> children being raised by a community of adults.
> I believe that the kibbutz is an example of
> this. I am not aware of any particular
> demonization of the form in the US, but I
> haven't gone much beyond a room-mate or two.

There are a few exceptions, hence the "intentional communities
movement", however, most people in our culture are so violently,
abjectly averse to the idea of living with people (GASP!) that the
response you get from "we're considering having a rommate move in" is
"Why in the name of ALL THAT IS HOLY would you EVER consider doing
something so monumentally stupid?! They'll fuck you over and you'll be
sorry!" I've personally received this response more or less from more
than one person. Others are okay with a roommate but continue to
consider anything more than one or two roomates bizarre and perverse.
Most people when you say "intentional communitie" or even "commune"
respond with "you mean a cult? Like those people in waco?" Tell me
that's not demonizing the situation.

Then there are the pragmatic ways in which the culture either
inadvertently or passive-aggressively makes extended-family or
communal living more difficult. Local laws place restrictions on the
number of people who are allowed to inhabit a dwelling -- and no
builder in our country builds anything for more than 5, with 3 of them
children, with ever-shrinking children's rooms (which in many places
are roughly the size of a walk-in closet in new houses). The dwelling
designed for more than 2-3 adults is simply not manufactured anymore,
and yet, it's illegal to house more in the existing dwellings, which
means if you want an extended family in our country, you have to be
wealthy enough to build your own house. In some cases it's even
illegal to build structures that are more ecologically conscious --
here in Florida it's perfectly possible to build a structure with
passive air-flow that wouldn't require central air-conditioning... but
it's illegal to live in it (I'm not certain, but I think it's illegal
to build it now actually) because the design doesn't accomodate
air-conditioning.


s. isaac dealey     954.522.6080
new epoch : isn't it time for a change?

add features without fixtures with
the onTap open source framework

http://www.fusiontap.com
http://coldfusion.sys-con.com/author/4806Dealey.htm


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