Have you noticed the way people are getting interested in living in alternative communities these days? I'd almost call it an epidemic, but that would make it seem like a disease, which is not what I would want to suggest.
Some of my friends have really gotten into this after reading The American Soul, especially the part about Ephrata, Pennsylvania. I'm not sure why they all started reading that particular book, but after listening to what they've been saying, I'm really looking forward to reading it too. I never realized how interesting the living arrangements were in some of those old utopian communities. In just the few weeks since I started hearing about these ideas, I've become fascinated by these experiments in living.
Judging from the interest in just my group of friends, I'd say there must be literally thousands of people out there with a dream of getting some land with their friends and living a good life away from the traffic and noise. I think people are just ready for something new and don't always know it.
It's like how the music scene was ready for Britney Spears. People didn't know that was what they wanted, but then she showed up and everyone was like, yeah, I'll buy that. I bet if people read about these other ways of living, a huge number of them would realize that was what they wanted.
I'm not sure why we've gotten interested in this alternative community idea, but it's for sure that we have. I think if we saw a clear way to a good living situation by doing what most people do, we wouldn't be interested in alternative ideas. But since we are looking at alternative ways to live, I think that whether we realize it or not, on some level we must feel that doing what most people do won't get us to a good living situation.
I decided to do some research on the web the other day because we're wondering how these alternative living arrangements can be organized. You know, what seems to work and what doesn't. I decided to look at both German and American communities, and I got quite a list. I needed to narrow it down a little, so I looked for communites that supported themselves by either light manufacturing or crafts, except I didn't want to get into any of the ones that also engaged in any amount of farming because, well, some of my friends are more the manicure type.
I saw a poster for a presentation about an alternative community that's actually not far away. They're all about a hot spring that's on their land. It was kind of weird: there weren't too many people at the presentation, but when the woman who was giving the talk said that alternative communities weren't for everyone, she very obviously looked right at me. Until that moment, she had seemed like a nice enough person. I think the Greek letters on my sweatshirt might have had something to do with it.
If I can't find a community model I like, I'll try to invent one myself. After all, I already have some practice from belonging to Gamma Delta Iota.