bathrooms.
But, actually, cleaning bathrooms is pretty easy. It might be a little gross sometimes, but it's easy, and it's fast, and you're a hero cuz you cleaned the bathroom.
The other hated job, tho, was KP (kitchen prep).
And I have not the slightest idea why it was a hated job!
Most nights, KP was zero.
Some nights, KP might be peel 50 pounds of potatoes, but, hey, we were a co-op, and co-ops are wealthy, and we had a potato peeling machine. It took less time to peel the potatoes than it did to clean the machine.
So I always took all the KP slots that were available, and then filled the rest of my labor commitment with bathroom cleaning.
People, generally, don't understand how successful co-ops can be, given only motivated people willing to pool their time, energy, and money.
My college co-op housed 40 people and fed 80 people every night, at roughly 40% of the cost of a dorm and a cafeteria.
I have lived in intentional community about 95% of my adult life.
Even today, inside my current (and prolly last) community, there are several smaller co-ops that exist.
I have chop saw, a table saw, and two generators. That's just the little co-ops.
The larger community owns a community center, a tractor, a tractor-shed, a snow-plow, a dump truck, and on and on.
Co-ops and communities are the answer to the rapacious capitalism that is destroying our world.
@GeePawHill
COMMUNITY LIVING
"I want to pick your brain" came to mind first so do you mind some asking some questions (could be a direct message first instead and not public?)....
And then I saw @RFarq@mastodon.social and @Weatherwax reply - especially Weatherwax taking time to quote something which I thought very nice relevant and valid here...
And if I'm right it's like someone selling something which doesn't have an end that's great although the doing of community IS the end somewhat in a life.... and current norms and previous history make it naturally mostly unresolvable in total today or in constant combat - and sometimes those buggers are taking away pieces or even killing environment that we need to live in... hmmm it's a fight for sure though we need to gather ourselves first perhaps as well as individual repel these things and not wait always for others.
So I see both sides is what I'm saying... I tend to side with trying / going the harder route (people together) though I think people can do much in small jumps today and even in the 'comfort' of their luxury hotel-houses which maybe they will realise one day even that is pricing themselves out of life slowly also.
So well done to you both. I'm look forward to gentle replies
Few sub-points:
➡️ I don't think you need massive 'experience' to agree / disagree as there are some definitely big deal-breakers or impossibilities even in the most inexperienced person who anyway has some experience of life in any form and even if never been in rural setting from other sources of seeing it (TV, fairy tales, movies, friends, Wikipedia stories etc)...
So 'absence of any actual experience' is a bit extreme in that light above.
Yes all roads are the high / hard road and difficult-impossible (we improve chances by doing it) because it's counter-mono-culture and doing different needs people to see either 'this way is crap, have to try another way regardless what it is and simply improve on that' or 'I can see a better way myself regardless of what they say so I'm off to create it and/or join it'.
Much love.
Get back to me on the question at the beginning. Thanks
