writing
So I'm writing this paper on the experiment that was my living arrangement for this year. I moved into a house in the (very) urban capitol of New Jersey, about 12 miles away from Princeton, and about 4 blocks away from the state prison.
I moved in for a bunch of reasons, and, for better or for worse, most of those reasons have been shown to be totally off the mark.
I came to be close to the church I was interning at, and my relationship with that church was terminated (see an old post).
That led to lots of other things, including a general disconnect with my neighborhood.
Also, living in an intentional community was more difficult than the four of us had planned. I've had bad living situations before, but when you're trying to make something work *intentionally*, failure is just a little more painful. And I'm not blaming any of us who lived here. It's been enough of a hassle already. Shit just don't work sometimes.
Now I'm having to look back at all the expectations I put on the house and on my friends living here. Its kind of a downer. It looks like I piled us with unnamed expectations, and set us all up for a huge let down. And if that doesn't suck enough, at some point we agreed to do this house for credit, so now i must write a paper on the whole experience.
The worst thing of all is that I really like the house, and I'm going to have to leave it at the end of August. The neighborhood is wonderful--though not without its problems. I might try to still get people over the summer to move in, but for now it looks like i'm moving back to the dorm.
Oh well, so it goes.
On a lighter note, I'm coming back for three days in a few weeks! My uncle is getting married on the 25th, and I am spending that Friday and Sunday in LA. Lots of church meetings, but I hope I can see some peeps.
Word.
I moved in for a bunch of reasons, and, for better or for worse, most of those reasons have been shown to be totally off the mark.
I came to be close to the church I was interning at, and my relationship with that church was terminated (see an old post).
That led to lots of other things, including a general disconnect with my neighborhood.
Also, living in an intentional community was more difficult than the four of us had planned. I've had bad living situations before, but when you're trying to make something work *intentionally*, failure is just a little more painful. And I'm not blaming any of us who lived here. It's been enough of a hassle already. Shit just don't work sometimes.
Now I'm having to look back at all the expectations I put on the house and on my friends living here. Its kind of a downer. It looks like I piled us with unnamed expectations, and set us all up for a huge let down. And if that doesn't suck enough, at some point we agreed to do this house for credit, so now i must write a paper on the whole experience.
The worst thing of all is that I really like the house, and I'm going to have to leave it at the end of August. The neighborhood is wonderful--though not without its problems. I might try to still get people over the summer to move in, but for now it looks like i'm moving back to the dorm.
Oh well, so it goes.
On a lighter note, I'm coming back for three days in a few weeks! My uncle is getting married on the 25th, and I am spending that Friday and Sunday in LA. Lots of church meetings, but I hope I can see some peeps.
Word.