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In a 12-person household, one might expect constant chaos. But open either refrigerator in this Dorchester home and you'll find meticulously-labeled shelves with food placed neatly above its corresponding tag and large Tupperware containers with Josh, Sarah, Micha, Jen and other names written in permanent marker on strips of masking tape.

The 12 residents of Seed Pod Co-op in Fields Corner—all in their 20s and 30s—buy communal groceries, eat six meals together each week and follow a strict chore chart. They belong to one of Boston's housing co-ops.

Communal living may evoke images of unwashed hippies or weirdo religious cults, but urban cooperative living has been thriving locally. With the US in a precession and the housing market in a slump, cooperatives can be a cheaper way to live in Greater Boston.

There's no official count of how many co-ops exist in Greater Boston, but the city seems to be a central location for them. Micha Josephy, resident at Seed Pod, estimates there may be 15 to 20 in Greater Boston; among them, Seed Pod, Millstone Co-op, Cambridge Co-op, Beaufort House, William Street and Spirit of '76 Co-op.

"Co-ops thrive in different environments for different reasons," Josephy says. "Boston is expensive. That's a big part of it."

Two popular spots for co-ops are Jamaica Plain and Somerville, where a proliferation of large and two-family houses suits a co-op with eight or 12 members. On its website, the Boston Community Cooperatives, a nonprofit for co-op members in the area, quotes figures that emphasize the high cost of living in the area: "When Massachusetts' incomes and housing prices are compared, Massachusetts is the third most unaffordable state in the country, giving it the sixth lowest home-ownership rate in the country."

Mark Shernicoff, president of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives, estimates more than a million units of cooperative housing exist in the country today, with several million people occupying them. Half of these are concentrated in the New York City area, a mecca for cooperative-style housing.

"It's shared costs, it's shared responsibility, it's shared obligation," Shernicoff says. "The risk is lower, especially in the affordable housing arena."

But the growing popularity of cooperatives is not limited to housing. There are consumer co-ops, businesses owned by their customers; credit co-ops, member-owned credit unions; and agricultural co-ops, where farmers pool their tools and resources.

The University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives is currently conducting the first comprehensive survey of cooperatives in the US. According to Brent Hueth, director of the Center, the census-type study will seek to identify cooperative businesses around the country, including housing co-ops. The results will be made available this fall.

Anne Reynolds, assistant director at the Center, feels housing co-ops work so well because of shared interest in the unique living situation.

"People know what they're getting into. People who I've talked to who are not students—they're new to the city or starting a new job in a new place—being able to come into a ready-made community is tremendously positive for them," Reynolds says. "People are more capable of democracy than we think they are."

Elizabeth Saunders, a resident at Seed Pod, has experienced this firsthand. "The main reason it works so well is because everyone there wants it to work," Saunders says, adding that she never comes home to an empty house and that she has five healthy meals on the table every week.

"One of the challenges of our society right now is that people are taken farther apart from each other in a lot of ways ... so the co-op really helps build community," she says. "On the environmental side, it's a sustainable way of living. We buy food in bulk, so we use less packaging. We have a smaller footprint."

Generally, co-ops break down into three categories: houses owned by one or two members, houses owned collectively by all the members and houses owned by a landlord and inhabited by all renters.

Seed Pod Co-op was the first home purchased by the nonprofit organization Boston Community Cooperatives in 2005. BCC purchases houses so that each resident has a stake in all the houses (which are owned collectively by all members) and the organization. The members of Seed Pod received guidance from a development consultant with North American Students of Cooperation, which organizes and educates co-ops.

"BCC is expansion-oriented, movement-oriented," Josephy says.

Some of founding members of Seed Pod and BCC came out of Millstone Co-op in Davis Square. Millstone is an eight-member house that has been active as a co-op since 1999. Its residents eat three meals a week collectively, share chores and have house meetings every two weeks. Joe Terry, who moved there last February, says the co-op's ad on Craigslist was what drew him in, specifically that they were looking for a "passionate life-liver."

