Best of Communities

VII. Relationships, Intimacy, Health, and Well-Being The key challenge of community is developing and maintaining healthy relationships-ones that are based on compassion, emotional depth, and authenticity. In community the emphasis is on quality of connection, not the ability to fit relationships and identities neatly into the traditional categories of nuclear family, kids raised solely by their biological parents (joined in wedlock), or crisp lines around gender identity. In community there are both traditional relationships and considerable experimentation. The Relationships, Intimacy, Health, and Well-Being collection offers an array of 17 digital articles that explore the range of what's out there, plus how community can provide a precious safety net when members face devastating health challenges, how community offers hope for coping sensitively with mental health issues in the era of de-institutionalization, and the ways that communities are pioneering an attempt to redefine security in terms of relationships- instead of how much money you have in the bank. This Digital Issue includes: 1. G8 by Lawrence Siskind, #146 2. Growing Family in Community by Ma'ikwe Ludwig, #146 3. What's Masculine, What's Feminine, and What Am I? by Mollie Curry, #138 4. Relationships in the Crucible by Lawrence Siskind, #118 5. Relationship by Consensus by Tree Bressen, #118 6. Breaking Up (While Staying in Community) by Kristina Jansen, #118 7. "Make It or Break It" by Ma'ikwe Ludwig, #118 8. Honesty and Intimacy by Damien Friedlund, #151 9. Living Outside the Box by Larry Kaplowitz, #118 10. Social Permaculture by Starhawk, #152 11. Growing a Culture of Community Health and Well-Being at Earthaven Ecovillage by Arjuna da Silva, #145 12. Lessons from the Orchard: A PEACH of a Health Care Plan by Laird Schaub, #145 13. Making Lymeade: Turning Mid-Life Crisis into Opportunity by Ma'ikwe Schaub Ludwig, #158 14. Gut Health by Dona Willoughby, #145 15. Artabana Solidarity Communities: New Paths for an Integrated Health Care System in Germany by Ina Meyer-Stoll, #145 16. Mental Illness in Community: What Can We Offer? by Rajal Cohen, Directory 2000 17. Rx for "Mental Illness": Caring Community by Brian Toomey, #150