Today, i had the joyous opportunity to speak at Storm Sessions, a local conference of San Francisco collectives trying to understand how to think about community and relationships. The conference is particularly valuable because so many cross-collective relationships are built.

The morning started out with a Ethan Watters sharing his thoughts on Urban Tribes with the crowd. Even when i disagree with him, i really love listening to Ethan. He’s so articulate and so interested in hearing dissenting opinions. It’s clear that he loves this topic, that it’s personal and that he really wants to understand it from all perspectives. That’s quite refreshing.

The next two sections were split between different panels and i sat in on the panel on polyamory and the one on cooperative housing. It was interesting to hear people that i know talk about topics that i have once lived…

Finally, Howard Rheingold and i wrapped up the day with a discussion about digital technologies and community. I think we were supposed to focus on online communities, but i quickly derailed us into a discussion based on what i felt was missing by some of the other talks: the issues that emerge when communities try to form cross-generationally because of the differences in communication structure. We talked about SMS, IM, the Well, meetup, Friendster/Tribe.net, etc. But more than anything, we took questions from the audience and had a group discussion. It was really nice. I’m so used to talking to public audiences that it was great to sit on a couch that was part of a household that i know well and talk to a group of friends and friends-of-friends. And it was fantastic to have Howard there, sharing his experience with folks who have the same goals, but come from different eras and experiences. It made me thrilled! A giddy girl bringing together friends with common threads.