"The diversity appealed to me," he says. "Their passion came through."

The three pillars to co-op living, Josephy says, are fairly universal: a community surrounding you, living cheaply and having control over where you live instead of answering to a landlord. "If you know you're living in a co-op and you're a naturally dirtier person, you know you have to work hard at being clean," Josephy says. "Or, if you're a neat freak, you would need to loosen up."

Seed Pod and Millstone both collectively cook vegetarian meals, and though some of the housemates do eat meat, they don't bring it into the house. Both co-ops also have people cook in teams so that the work is shared.

Rent at co-ops generally ranges from $400 to $600 a month. Sometimes the utilities are included. Often, another $50 or $100 is tacked onto the monthly rent for communal groceries, and some co-ops cook together as much as five times a week. Other co-ops are not as connected and do weekly potlucks. It's all up to the discretion of the housemates.

The members of Seed Pod pay different rents according to their room size, ranging from $495 to $611. All the housemates pay $50 more a month for utilities and $130 for food. At Millstone, the residents pay around $500 each, plus $125 a month for groceries and $50 a month for utilities. That is still considerably cheaper than most rents in Boston, where a tiny, one-person apartment can be at least $1,000 a month.

Josephy had lived in a dining co-op at Oberlin College in Ohio, and when he moved back home to Boston after graduation, he knew he wanted to live in one here.

"I fell in love with student co-ops," he says. "The dining halls were so institutional and so expensive. We were eating much better for much cheaper."

Many come to co-op living from college co-op situations. Alisa Lehman, who graduated from MIT in 2005, lived for three years in what MIT calls an "independent living group," (ILG) but is essentially a co-op. The 40 females who lived there bought communal groceries, ate meals together and shared chores.

"It really has more of a home feel than dorms," Lehman says. "One of the biggest advantages of the ILGs at MIT is that most have food included in the rooming costs and it's almost always way cheaper than dorms and a meal plan combined."

Seed Pod has a mostly failsafe method for keeping its three-story, 21-room house organized and clean. A wooden board in the first-floor living room lists all the cleaning chores. There are metal washers hung on hooks in columns to indicate which chores need to be done and which are already completed. Each housemate must do at least six hours of chores a week, so he can go to the board and choose whatever has not already been done, then move the washer over to indicate it's been finished.

Millstone has a similar system where residents get credit for completing chores. According to Terry, if a housemate hasn't been pulling his weight, he's self-aware enough to realize he should pick up the slack.

Millstone buys food in bulk from United Natural Foods to save money. They place their orders, pay through UNF's website and it's delivered to the house in Somerville every month. Terry, who helps coordinate this, wrote accounting software to make the ordering process easier. Agricultural co-ops are also growing in popularity as people in Boston participate in "farmshares" to access fresher food and to gain a more vested interest in where their food comes from.

One of the biggest roadblocks is high turnover among housemates. Terry believes that by raising the living standards at Millstone, people will want to stick around longer than just a year or two. He believes there are smart ways to spend money to have decent furniture and a nice backyard.

"I've always wanted people to stay longer," he says. "I want to stay longer."

The BCC provides a forum for all co-ops on an email listserv. On the BCC Co-op Network Listserv, people can post anything they like—co-ops looking for housemates, housemates looking for co-ops and community events that may be of interest to members, such as a meeting of United American Indians of New England or the annual Boston Skillshare.

Terry would like to see more interaction between all the co-ops. He, Josephy and others have been discussing an inter-co-op brunch once a month so that members from all co-ops in the area can network.

"We'd start with the social side, then segue into more practical projects," Terry says.

Already looking to grow, BCC has been talking to a co-op in Cambridge about merging. They hope to turn existing renter co-ops into owner co-ops so everyone has a stake in their home.

