Comments on: Second Thoughts on 2nd Helpings

By: facebook-629493220

facebook-629493220 — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 19:10:24 +0000

As structured as the aims of that house were, the functionally unanimous understanding that this character was the impediment to the community he so desired adds a gloss to the retelling. His charms were present if limited, and his intentions were always obscured by his desire to, literally, keep himself in the dark. Such a shady figure can never be a part of a community, lip service be damned.

Sometimes a caricature looks more like the real thing than a photograph.

By: Amy Meckler

Amy Meckler — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:09:13 +0000

i think cooking for others is quite intimate. that kind of community, cooking for each other, then eating together–it seems like it's trying to replicate family, like many communal living environments try to do. my family of origin doesn't understand me because i'm liberal/an artist/gay/etc. so we'll be a family. families also fight from a sort of imposed intimacy, well represented by tense meals together. the cliche of thanksgiving dinner with family you can't talk to but must eat with.
i do not cook for anyone i don't love (or hope to love). it's very near to being naked, i feel.

By: Michael Bennett Cohn

Michael Bennett Cohn — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:17:22 +0000

It seems that the much-older landlord/housemate who manages a “community” of desperate younger people, sleeps on a mattress, and brings garbage back into the house is almost a modern archetype. I have personally dealt with three of them, all in completely different circumstances; two in New York, and one in Seattle. I often wonder about the curious combination of traits, and why they so ofter occur together.

I had a landlord in LA who, after effectively evicting me, took me on a tour of other abandoned apartments that he controlled, and encouraged me to take things (such as functional computers) that had been left behind. Maybe after collecting so much residue from old tenants over time, they finally decide that there's no need to wait until the tenant actually vacates before scavenging their stuff.

By: sara

sara — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:27:19 +0000

This took me back – so perfectly and vividly – to a very specific time in my own life. I love that line – leaving the house without knowing where we'd get our coffee. It's quite a journey, this piece.

By: Liznwyrk

Liznwyrk — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:01:00 +0000

I like the chicken leg crushing your head in the photo, nice touch.

By: TH

TH — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:00:59 +0000

Wow, you really captured the tension that existed! I was clueless at first but eventually I figured it out, although in more practical terms. In my mind, “intentional community” fails when it leaves people with winter wind blowing through window cracks and hopelessly mildewed/ruined shower stalls. I'm sorry, but the term slumlord comes to mind when the houses all around are fixed up and one is not. (not that we ever met the owner)
Thanks for putting this all down, I am interested to share your views with a few key people. You are right on the money!
Hope you don't feel TOO haunted by the memories. Every once in a while, if we're lucky, we perpetrate a major f*** up that helps keep us humble for a few years. And you'll be nicer to other people because you know the price of meanness is rather high. And if you're REALLY lucky, you will know (how) to never do this to someone you love.