A group of Greenhaven-ers went on a weekend tour of cohousing groups in Massachusetts. The group visited 4 sites.  I was not able to go for the full weekend, but I was able to go up to see Pioneer Valley Cohousing on Sunday Morning 10/7/2012.

Things I liked:

  • Wonderful common house with all the features I am looking for including meeting space, large dining facilities, guest rooms and a huge kitchen.
  • The homes were designed to maximize usable space and rooms to be used for multiple purposes.
  • The exterior of the homes looked really nice and were made with sturdy material (fiber cement that did not require lots of maintenance.)

Things I didn’t like:

  • The slope of the land made the walking paths harder to travel especially for older people
  • The common house was quite far from the houses on the top of the hill 
  • The homes in the center of the circle were wedged in
  • The parking was very far from some of the homes. (Wonder about bringing in grocery bags and other deliveries to the home.)

In her New Orleans neighborhood, artist and TED Fellow Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: “Before I die I want to ___.” Her neighbors’ answers — surprising, poignant, funny — became an unexpected mirror for the community. (What’s your answer?)
http://www.ted.com/talks/candy_chang_before_i_die_i_want_to.html

 

Here are some of the things people wrote at the Grove last month on the Before I Die chalk board:

 

 

Before I Die I Want To...
I would like to start a community art project using old donated Lego bricks to ‘fix’ broken walls, fence posts, building corners etc. in the spirit of the art of Jan Vormann

 

Community Art Project- Looking For Stone and Brick That Needs "Fixing" With Legos in New Haven #nhv“>

 

I ran a craigslist ad several weeks ago and received a large amount of legos. 
Community Art Project- Looking For Stone and Brick That Needs "Fixing" With Legos in New Haven #nhv

 

 

So How can you help????

 

I have artists ready to go, now all I need are the locations around New Haven that need fixing. Please keep your eye out for them and contact me if you find a brick or stone wall that might work. 

 

Looking forward to hearing from you

 

I was interviewed by Ray Hardman during Morning Edition. The story first aired at 8:40am on Tuesday June 19, 2012. This interview will also be posted on wnpr.org

06192012WNPR_GH.m4a
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View Green Haven Land in a larger map

Listen to this AMAZING harmonica player at Church this morning!

The Bethany Community School held a Arts event last night with cheerleaders, color guard, beginer strings, advanced strings, beginner band and advanced band. Thanks to Paul Bogush for capturing this moment in time of the BCS beginer band! (Hayden is playing snare drum in the back right corner)

Haydens_BCS_Band_Song.mp4
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From: Space Pirate
Date: April 19, 2012 6:52:13 PM EDT
Subject:
brilliant

I was amazed by this.