"It's a little intimidating," Josephy says. "But we see the benefit of growing our organization and using joint energy and finances to facilitate co-op living."

Media Farm hasn't written about the Improper Bostonian for some time now. As a result, all sorts of crimes against humanity and journalism have gone un-mocked. Let's put an end to that streak right now.

We all know that the Improper's incomparable editrix, Veronica Chao, teetered over to the Globe some time ago. Things haven't been the same since. Veronica's steely gaze used to put permafrost on our testicles; now, we can scarcely feel anything at all.

So we should congratulate the magazine's new editrix, Megan Lisagor. Her profile of Garden at the Cellar chef Will Gilson—a salad of warm egg served over mixed metaphors, sprinkled with fresh sprigs of sexual frustration—made us feel gross and thoroughly embarrassed. And that's certainly preferable to indifference. Isn't it?

Blue skies cap the four-acre property like the lid on a simmering pot, as he forages for dinner among the awakening blooms. He looks at home, grinning and kneeling in the grass. Except for the designer shirt, jeans and boots. And the spotless hands ... "If I was home and hungry, it was fend for yourself," Gilson says of his childhood, launching into the story although I've only just met him. He seems as open as the road, as we drive down Route 2 past leafy trees repeating like a roll of wallpaper, to meet the people and the land he loves. There are, it appears, going to be no secret ingredients in the recipe that constitutes his life ... We leave the truck for a greenhouse, commenting on the lucky weather as a soft breeze wafts through my blouse ... He spots his mom and emits a soft whistle. This is a mother-son thing; I still can't see her. Suddenly, Jodie appears, embracing her baby. Gilson engulfs her petite frame, his chocolate mop a head above her blonde curls ... I quickly discover that time with Gilson means time in tune with my senses. He has me rubbing, sniffing, biting—treating the herbs like a glass of wine. No pretentiousness here, just country charm ... Warmth emanates from [Gilson's father], embodied by his tanned skin. In sweatshirt and shorts, David takes me on a tour of the grounds, stopping to rub, sniff and bite, just like his son.

And, for the trifecta of pretentious shit no writer should ever do, Lisagor name-checks Eastern Standard, deploys the noun "gastropub" and manages to have jazz "swimming from the speakers." And she's the editor. Editrix. Meaning, she's in charge of reading, criticizing and shaping the rest of the staff's work. Imagine the critiques for their managing editor: "Subject-verb disagreement looks great, Rimas, but how about some more forced metaphors? And a 12-pack of unnecessary adjectives, maybe? Ooh. Ooh. How's my blouse? Is it wafting? Is it wafting???"

OTHER DISPATCHES from the Department of the Death of News: This week's New Yorker, and its profile of Keith Olbermann, proves that dumb isn't just for Fox News and Daily Kos anymore: "Olbermann's success, like [Bill] O'Reilly's, is evidence of viewer cocooning—the inclination to seek out programming that reinforces one's own firmly held political views. 'People want to identify,' [MSNBC VP Phil] Griffin says. 'They want the shortcut. "Wow, that guy's smart. I get him." In this crazy world of so much information, you look for places where you identify, or you see where you fit into the spectrum, because you get all this information all day long.'"

The man's got a point. The volume of information in the world has clearly reached so, so crazy levels, and sentient beings, overwhelmed by this multiplicity of statements of fact (or not??) have lost the ability to evaluate them, weigh them against previously discovered facts, and use them to engage in constructive dialogue. Rather, what we need is to be assured that what we already know is right and just and complete. And, also, to get good and pissed off. Being angry equals wheeeeeeee!

Still, points for printing the word "fuck" in the article—especially a week after the New York Times blanched at the word "scumbag."

And while we're on the subject, the Farm recently finished the article that inspired the tirade that threw the unprintable condom synonym in the Times's lap—Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair hit piece on Bill Clinton. Clinton probably gave the piece more press than it warranted. Purdum swung for the fences, attempting to deconstruct how and why the former president has become a political liability. His conclusion: Clinton is rich, and his friends are scumbags. A bit of news might've helped the cause.

