One subject I have not touched on much in my writing is the actual manner of life in a rooming house.It is part of the economic condition of the low income students and workers, the unemployed and the disabled who live in rooming houses and shared housing that there is very little home life. Relationships in the home are transitory and most are superficial.Space is limited and communal activities are limited.
I have had some goo friendship develop from contact with roommates, and many who at least remain Facebook friends. but this relationships were cultivated by going against the isolation and difficult living circumstances found in a rooming house.
One of the things I do every year, to attempt to build community, is to try to involve roommates in some kind of Christmas celebration. I put up a creche set, I go by a tree. I break out the decorations and try to get a tree decorating party going with a little music. Maybe we watch a Christmas movie. I can do a little to impart my faith in this while respecting where others come from.
I also make coffee every morning to share with my fellow rooming house denizens. I very the coffee blend to keep it interesting. Sometimes we wind up drinking coffee together and talking. More on rooming house life at a latter date.
I have had some goo friendship develop from contact with roommates, and many who at least remain Facebook friends. but this relationships were cultivated by going against the isolation and difficult living circumstances found in a rooming house.
One of the things I do every year, to attempt to build community, is to try to involve roommates in some kind of Christmas celebration. I put up a creche set, I go by a tree. I break out the decorations and try to get a tree decorating party going with a little music. Maybe we watch a Christmas movie. I can do a little to impart my faith in this while respecting where others come from.
I also make coffee every morning to share with my fellow rooming house denizens. I very the coffee blend to keep it interesting. Sometimes we wind up drinking coffee together and talking. More on rooming house life at a latter date.
Interesting to read your take on rooming houses/your living arrangement.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered if there is a place for the old-fashioned boarding house - perhaps a step up on the ladder of living arrangements, because that seems to have included at least one meal per day (maybe two) and some communal area.
I lived in a rooming house while at UW and it was a decent place. I was reasonably content living there. That was more than a few years ago though.
Carol from Blessed Sacrament
We do have some communal area, besides the kitchen, but not a boarding house. I think this place is okay for me as a kind of urban monk, but it also limits people's space freedom, yet does not return as much of a sense of community as other shared housing.
ReplyDelete