Deep Community: Finding New Roots of Belonging

On modern social networks and our longing to reclaim deep connections

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My last name tells a story. Crouch is an English surname that comes from the Anglo-Saxon root of Cruche, which means ‘at the cross’. This would assume that my ancestors worked at a crossing point for markets and trade, perhaps as innkeepers. I have who became a famous courtesan in Paris, rebranded herself as Cora Pearl, and lived a rather scandalous life.

There are also my Scottish ancestors, from the MacDonald clan, who arrived in Boston by boat in the late 1800s and walked (yes, walked!) all the way to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (over 2 weeks on foot according to Google Maps).

Why do I mention this in an article about community in our current day? Because I am not only Ashely Crouch, a random Canadian writing on the internet. I am the summation of my past; genetically, ethnically, culturally, and in the lore of the people that lived so that I may live today.

This is part of what I have come to term Deep Community.

The Deep Movements: Ecology and Time

The environmental philosophy of was very popular when I was studying religion in graduate school. Popular in…