The Dream Is Alive, Part 1: The Trellis Community Story
My first great adventure in Intentional Community (2007-2013)
A check-in before the story
I will start with the context of the full article (published on my new Intentional Community Substack, Creating Utopia). To skip the context, and/or if you were part of the Trellis communal experiment (2007-2013), you can read the full article directly.
It’s been five months since I launched my AI agency. Still zero paying clients. Financial pressure is high. But so is the creative fire: I’ve written some of the best work of my life lately. Pieces like Starting Over at 65: Broke, Brilliant, and Betting on Ideas; When I Was a Child, I Was Happy; and (for my one pro-bono client whom I love) We-Flow: How to Work with More Joy and Effectiveness.
Even with all this production, depression hit again this week. Nothing new — I know the terrain — but it’s never fun. I write, at least in part, to keep the depression at bay.
So why keep writing?
Because I can’t not.
I say to myself: “Marco, you can look for a job tomorrow. But today, you must write.”
The problem is that at my age, a “job” is not enough. It’s actually kind of depressing. I want a life-legacy project. I want work that I enjoy and which makes a difference. I want to know that I can help people through my words, actions and ideas.
So I carry on with my hobby projects. Yet my inner critic is brutal: You’re too far outside the mainstream to ever matter. You’ll die in the gutter, sick, broke, alone and forgotten.
Then I remember my wife Sophie — living proof that my darkest story isn’t true. But when my “genius” pieces don’t explode with new subscribers (still hovering around 400), the voice gets louder. I know it’s irrational, but it’s there.
The Good News
In the midst of all this mishigas, two big shifts are happening currently.
First, I’m learning to write shorter, tighter pieces. AI is helping a lot with that. I am discovering that the combination of Marco + AI is much better than either of them alone. I am not embarrassed about writing with the help of AI, I am proud. Because without me in the driver’s seat, AI writing is not great. And without AI, my writing is just not as good. It’s that simple.
Second, I’m niching down. My writing is all over the map, making it difficult for people who want my content to find me. I have already split off my sexual writing into a new Substack, Relational Erotic Intelligence. Subscribe there is you are interested in my book, As Lovers Do, or in my sexual writings.
And now I am splitting off another Substack: Creating Utopia. It’s focused entirely on my journey with intentional community.
The new Intentional Community Substack starts with The Dream Is Alive, Part 1: The Trellis Community Story — the tale of our six-year experiment in Philadelphia (2007–2013). Some of you lived that story with me; others may be discovering it for the first time.
Twenty-five years after Trellis failed, I’m starting again. My goal now is to find, or start, an IC that is sourced from get-go from Authentic Relating ideas.
Get the full story of what I have learned about IC in the last 25 years here.
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