And I just had to look at that title for a minute after I typed it there. “I went to a party” is not a sentence I ever expected to write again, non-fictionally. But I digress.
Maybe this sort of thing is common in neighborhoods, it’s the first I ever saw one. It happened in four different places. We had drinks & snacks at D&L’s. Then everybody trooped over to Darrel the Former Cop’s for salad (and drinks,) then to S&L’s for dinner (and drinks,) then to Landlady’s for dessert (no drinks.) There were like ten people involved, which is basically everybody in the extended gulch, the only absentee being Ian. (D talks about “our valley,” which is as good a description of the neighborhood as I could come up with since it’s bordered by high ridges surrounding the lower ridges containing Ian’s and Landlady’s places.)
Much talking, much food. I got a little overwhelmed by all the people and noise, though I know all these people, but the food was my undoing. And I was being carefully moderate, too, didn’t pig out or anything. I did have seconds on the ham, but hey, I’m only human. Everything was fine internally until that skinny little slice of teramisu and I stopped right there, but it was too late. Up half the night and then up again early with an upset stomach that still hasn’t completely eased. Really, truly not used to rich food anymore.
As I laid awake, I thought about how wrong the original plan went – how almost completely wrong – and how it ironically turned out so well in the end. Trying to build an intentional community in the desert encountered problems that in hindsight seem pretty much inevitable. Of the eight original participants*, two remain. One died, one gave it a fair shot and moved away, and four fled as soon as ever they could. Not what you’d call a rousing success, when you look at it that way. But the current neighborhood looks a great deal like what was originally envisioned – just not in the original way or with the original people.
Maybe the population of a place like this just needs to be self-selecting. Not that there’s no variety in what we’ve got – there’s a great deal of variety – but the common element is a desire, not to form a purpose-built group in a place, but to live in a particular sort of place for a particular purpose. So the original purpose, to have a bunch of gun-toting freedom-loving people living on their own property but supporting one another in the desert, worked out great but not in the way originally envisioned. Rather than build a community around a web forum and then move that group to the desert – the original plan – what worked was to move to the desert where other people had already come or were currently coming, then let the community form around some of those people, those who wished to be a part, even though most of those people didn’t even know one another originally.
Of course not everyone who chooses to live in such a place is looking for community. Indeed, the geographical area covered by “our valley” contains one complete recluse I have literally never met in the eight years I’ve been here, though others have. And there are other people around, people associated with some in our group but not others. It’s all very ad hoc.
Which brings me back to something I mused about last winter, about the futility of “systems and establishments…”
…people always think in terms of systems and establishments. They want a big top-down revolution that will Bring Down The Man and impose freedom like a fluffy warm blanket they can spread over everybody.
But if you’re just some guy who wants to live free, you’ll never get that by waiting for somebody to show you the plan, or sign that petition, or vote for that new bastard, or invest in that Freedom Collective. The point of doing freedom is to actually do freedom, not to sign up for a group so that freedom can be done to you, or even for you. Not that I knock mutual support, as you know, but it does seem to me that centralized government has been sufficiently tried.
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*I am not one of the original eight or part of the original plan, though I did know most of the participants.
Your party was a “progressive dinner.” Nothing to do with modern “progressives,” however. LOL It used to be quite common, and was especially popular in the South for a long time. Large groups, such as church congregations, enjoyed this sort of party/dinner in many forms.
I always preferred the equally popular, and equally old fashioned “pot luck” supper that was a frequent happening as I grew up. Many churches and other organizations still do that, I think.
Groups, collectives and organizations of every kind will always abound with human beings. The key is to keep them all strictly voluntary. They’ll sort themselves out, win or lose, and everyone will be better for it. Compulsion, coercion and fraud are what make them produce evil fruit.
re : Mama’s comments,I like potluck dinners,you get to try everyone’s favorite dishes,and might find one you like.Everybody is usually happy to share recipes,too.
I have never been in on a progressive dinner,although I’m familiar with the term.However,if a bunch of friends gather at someone’s house,and drink all his booze ,and everyone goes to another house,and drink all their booze,etc,is that a progressive drinking party? I’ve done that.