"...discovering these features [hedges, separation from neighbors] might actually be bugs." Agree!
Best wishes on the move! I'll add you to my prayers today, and your family and the community building you do and want to do.
We moved to a skinny duplex to be walking distance to our Catholic Bible Study center, which is the hub of our community life, and more recently moved into a small house (which in the 2020 housing market, we got only because of the grace of God) where we can walk to our church and the Bible Study center and to neighbor friends and the library and playground. I'm increasingly seeing the isolation of the design of suburbs as more negative in the goal of in person community building. When you can walk to church and to your friends' houses, you don't need a phone or the Internet or a car, you can just knock on the door and see if their kids are free to play with your kids. I feel so blessed to have that life that I want to use our house and neighborhood to glorify God.
This is a beautiful essay. Thank you for writing. Have you read Dorothy Day’s essay on precarity? Your take on the good of domestic openness reminds me of her. If you haven’t read it, I bet you’d love it.
"...discovering these features [hedges, separation from neighbors] might actually be bugs." Agree!
Best wishes on the move! I'll add you to my prayers today, and your family and the community building you do and want to do.
We moved to a skinny duplex to be walking distance to our Catholic Bible Study center, which is the hub of our community life, and more recently moved into a small house (which in the 2020 housing market, we got only because of the grace of God) where we can walk to our church and the Bible Study center and to neighbor friends and the library and playground. I'm increasingly seeing the isolation of the design of suburbs as more negative in the goal of in person community building. When you can walk to church and to your friends' houses, you don't need a phone or the Internet or a car, you can just knock on the door and see if their kids are free to play with your kids. I feel so blessed to have that life that I want to use our house and neighborhood to glorify God.
This is a beautiful essay. Thank you for writing. Have you read Dorothy Day’s essay on precarity? Your take on the good of domestic openness reminds me of her. If you haven’t read it, I bet you’d love it.
I’ve read some Dorothy Day, but I don’t think I’ve read that piece. Adding it to my reading list now!