Communities Magazine #166 (Spring 2015) - Community For Baby Boomers

Community For Baby Boomers

What role can baby boomers (born 1946-1964) play in a new resurgence of intentional community living? Where can they find and offer support to meet their and others’ needs over their final decades of life? How can aging baby boomers regain the sense of community that defined much of their generation as youth and young adults? What gifts do baby boomers offer to younger generations? In “Community for Baby Boomers,” our contributors explore these questions and many more.

Articles in “Community For Baby Boomers”

• Publisher’s Note: Boomerang by Laird Schaub
• Notes from the Editor: The New Communities by Chris Roth
• Living Intergenerationally at Dancing Rabbit: “The Times They Are A-Changin’…” by Sharon Bagatell
  Finding themselves to be elders in a multi-generational community, two baby boomers resist, accept, then finally embrace the idea that age DOES matter.
• A Baby Boomer’s Guide to Community: Then and Now by Valerie Renwick
  Kombucha has replaced wheatgrass, and Michael Pollan has eclipsed Frances Moore Lappe, but some communal preoccupations, like dogs and dishes, never change.
• Every Eight Seconds by Aurora DeMarco
  As intentional communities model new approaches to elder care, baby boomers can lead the way in transforming how we age in our society.
• Intergenerational Living at Twin Oaks by Stephan Przybylowicz
  A 30-year-old communard discovers the benefits of living in a traditionally elder-focused residence.
• The Intergenerational Challenge by Laird Schaub
  Bringing in older members can present costs but also yield great benefits, especially in maintenance and development of the community and—when handled well—in mentorship.
• Integration of Different Generations by Looby Macnamara
  By seeing personal development through a permacultural lens, and assessing generational gifts and needs, we can start to heal fragmentation and separation in our society.
• My Father the Toddler by Karbyn Eilde
  An ex-communitarian tending full-time to an aging parent reflects on how intentional communities can help shift our approach to elder care.
• The Power of Community by Charles Durrett
  Cohousing can offer a much-improved quality of life to seniors and others; it’s time to break free of the self-inflicted “Oh, that’s not me!”
• How Community Can Help Baby Boomers Cope with Caregiving by Cindy Nickles
  Caregiving worries need not keep us up at night; we can design our communities to facilitate mutual support as we age.
• Senior Cohousing in Canada: How Baby Boomers Can Build Social Portfolios for Aging Well by Margaret Critchlow
  Aging in a community of relationships, with an emphasis on “co-care,” encourages a more connected, healthy, sustainable, and active life.
  • Progress at Harbourside Cohousing
• A Baby Boomer Rediscovers Community by Jeffrey Mabee
  After falling into a disillusioning “status quo” existence, a baby boomer rekindles his zeal (and ability) to live by his values at Belfast Cohousing and Ecovillage.
• We’re Back! Still Beautiful, Bolder, and Hopefully a Whole Lot Better by Andrew Moore
  The revolutionary baby boomers of the ’60s lost their way in the ensuing decades. Back now as elders, are they up to the challenge of completing needed changes?
• Transparency, Vulnerability, Interdependence, and Collaboration: An Intergenerational Perspective from a Boomer and a Millennial by Melanie Rios and Skye Rios
  We will realize our collective power by embracing a new paradigm that replaces our inherited emphasis on confidentiality, stoicism, and independence.
• Time for Tribe: Boomers Get Connected by Bill Kauth and Zoe Alowan
  We will realize our collective power by embracing a new paradigm that replaces our inherited emphasis on confidentiality, stoicism, and independence.
• Short-Term Vacation Cohousing: A Great Way to Learn by Deborah Carey with Ray Shockey
  Two retirees discover a way to explore cohousing without long-term commitment—and after several extended visits, decide it’s for them.
• Kashi Ashram: Navigating the Transition from Baby Boomers to the Next Generation by Eileen Beal
  An interfaith community finds many ways to reach out and expand beyond its baby-boomer base.
• Restorative Circles and the Missing Link in Conflict Mediation by Arjuna da Silva
  As the baby-boomer founders’ initial covenants fade into memory, new processes help members new and old deal with inevitable community conflict.
  • Restorative Circles: “A Community Self-Care Process”
• Sociocracy to the Rescue at Aldeafeliz Ecovillage: How Sociocracy Can Help Communities, Part V by Anamaria Aristizabal
• The Top 10 Most Common Mistakes in Consensus Process and What to Do Instead by Tree Bressen
• First We Take Manhattan by James Andrews and Paxus Calta
• Review–Turn Me On, Law Man! by Arjuna da Silva
• Creating Cooperative Culture–Saying Goodbye to Mildred Gordon by Laird Schaub