The Residency Project

Inviting Anarchy Into My Home, an article by the GCAC's Liz Seymour was published in the New York Times on Thursday, March 9th. In it, she writes about her experience in one of Greensboro's collective house's:

"On Aug. 1, 2002, I left behind the comfortably roomy semicircle marked 'married-couple household' on the Census Bureau pie chart and slipped into an inconspicuous wedge labeled 'two or more people, nonfamily.' Having separated from my husband of 28 years the day before, I opened our three-bedroom 1927 Colonial Revival house to a group of men and women less than half my age. Overnight, the home I had lived in for 12 years became a seven-person anarchist collective, run by consensus and fueled by punk music, curse-studded conversation and food scavenged from Dumpsters."

Many college students experience the rewards and challenges that come with sharing living facilities. After college, however, most people choose to live singly or in a nuclear family-the most familiar models in 21st century American life. In a program called "Residency" members of one of Greensboro's collective houses propose collective living as an alternative for life beyond college. "Residing" in a public area on campus, presenters spend two days going about their normal activities as a collective community. Possibilities include arts, crafts and music, cooking and serving food, giving impromptu skillshares and engaging in discussions; all the activities are open to student participation.