hot"I know where our road is going! To an artist's colony! A happy little artist's colony. We will build a place for people to come together to learn and create."
-- Bill Alexander
Beauty is important because it makes people healthier and happier. Find ways to make your home more beautiful.
Portland has a major housing crisis. Some ways to reduce this include infill housing, cottage clusters, and progressive taxation for empty lots (which doesn't apply to land designated for wildlife). Here is a manual for infill projects. Ideally, the city needs more sustainable housing too.
Cohousing is a form of intentional community usually found in urban areas. You can find an established community, join one in formation, or start your own.
Participatory decision-making has a spectrum of agreement. You don't need complete concensus to make a project work. You just need everyone clustered tightly at one end or the other. If they're still scattered like this, you're not done talking.
Folk music has a deep history. Pick an instrument and some sheet music and start learning.
A sharehouse is communal living on a small scale. There are more of these in Terramagne than here. Learn how to do it right.
Artist colonies have shaped the art world. Some are temporary academic or cultural programs, while others are longstanding intentional communities. Here are more ways to connect with other artists.
Gentle Life is an organization for people with PTSD or similar situations who want to treat their condition with lifestyle changes. It works very well for those who want a peaceful place to concentrate on healing, although not so much for those who keep wishing they could get back to their old activity level. Gentle Life mostly features farms and artistic communities far out in rural areas, although they have some cohousing locations for suburban or urban dwellers. They concentrate on building a support network in the community and making happy new memories. Art therapy, music therapy, organic farming and cooking are typical offerings. Some of the farms also work with abused animals or do other animal-assisted therapy. Patina Park, Tranquil Table, and Todos Santos are among the Gentle Life communities.
People often look down on tradesmen, crafters, and anyone with less education. This leads to a ruinous problem of degree inflation, in which people have to spend more and more money to have even a chance at getting a job. Ignore all that ballyhoo and hire people based on what they can actually do.
Polyamory comes in many forms and configurations. You can learn a lot from it. Mostly what you'll learn is that polyfolk don't have a sex fetish, they have a communication fetish. They also have an emotion, compersion (joy in others' happiness) that most people don't seem to have given all the assumptions of jealousy. If you want to practice polyamory, here are some more resources.
Enjoy a recipe for cottage house cookies.
Dogs have their own cookies too.
Here is a recipe for Seafood Chowder.