Meet the Current Members
In January of 2019 Barney, Wren, Rasmani, Susan, Jim and Tomma came to a series of gatherings at the Great Barrington Library, initiated by a young couple, who was showing movies about intentional communities in the US with a brief discussion group afterward.
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These meetings sparked such interest in us that we decided to keep on meeting to pursue the idea of possibly creating an intentional community, right here in the Berkshires. We began alternating potlucks at various homes with more meetings at the library. Uli came to a potluck in February, and soon Rod followed by attending one of the following meetings at the library with her. Judy heard about our group from Wren and attended an open house we held in March.
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Some others were also present with their ideas and passions for shorter or longer parts of this journey, but it was the nine of us who ultimately stayed committed to the process.
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Barney Stein
Property Circle
Vision / Mission Group
Wren Bernstein
Property Circle
Events Circle
New Members / Outreach Circle
Vision / Mission Group
Jim Lawrence
Comic Relief Specialist
Events Circle
Born in 1962.
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Grew up in Manhattan (NYC) and Pompano Beach, FL., lived in Northern California for 14 years, and Boston for eight. Has been living in West Stockbridge since 2006, and couldn't be happier.
Barney feels extremely fortunate to live and work in Berkshire County. It’s a bucolic place that combines nature, farm-to-table culture, all the arts, recreation and lots of cool folks.
He loves nature, food, art and design, photography, movies, theater, dance, travel, psychology and spirituality. He is fascinated by what makes people tick, and how they live their lives.
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He has been working with Lance Vermeulen Real Estate in Great Barrington since 2007
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Born in 1957
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Currently lives alone in her own home in Lee, MA, here in the Berkshires.
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Grew up in Philadelphia but enrolled at age 20 in Boston University’s Program in Artisanry for a bachelor’s degree in metalsmithing and jewelry design, and has lived in Massachusetts ever since. In her 30s she shifted gears from custom goldsmithing to clinical social work, which is what she still does today, though it’s only in the past couple of years that she finally took the leap from working for others to creating her own full-time private psychotherapy practice.
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Born in 1945, Jim grew up in L.A.
His stepdad played pro baseball so he and his family moved every summer.
He was a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy for two years but his fantasy of becoming an astronaut crash landed: military life was not a good fit for his adventurous spirit. He returned to California to become a writer and fell into acting instead. He worked with Steven Spielberg on a short film, Slipstream; performed in 60 stage plays; played major roles for three years with world-renowned South Coast Repertory.
An adventurous spirit led to hang gliding while co-owning a small restaurant in Eugene, OR; co-starring in the TV series SWAT; co-starring opposite Kirk Douglas in a major feature film; authoring four nature photography books; and forging a 30-year career as a staff and freelance magazine writer, editor and photographer.
He met his wife of 19 years, Tomma von Haeften, online and has adapted to humidity and loves the four seasons.
Jim is retired at full throttle with a variety of creative hobbies, new home renovation and working on a spiritual sci fi novel.
Life is good.
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Tomma von Haeften
Events Circle
Sociocracy / Process Circle
Web Site Manager
Vision / Mission Group
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Rasmani Orth
Sociocracy / Process Circle
Miracle Circle
Susan Jameson
Miracle Circle
Born in 1960 in Germany
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Lives in Great Barrington, MA with her husband Jim.
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Went to art school and was an abstract painter until her early thirties. Then changed her focus to healing and transformation work, and trained in several modalities, which she offered in her private practice. Currently she is most inspired by teaching people how to hold intention circles and guiding clients through altered state sacred journeys.
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She is also a devout gardener.
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Born in 1950, in South Charleston, West Virginia
Came to Massachusetts to become part of the Kripalu community, where she worked on the children’s program, the grounds crew, and taught and designed experiential psych-spiritual programs. She was dean of faculty, and for the last years, a workshop programmer.
Rasmani was involved in leaderless groups in many forms. She studied Gestalt therapy, and was part of a small group that formed out of that training, which continued to meet for decades. She has also been involved in Quaker meetings and leaderless book groups.
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Profile to come soon.
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Uli Nagel
Property Circle
Sociocracy / Process Circle
Sociocracy Trainer
Rod Stanbrook
Property Circle
Judy Fox
Events Circle
Art and Creativity
Born 1960
Currently living in Lee, MA with her husband Rod.
She grew up in Germany and has been living in the Berkshires since 1998.
She has been teaching Pilates in her home studio for 20 years and over the past 3 years has been spending more and more time on climate related issues. That led to one of her Pilates clients starting a non-profit with her: ener-G-save. They work with towns and schools to foster climate and energy-related leadership in communities.
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Born 1948
Lives in Lee, MA
Grew up in Vancouver, B.C. Canada
Works as a Contractor, mainly for residential remodeling.
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Has lived in various communities for 35 years of his life.
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Born in 1947
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Judy is a Native New Yorker who has lived in the Berkshires for over 20 years.
She has been a teacher of English as a second language, traveled extensively, and worked for many years at a nonprofit, educational and spiritual organization. Some of her work at the organization involved overseeing printing jobs, researching for magazine writers and interior decorating.
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Cate Tower
Property Circle
Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1952.
Became a Berkshirite at an early age. Traveled to many places such as India, Tibet, Bali, Thailand and China.
Widowed when her two son were still small. After about 16 years in West Hartford, CT as a special education director, overseeing a large private school for children with severe trauma histories, she returned to the Berkshires to be closer to her 93 year old mother for family support.
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Currently she works as the Special Education Director for a small private special needs school serving children with complex special needs in southern Berkshire.
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Sharon Coleman
Property Circle
Sociocracy / Process Circle
My background includes a PhD. in clinical psychology. I spent two decades working as a management consultant to large corporations with a focus on leadership and team
building. I also engaged in the private practice of psychotherapy for many years. These days, I teach programs and coach people in conscious communication, based on the
nonviolent communication work of Marshall Rosenberg. And, I teach and facilitate mindfulness meditation in a Buddhist context.
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