the new year ahead…

Another year has flown by. What I love about the beginning of the year is that it’s always the perfect excuse to start afresh, tweak those long-forgotten goals, and charge on into January with an invigorated energy.

So what does the new year hold for me? Well, that’s the exciting thing. At this point I’m not so sure. Sooooo many options. I’m getting itchy feet to head off traveling again. But do I head south to mexico? East to Ireland? West to Portland? Back to Australia? While I feel privileged to even have these options available to me. I’m getting antsy and frustrated at my indecision…

I still dream about heading back to Australia overland and sea. I’ve always dreamed about learning to sail. Will this be the year to do it?  I’d love the challenge of avoiding flying home… Or at least cut down on my airmiles by flying short distances…

It looks like I’ll be lasting the winter in Montreal though. Before I go anywhere I need to fill my pockets with cash.  It’s not been easy finding work here with my linguistic limitations (not to mention the slight lack of motivation to look for work when there’s just sooooooo many other interesting things to be done instead).

I did some work for a charity in the lead up to Christmas. Was super fun, especially the opportunity to practise my French! And I then managed to head back to the mountains for some adventures and Christmas goodness… Alongside this, I’ve developed a mild obsession with ice skating and sliding down ridiculously steep icy slopes! Oh and hot apple cider! Yum!!

I’m not living in the Coop anymore. Thank god. While the potential of that place was promising, the reality was nothing more than a glorified paid squat. It was filthy for a start (I spent a whole week downstairs because every time I walked upstairs I had a giant asthma attack). And there’s only so much you can do without transforming into a daily housecleaning bitch…

And then there was the dysfunctional nature of the place.  We had a self-proclaimed messiah squatting at the place who was oppressing coopers. Despite numerous meetings about his actions, many coopers refused to accept that he was hurting people. Even though people were upset about his actions! I had one cooper even lecture me on the importance of oppression! He said: “there is room for oppression in society. Without it we can’t make progress.” (WTF!!!???)

And to put this further into perspective, since leaving the place I’ve heard about instances of coopers inflicting violence on guests, verbal harassment towards coopers, coopers being kicked out of their rooms for no apparent reason, five hour meetings that go no where… I also heard that prior to us moving in there were even instances of sexual harassment that were ignored! This doesn’t seem to be the safe, anti-oppressive place that it promotes on its website and that I was so excited about initially.

So I left. I decided that my energy was best spent in more positive realms. And I realised that my need for simplicity and peace were not going to be met there. I still love the concept of the coop. And having witnessed functional places while at NASCO and lived in several functional share houses, I’m a firm believer in living cooperatively.

All this said, the coop still holds a rather strange place in my heart. It’s a place with such amazing potential and I met some amazing people while living there. And I had some pretty damned cool experiences alongside the crazy ones… I certainly don’t regret my experience there. Life is always full of crazy experiences. It makes things interesting I guess… I secretly hope that the coop will evolve fully into the vision that initially sparked the action of its founders!

So, um, anyway… I’m crashing in a teeny tiny apartment at the moment. And taking each day as it comes while I try to unravel the innards of my mind to form a vague plan for the next year…

So far all that’s been sorted is a road trip to Toronto to visit friends, a skiing trip to Mount Tremblant, a dance gathering at igloofest and tickets to see Ani DiFranco… not a bad start hey!

NASCO conference: part one

I returned from the NASCO conference two days ago now, yet excitement and enthusiasm are still lingering in my bloodstream: energising and inpisiring me to approach life a little differently than before…

And it wasn’t just the three full days of workshops, seminars and intense discussions about cooperative living, anti-oppression, environmental justice, democratic education and community building that left me bursting with life. Though these activities did just that. It was perhaps the other things that happened between the cracks of these larger activities that left the greatest impression – a crazy leaf fight in the park with six grown adults, discovering a giant see saw in the backyard of new found friends, reading books outloud in the car, playing road trip games, a quiet lunch basking in the sun listening to the heart of a new found friend, being offered homemade pizza after a ten-hour drive, immediately feeling safe open my heart to people I’ve only just met, snuggling up with new friends to read bedtime stories together…

being ASKED what my identity is…

and not being defined by other people’s assumptions about my sexuality, gender, marital status… not being defined as the half of someone else…

and not being defined by my education…

and not feeling the need to live up to societal values of ‘normality’…

…feeling safe to be just ME!

A ‘me’ that has permission to evolve, change and morph along with the impermanence of life…

All these experiences that emerged gracefully between the more formal activities reminded why I here in the first place. They reaffirmed my belief in social justice through living cooperatively. And restored my hope that this is possible. We were living it – love, compassion and honesty with complete strangers… Welcoming them as you would a loved one.

So many stories, which I’ll share in time… along with some of the ideas which emerged from the more formal activities… right now I’m off on a random sponteneous hitchhiking adventure to Trois Rivier with some friends…

 

 

nasco conference

I’m heading down to the states on Thursday morning to participate in the North American Students of Cooperation’s annual conference. Providing education and resources to its members and co-op organizing groups, NASCO acts to educate the public in cooperative principles and practices, and promotes the co-op movement as a whole.

Each November, over 400 participants from all over the United States, Canada and beyond converge in Ann Arbor, Michigan to share ideas, learn new skills, and look at issues affecting the cooperative movement worldwide.

Since Coop Sur Genereux is a member, I thought it would be fun to: a. learn more about cooperative principles; b. go on a roadtrip to Ann Arbor, Michigan (11hours one way); c. meet some new, interesting people

Alongside three days of workshops, seminars and discussion groups focussing on cooperative living issues, I’ve also signed up for a full-day’s leadership training in anti-opression and popular education.

This year’s conference theme is In Our Backyards: Defending the Environmental Commons and aims to focus the conference on the social injustices of mainstream environmentalism…

Here’s the conference blurb:

In an era where the word “green” is used to describe everything from construction practices to the economy, environmental sustainability is in the spotlight more than ever as environmental injustices continue to threaten the health, safety and sustainability of communities everyday.

As leaders of the cooperative movement, we must ask ourselves what it means to engage in environmental issues at the local, regional, and global level.  How do we transform mainstream environmentalism into environmental justice and create and support just, sustainable (re)uses of land? What opportunities emerging from economic and environmental crisis exist to grow the cooperative movement?

At the 2009 NASCO Institute, we will build on last year’s exploration of cooperatives and land rights to explore the role and future of cooperatives in the current greenwashed recession with an internationalist perspective.  We will develop strategies for promoting healthy relationships with each other, with our land and resources, and across cultures.  Through workshops, discussions, film screenings, panels, and caucuses, we will rethink how we produce, transport, and consume; share everyday tools for just sustainability in cooperative practices; and create cooperative solutions that spark change in “our backyards.”

So stay tuned for a report from Ann Arbor!