#communal-living

#communal-living

A film about faith and other leaps, Mona Fastvold's remarkable The Testament of Ann Lee does not ask us to endorse or embrace the tenets of the 18th-century English sect called United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Coming, aka Shaking Quakers, aka the Shakers. Given that an important principle of co-founder Ann Lee (Amanda Seyfried) was celibacy, many viewers would find that a bridge too far.

There's been tons of research published on the impact of the pandemic on different populations but less discussed are its effects on new parents and how we may now be wired differently. But what I can say from experience is that thanks to my constant worrying about Covid-19, my brain seemed to believe only my husband and I could keep our children safe-and that was exhausting.

In 1959, about 1% of American women were divorced; about 9% of children were raised by single mothers. Imagine how daring it was for three divorced single moms to move into a three-story house and raise their kids together. Now imagine that these women are also accomplished, ambitious artists who convert each floor into its own separate studio. Finally, consider that the house is in New York's (then) gritty Bowery district.

One reader's email recounted how a Christmas tree and creche in their co-op lobby sparked complaints and a bizarre incident involving the kidnapping of baby Jesus, which ended in its return.

Today, Gen Z and millennials are increasingly turning to co-buying homes with friends or family—not for countercultural reasons, but as a practical response to high housing prices.