Better

Hello Friends,

A few meta thoughts as all of this happens. I've been supremely inspired by my friends lately. People have really been pulling through. I was personally moved by 5 of my friends last week when I moved into a new house (which btw is totally sick, on the water in CT and we throw crazy parties!! open invite to come up and go kayaking whenever anyone wants) , and one of my friends built me a loft bed. And now I see people coming together to help figure out whats going to happen to Better Farm.

This makes me extremely happy and confident that we are all going to be OK.

Being OK has been somewhat of a preocupation of mine as of late, as I often seem to be unsure about whether or not that is going to be the case.

The reason I bring this up is because I want to talk about community. As some of you may know, me and Coley started a documentary on Better Farm a few years ago that has yet to be completed. Intentional Community has been a keen interest of mine for a long time and I've had a few years to stew on what the nature of a community is. Now that I am immersed in the New Media world, there is a lot of discussion of virtual communities and how they form and what they're all about.

I think one of the important lessons from Steve and the other Better Farmers is that a functional and successful community has a purpose, or intention. The reason the original commune didn't work was because their purpose wasn't clearly defined and was muddled in a bunch of counter cultural pretension and pot smoke.

Ultimately Better Farm was about creating a place for Steve and in its later years has realized that purpose. Steve's vision was that after he left, Better Farm would once again become somewhat of a community for Coley and her friends.

And here we are.

A crisis is introduced and we are coming together to find intelligent solutions that are sustainable and in everyone's best interest.

This is ultimately what I think Steve wanted to happen. Better Farm is our first obstacle and I am supremely confident that it will be met with exceeding grace.

However if I may, I would like to introduce a more subtle theme that occurred to me today, and that is the real purpose of this community is not about Better Farm as a physical place, but about us. We are the community that needs to be cultivated, a virtual community and to that end, Coley reached out to us and we are coming together to find a solution, but the real issue isn't the farm. Its about us as a Braintrust helping one another figure stuff out.

A Better Braintrust.

This doesn't have to end with the farm, and I propose, although somewhat prematurely, that this idea of the braintrust/board of directors be extended to all of us. Because between all of us, there is enough talent and intelligence to make sure that we are ALL going to be OK. And i think that is the purpose, and what ultimately everyone is gearing up to do.

I know I feel more comfortable knowing that there is a whole group of people out there who are willing to pitch in their talent, wisdom, and compassion and help me figure out what to do when a problem arises.

Hopefully you do too.

So if you'll indulge me, here's to you, the Better Braintrust.

Love
Eric