A watercolor image of a man in profile, wearing a ponytail and singing with his mouth open and eyes closed. The background is light pink and yellow with music notes in the air.
Residents write about living at the tiny house village and reflect on life. (Enera Wilson)

Pioneers

By Rossi

Ignorance is bliss
As assuming first impressions
My expressions often descend blunt
Meet new business man
Make ’em shake my left hand—
And tell all the others
Who come after
About the drama, comma, laughter
Many came before
too into the theatrics
Me, I’m no actor
Unbaptized 
I hopped off the stage
I’m not into raves
I am, the ambiance
And my passion is ambient
photosynthesis, growing like 
Passionfruit, poltergeist C’est la vie
L’appel du vide

Genetics

By Sam R.

I myself have struggled with mental health, as with my family and knowing how hard that can affect someone leads me to say that if there was any genetics I could change I would start with that one. My parents have both struggled with schizophrenia. One more so than the other. Because of that I’ve seen first hand how it can be, and if that’s one thing (along with all mental illness) I could rid the world of, I would do it in a heartbeat. 

Survival 

By Sam R.

I think that everyone has an innate sense of survival in our DNA, but besides the instinct to simply stay alive I think that we as humans try to progress and innovate. That being said, life is no picnic, and things can get rough, we all know the saying, “when times get tough the tough get going” and I think personally (as fucked up as it might seem) what keeps me pushing ahead is to do better (or achieve more) than my father/family did. Yes we survived, we made it, but that’s not enough for me. I want to be great. And although it’s not the primary goal, the only successful path to immortality we’ve found is through passing our stories of one another. Elon Musk, Lebron James, immortals, and I want to see if I can push myself to those heights. 

Your Age

By Liane C.

If I didn’t know my age I feel like I would assume that I’m in my late 60s or 70s. The reason why is because I’m constantly worrying about my death. Statistics show that this mainly happens to people once they become older in age and are looking for the next part of their existence or non-existence. Blah. Blah. Blah. 

It’s crazy to think that more people my age aren’t scared for this. I honestly just want to know how they are able to focus on other things or have hobbies they enjoy. My body feels about 35. I’ve been doing hard handy work since I was young and I still do to this day. The age of my heart? I’m not sure on this one. I’ve been through a lot as a person and most of it was from when I was younger. Therefore, I’m not sure for this one. 

The Tiny House Empowerment Village Writing Group arose out of the belief that everyone has a story to tell, and that telling our stories together furthers a sense of community. Since June, facilitated by Zoe Mosko, the writing group has been meeting at the Village twice a month. Participants sit around and talk, enjoy snacks, write on suggested writing prompts, or free write and share what they’ve written.