In her famous autobiography Dorothy Day says, "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community."In Seattle, community is the key to thesuccess of theCapitol Hill coworking space, Office Nomads. Coworking is therapidly growing idea that people of different professions can shareone working environmentand successfully attend to their individual jobs. When working from home becomes too stifling or distractingand the need to get out and interact with other people is overpowering, coworking isthe answer. For those who telecommute daily, coworking is ideal.In the Catholic Church, we talk a lot about the importance of community - our family community, our parish community. But what about our working community?The New York Times ran an article about the growing trend of coworkingin February andprofiled a few of the organizations that have helped facilitate the spread of this idea.The motto at Office Nomads is "individuality without isolation" and its founders Susan Evans andJacob Sayles knew that this idea wouldgo over well in Seattle - a city wherebusiness meetings often takeplace in crowded corner coffee shops. Office Nomads and its contemporaries haveprovided a newkind of communitythat inherently providesnetworkingand the exchange positive ideas while creating a space to get work done and of course, have a cup of coffee.It is this kind of community that prevents all of us from collapsing under the pressure of the long loneliness and allows us to grow more fully into the people God wants us to be.

Marianne L. Tierney is a PhD student in theology at Boston College.

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