The Trail

The Trail

Author's note: Another short story, little dark, perhaps even a little lovecraftian. I've read Stephen King's "On writing". Excellent book, if somewhat harsh, guide on writing. As always do comment with any constructive criticism. I'm just starting out, so it would be...

Re-imagining a fairy tale

As part of Neil Gaiman's masterclass on writing he suggested that you take a well known fairy tale and then put a twist on it. So here we go. My meagre attempt, but I'm going to keep trying and writing. Stops me from arguing with the real Trolls online....

143 – Languages to learn

How many languages should be taught or learned? Every member should strive to be bi-lingual or better. To speak another language is to learn another culture, to speak properly is to understand the mindset of a people and the no doubt necessary time abroad to master...

142 – Distribution of knowledge

How should knowledge be distributed among the members and the public? Obviously there are various elements to learning: Obtaining knowledge : facts and details.Obtaining practical skills : Experience, work.Creating theories, improving existing theories. Members must...

141 – Ageism and membership

How will age affect the process of entering the community? While in many entries there has been discussion of this there should be a clarity of what it means to 'enter' the community. In many communes, monastic groups around the world there are full-time members...

140 – Community Hierarchy

How will the hierarchy of the community be decided? There shouldn't be a huge hierarchy, any sufficiently complex hierarchy creates too many divisions between those elected and those not elected into positions of control. We are all different levels of our chosen...

139 – Growth and Membership

How would the community grow over time? I would like to see the community only grow at a natural and stable pace that if correctly managed will have savings for hard times, provide for the members and prepare a fund for a future community .The rather elegant system of...

138 – legal status of the community

How would the community be viewed by a government? Which, to clarify means as a charity, foundation, enterprise, a Higher Education Corporation etc. etc. Due to the intricate issues of law dependent on the country that the community resides this is not easy to answer....

137 – relationships and family

How should relationships and families be integrated into the community? The community, while sharing similarities with monastic orders has far more in common with a campus university or kibbutz. A working collaborative commune in which people will invariably fall in...

136 – Rule creation

How should rules be decided on? This has been discussed in part in e76 and normally after a founding document (constitution) being created by a random community of full time community members (advocates). Rules in such a document should be considered rules of conduct...