Earlier I blogged about community; one of the ideas presented was the idea that neighbors should “build a database of house locations, contact info, number and name of family members, number and name of pets, emergency numbers, etc for use during fire, earthquake or other disaster.”

When I opened my front door to see a geyser of flames shooting out from the chimney of the house across the street, I thought two thoughts. 1) Jiminy Crickets, is everyone OUT OF THE HOUSE?? (they were.) 2) We need emergency personnel, where’s the phone, I  need to call 911 (I did and fire trucks were already en route). Once over the initial shock and emergency response, however, my next thoughts were how scarily appropriate my earlier post on community was. Our entire neighborhood turned out to help our unlucky neighbors, one neighbor with a flashlight, everyone concerned as to whether our neighbors got out of the house before it erupted like Vesuvius. We prayed the wind died down, loaned out driveways to get cars off the street so emergency vehicles could get through, and generally gathered in fellowship with a general air of “Do you need anything? Is there anything I can do?”

» Continue reading “Fire Across the Street Highlights Need for Disaster Preparedness”

Yesterday I came across this story on NPR:

A Social Experiment: Communes In Cul-De-Sacs : NPR.

The story is about “cul de sac” communes, planned neighborhoods where people share resources. Different from the Utopian societies of yore, where the main requirement was isolation from the rest of civilization, this cul de sac commune idea integrates modern culture with communal living.

» Continue reading “Commune vs. Community”