I guess in my own infantile way, I put women on a pedestal. It made me not want to be a part of it. Despite all these close-knit communities, I can still feel awfully lonesome. All communities bicker. All communities feel threatening at one time or another.
Communities are as hard to commit to as intimate partnerships.
My four communities annoy the hell out of me from time to time, but I'd be lost without them at this point in my life. Perhaps the reason communities based on ideology are shakier is because they do not have long traditions, a cohesive system of ethics, or a tight organizational structure to hold them together. Ideologies often change rapidly given the way society is moving along at lightning speed. We were so intense, so hard on ourselves, and on each other that women just felt they had to get the hell out of Burlington, and some did. Others retreated into their little worlds and didn't interact much anymore.