My maternal grandmother was a formidable woman. I remember a three hour canoe trip down the Ausable where, as passengers and myself as perhaps fifteen, I elected to teach her how to shoot craps. She listened to my explanations of the rules and my rudimentary understanding of the probabilities associated with the game. She agreed [...]

At any Level in an organization there are at least these two functions that are ancillary and essential to the day to day work of that level: Governance and Communication.
The other day, in one of our People’s Press meetings, an accountant in from Oklahoma and associated with the bookstore asked George to summarize his life. [...]

In case you didn’t know, Woody Creek is a lightly charted area centered eight miles Northwest of Aspen, downstream on the Roaring Fork River and therefore of more temperate climate and mood. For those who know, Woody Creek always includes the Trailer Park, The Tavern and the Store and Gallery as the heart of downtown, [...]

“Don’t let anyone make you eat shit.”
-    George Stranahan, quoted on the Flying Dog Ale website
———-
March 3, 2003
Most of us, if we know a word or two in a language foreign to us, know the word for shit. Merde, scheiss, …Should we end up in one of these foreign countries we could at least begin [...]

At our most recent tete-a-tete, George brought along his photo of Eddie (Cynthia) from the last time she had visited him in Woody Creek. She is topless but wearing jeans, chest down lying in the grass, cheek against the ground, long hair hides her face, at peace, perhaps asleep, yet there is no denying an [...]

A place to grow means, to me, a place to try things, to make mistakes, to be forgiven.
An organization such as the Community School is a many body system. If it is to be emergent, capable of self-organization, adaptive, and to be “alive”, it needs to operate in its’ own state of complexity; and that [...]

Woody Creek is fiercely territorial; we love our community and have strong protective instincts. The active Woody Creek residents tend to be workers and worker bees that have been here a while and solved their own housing problems in the past. They understand and support affordable housing in principle. They feel that Aspen has created [...]

Here is the primary need for the mentally ill: counseling to handle life-long chemical dependence. Bouts with self-induced withdrawals from prescribed drug therapies are a common symptom for the mentally ill. So is self-medication, of which I am both guilty. The marijuana transforms my negative thoughts into glorious ones – filled with self-gratitudes, epiphanies, clarity. [...]