Last week, as Republican presidential candidate John McCain toured the Northeast in a campaign circuit, he admitted his visit to Massachusetts was a fruitless gesture—aside from the $2 million he raised at a fundraiser at the Westin last Wednesday night. "I'll give you some straight talk," McCain told the 450 attendees. "It's a tough state for us to win in. But I want to go everywhere."

After a press conference in Boston on Thursday, where the MBTA Police and the Massachusetts Association of Italian-American Police Officers announced their support for McCain, the senator traveled on to New Hampshire, where he hosted one of his trademark "town hall meetings."

McCain was followed there. Tim Sullivan, legislative and communications director for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) of Massachusetts, says six of the 20 protestors at the Boston event went up to New Hampshire to join another 50 or so union picketers at the Nashua town hall.

The AFL-CIO launched a national "McCain Revealed" campaign in early May. AFL-CIO president John Sweeney says McCain's economic roadmap "could lead to disaster for America's working families," adding a threat that the union would essentially shadow McCain: "If Sen. McCain thinks he can hoodwink working families into believing he's supportive of an economy that works for them, he's sorely mistaken."

Sullivan says many New Hampshire residents commute across state lines to work in Massachusetts, and are thus members of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO.

"We have 10,000 union members who are in Massachusetts, and a number of them are New Hampshire residents. They're our brothers and sisters," Sullivan says. "They're teachers, air traffic controllers, state and county employees. A ton of people who live in New Hampshire work in the Merrimack Valley."

He adds that New Hampshire, though traditionally a red state, has been hotly contested in the last few election cycles. "It's now considered a swing state," he says. "In 2004, it was the only state to go from red to blue."

Jeff Grappone, New England communications director for John McCain's presidential campaign (based in New Hampshire), says this year is not unusual. "New Hampshire voters are used to a lot of attention from candidates in both the primary and general elections," he says.

McCain suggested as much to the Nashua audience on Thursday. "This is what democracy and the political process should be all about," he told the crowd of 700 supporters. "I had 102 town hall meetings here in New Hampshire before the last primary. That's the reason I was able to carry this state and win the nomination of my party. And I need you this November."

Grappone dismissed the union's presence in New Hampshire. "The AFL-CIO's protests have dramatically more to do with partisan politics than any supposed support for American working families."

Sullivan insists the union has not endorsed the Democratic nominee. "We weren't out there with any pro-Obama signs. Our role is to educate the public about working-class issues. McCain has a 0-percent AFL-CIO voting record, which is hard, even for a conservative Republican," says Sullivan, referring to the AFL-CIO's rating of legislators' compliance with issues the national organization has flagged as union concerns. "It's just not true that if you're a Democrat you get our support. We're concerned about certain issues—the economy, healthcare, workforce safety. There are Republicans in this country we support, like Arlen Specter in Philadelphia. The fact is, if there's a Republican that supports us, then we'll tell our members to back them."

Sullivan adds that the union's campaign is not limited to protests, but also educates union members about McCain's voting record, including his support of President Bush's policies, and "his support of tax breaks for companies that export jobs; his interest in taxing healthcare benefits as income, which is a wholesale paradigm shift meant to disempower workers; and his lack of support for the latest GI bill ... I mean, that built the middle class after World War II."

Grappone is confident Granite State voters won't be swayed. "John McCain promises to keep taxes low for middle-class families while Barack Obama has voted 94 times for higher taxes during his short time in the Senate," he says. "The people of New Hampshire know that John McCain is a different kind of Republican, one who stands for fiscal discipline and protecting America, but also has a long record of rising above partisanship to deliver real change."

