Communities
The Commonspace

Communities ARCHIVE

Conversations with groups outside the mainstream

2006
Spring Facing the Flesh-Eating Undead and Other Disasters Are you prepared to face the zombocalypse? How 'bout just a snowstorm?
Summer Where the Door Stays Open The 3D Resource Book Center aims to include us all
Fall Using Bricks and Mortar to Build Community Downtown Teens learn to take pride in their own neighborhood's jobs, well done

2005
Jan Inside Out Loud University museums exist to foster community dialogue
Mar Who Are the People in Our Neighborhoods? Ten years and going strong for the annual SLACO Neighborhoods Conference, where you can learn a lot
May Pairing Off in the Creative Class A new St. Louis social group pursues passion with a purpose
Sep On Fire for Ferguson How one group of fun-loving neighbors met decline with determination... and a side of frozen custard
Dec Medal to the Pedals Fans mass in the Lou to celebrate the masters of the steel guitar

2004
Feb Parceling Out Pieces of Peace From St. Louis classrooms to the global community, an innovative art project sends out seeds of peace to the winds, hoping a harvest will return
May Where the Rubber Meets the Road The ninth annual St. Louis Neighborhoods Conference brought together theory and actual practice in a way that's invaluable for neighborhood activists
Jun Many Nations, but Not One Map The International Institute marks 85 years of helping immigrants and refugees start their new lives in America, but leaves old divisions like maps and flags behind
Nov Close-Knit Saturday mornings fly by spent among girls — and the occasional guy! — who purl
Dec A City Built to Music A cadre of avant-garde musicians once polarized the city's jazz scene, but now is revered

2003
Jan Breaking Dumpstered Bread Together In an unassuming pocket of Old North St. Louis, the overlapping worlds of Karen House and Dorothy Day Cohousing Community are creating radical community
Feb Brown Like Me Life in St. Louis became infinitely richer when I realized there were young South Asians somewhere besides the Indian grocery store
Mar The Science, Psychology and Truth behind Venus Envy Arty sisters — and their supporters — are doin' it for themselves, now in three cities
Apr Bound by Books An ever-growing, international community of booklovers — who may or may not ever meet — has its epicenter in Missouri, and its most prolific member in St. Louis
May Favored Corners Can you put actual St. Louis coordinates with your mental "happy place"? Marijean can.
Jun Free to Just Be For the young people and their adult advisors who come to Growing American Youth, the space to be themselves is the best gift of all
Jul Suburban Diversification Cookie cutters made the houses, but the people in them break the mold
Aug X-treme Accordions Serenade St. Louis Bosnian music blends the sounds of Gypsies, Latin America, the Middle East and a European outdoor café into a delectable soup
Sep Fair Lords and Ladies Wondering what those armored fighters are doing in your local park? Nothing less than competing for royalty
Oct LaClede Town: Impressions of a Native Son A utopian community where all races and walks of life live in harmony? It may not be in our future, but it happened in our past.
Nov Why People Remain in Struggling Neighborhoods Ever have friends or family reassure you that "you'll be able to afford something nice in the suburbs someday?" They don't know what they're missing.
Dec Improving St. Louis Schools, One Box of Crayons at a Time You've heard it time and again: the schools have to be better before the community will thrive. So what if kids lack even the most fundamental tools? Meet KidSmart.

2002
Jan Getting Back to Our Roots It's about a lot more than hair at The Loop's NAPPS salon, a hub of the African American community
Feb Sacred Washington Avenue Amid the worldly hubbub of construction crews and club kids, one new resident finds the spirit of his neighborhood
Mar Acting Out The DisAbility Project challenges audiences to check their assumptions at the door
Apr Gay St. Louis Out and about in one of the most gay-friendly cities in the Midwest
May Brick by Brick A small new book celebrates the rock-solid foundation beneath some otherwise desolate parts of town
Jun The St. Louis Punk Community: Virtual or Real? The blossoming of an online punk presence actually strengthens the "real" relationships among fans, from kids exiled to suburbia to band members rocking out all over the bi-state area
Jul The View from Stockton House A 24-year resident of Grand Center shares the development lessons he's learned from watching the transformation of his neighborhood
Aug Secret Society of Those from Somewhere Else St. Louis can have a way of neatly dividing folks into two camps: natives and other
Sep Lunch and a Side of Hope From its start 14 years ago with just seven clients, Food Outreach has grown to be a critical link in keeping St. Louisans with HIV/AIDS on their feet
Oct Discovering St. Louis Communities An upcoming series at the Missouri Historical Society offers St. Louisans the chance to see our own city with new eyes
Nov The Superhero of Shaw Fed up with the punks and the no-good-niks? One man in the Shaw neighborhood was, too...and he and his neighbors did something about it.
Dec Fort Gondo's 100 Yards of Chaos Are you here for the art classes? The battle of the bands? The performance piece? The book signing? The puppet show? Whatever it is, watch out for the dogs.

2001
Jan Still Life A local filmmaker's striking look at his former northside neighborhood
Feb Everything Old is New Again New Urban St. Louis and the New (Old) American Dream
Mar Grand Human Being From prerecorded history to today's development drama, Grand Boulevard has seen it all
Apr Tending to a Writing Community How squaring off poets against fiction writers builds the ties that bind
May If They Can Sew, I Can Dance Stitching new Americans into the fabric of their community
Jun Senior Moments Sharing their life stories is all a part of the day at the Grand Oakhill Community Center's senior program
Jul No Silence in Asylum Ogoni activist Noble Obani focuses his words on the future of his homeland
Aug Walking Through the Open Door A community counts on an all-volunteer art studio for therapy and to get them through the day
Sep Don't Fence Me In A St. Louis transplant uncovers some unwritten community rules in her simple quest for backyard privacy
Oct A New Definition of "Leadership" An upcoming conference will serve as a launching pad for citizens and real community leaders to tackle the challenges facing St. Louis
Nov Judging By Their Covers The first-ever book fair at Taproots School of the Arts celebrates the process, the product, the cover, the content and the book-making community. Oh, and books that spring like frogs.
Dec Common Space of a Different Sort Cohousing in St. Louis is a newish twist on the tried-and-true notions of what community is all about

© 2001-2006 The Commonspace