Tony's Bio

Born in 1972. Middle Class. White. Catholic. Italian-Irish. Youngest of three (two older sisters). Loving family (parents are still happily married). My family wasn't very political, but they certainly voted Republican.

The turning points in my life were getting a skateboard (8th grade), and seeing the Grateful Dead (10th grade). The first taught me rebellion, and the second showed me there was an alternative to the mainstream.

Wanting to see more Dead shows, I headed to California for college, and ended up at Stanford University. There I was introduced to the concept of community living at Synergy co-op. At Synergy I was politicized (feminism, ecology, class, race, etc.), taking my desire for a different path and adding a desire to change the world. That's when I fell in with Dancing Rabbit and soon was part of the core group.

It was also at Synergy that I fell in love with my partner, Rachel Katz. She and I have been together since 1994, and we're happy to be living together full-time after some tough times of negotiating our locales, relationship dynamics and social change priorities. In 2000, we celebrated our commitment to each other with a ceremony with family and friends joining us at Dancing Rabbit. I certainly didn't know back at Synergy that our love would grow this strong and our relationship would be one of the most fulfilling and magical parts of my life (not that we don't have issues, like everyone else).

After Graduation, I worked as a computer programmer for a few years in the Bay Area, saving money for DR while we planned our community and looked for land. Since moving to DR, I still do some computer work, but I've also spent time as the community gardener, and coordinating numerous construction projects around the community. My first building was Allium, where Rachel and I now live. Now my main focus is Skyhouse, a six bedroom community house already many years in the making. Of course, like everyone at DR, I do lots of different things: vehicle maintenance, biodiesel conversion, fund raising, facilitation, website, giving tours, photography, fruit trees, etc. I like to help organize projects, so you'll often see me with a group of interns or visitors teaching or leading them in some task.

Speaking of Skyhouse, I'm a member of Skyhouse Community, an income sharing group at DR. I really enjoy communal living and the close connections I have with my commune-mates. My friendships with Cecil (since 1991 in Synergy) and Jeffrey (since 1998, our first new member after moving to Missouri) are the solid foundation of my chosen family at DR.

Another passion of mine is community networking. I work with the Fellowship for Intentional Community as a Board member and doing their bookkeeping and accounting. I enjoy the chance to meet with other community activists from around the country and see how DR is part of a larger cooperative living movement.

I see my life at DR as a chance to live out my values while doing the social change work of demonstrating an alternative. Its my passion for this work and the joy I take from my fellow community members and the land that makes DR the place I expect to call home for a long time.

Tony- 11/01