I didn’t sleep very well last night (was suffering from some sort of stomach ailment, which ultimately led to me calling in sick to work this morning) and kept thinking about the community post.

It seems that, firstly, I am not alone in feeling without a community.  There is such an emphasis on “community” in our culture, and for those of us that live our lives on the fringe of society (or feel on the fringe whether or not we actually are) it can be difficult to find a place to fit in.  But what does community actually mean?

from the entry for Community on Wikipedia:

In sociology, the concept of community has led to significant debate, and sociologists are yet to reach agreement on a definition of the term. There were ninety-four discrete definitions of the term by the mid-1950s.

Since I’m feeling a little under the weather this morning, I will consider Wikipedia to be the ultimate source.  So nobody really knows exactly what community means, least of all sociologists, for whom you would think it would be important to know. 

Let’s be inclusive then, rather than exclusive as I was in my previous post.  What communities do I really belong to?

Well, the community of violin teachers.  I even belong to a couple of email lists!  I also belong to a variety of organizations.  Suzuki Association of the Americas, American String Teachers Assocation, that sort of thing.

I’m also a performing violinist and member of the American Federation of Musicians.  I perform in orchestras and also play for weddings—I certainly fit into a variety of groups under those umbrellas.

I belong to a gym.  Often when I go there I run into quite a few people I know-

Online I have a few different places on the internet that are mine, that I check into often, that I post in, and even exchange Christmas cards with some of the people I’ve met.

These are examples of what I thought of last night…

The fact still remains that none of this is INTEGRAL to my life, to my happiness.  These are all little things that combine to make my life more interesting, more complete, but they are all things I could easily do without.  So I haven’t made any more progress, have I?  

Am I bothered by my lack of community?  Only since I was prompted to write about it.