On Sunday, residents, local organizers, politicians and religious leaders converge in Franklin Park for the first 10,000 Strong Boston, an event that aims to address recent violence and promote peaceful solutions. The local organizers who mobilized the event—who hail from the Nation of Islam, the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense (NBPP) and the Voices of Liberation, among others—drew inspiration from the Million Man March and its offshoots, the Million Woman March, the Million Youth March, the Millions More Movement and last year's 10,000 Men Philly.

Jamarhl Crawford, one of 10,000 Strong's organizers and Boston chapter chairman of the NBPP, says the Boston organizers were careful to learn from these historic marches in creating an inclusive movement. "We didn't want to exclude the women, so we called it 'Strong' to show it's men and women, young and old," he says. "The purpose of the event is to just to bring people together, to talk about different issues, not just violence, but foreclosure, CORI law, the school-to-prison pipeline and gang legislation. From that discussion, we hope to develop and resurrect a movement ... We want to create something everybody can get on board for. We have an agenda, but if there's a question you feel we've missed, bring it to the table."

City Councilor Chuck Turner, one of many speakers scheduled to attend, says his major concern is urban youth. "The US Census tells us that a minimum of 11,000 young people between ages 16 and 24 are out of work and school in this city. We've seen increasing rates of dropouts, and an unavailability of jobs in Boston. It's important that leadership reaches out to young people," he says. "You have to acknowledge the 400 years we spent as part of a slave population. African-Americans' economic, social and political problems result from that history and the culture of inferiority that the country still engages in."

But Crawford is careful not to limit the discourse to youth or African-Americans. "A lot of times we don't do good outreach to the communities outside ourselves," he says. "This event is an all-denominational, continental platform, whether you're Christian, Muslim or Rasta, black, Latino, Cape Verdean or Asian."

Crawford publishes the Blackstonian newspaper, an independent periodical that focuses on local issues affecting the black community. As leader of the NBPP's Boston Chapter, he holds town meetings, the most recent of which showcased local outrage at Operation Safer Homes, the Boston Police Department's controversial effort to crack down on gun violence by getting permission from parents to search their children's rooms for weapons.

The NBPP was founded in 1989, after the original Black Panther Party had disbanded. The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, which includes leading members of the original party, has denounced the NBPP, stating, "Failing to find its own legitimacy in the black community, this band would graft the Party's name upon itself, which we condemn," and suggested the NBPP were "reactionary provocateurs, who would instigate activities counterproductive to the people's interests, causing mayhem and death."

Councilor Turner scoffs at the suggestion. "I live in a country that says that we have the right to attack anyone because they might pose a threat and at the same time says to leaders in my community, 'Teach your kids that retaliatory violence is not the answer,'" he says. "I am concerned about the leadership of this country, which is looking for new people to attack and kill. The New Black Panther Party is not to be feared. President Bush is to be feared."

Crawford attributed a generation gap to ageism on both ends of the spectrum. "There's a lot of information to share. Youth, if forced to do it by themselves, are not able to cultivate a movement. The older generation could teach them about grassroots mobilizing, about their experiences. At the same time, young people understand technology, which could be used as a more effective mobilizing tool," he says. "The generation gap, particularly in Boston, is what's killing the black, Latino and Cape Verdean communities."

Crawford promises 10,000 Strong will be "monumental," adding that Boston hasn't seen mass mobilization on this scale since the 60s or 70s. "In Boston, people are generally pretty apathetic. If you go around the country, national organizations are a shadow of themselves in Boston," he says. "We need to revitalize that desire for civic engagement."

"Listen Lois, I know you're a feminist and I think that's adorable, but this is grown-up time and I'm the man." - Peter Griffin, Family Guy

Let's all laugh now because in about two sentences you're probably not going to like me very much. You can go ahead and substitute "Lois" for "Hillary" and "Peter" for "America" ... The American media, actually, and its blatant, unchallenged double standard in "reporting" on the Democratic candidates.

Mainstream media outlets may as well have been running commercials for Saint Obama, so biased and overwhelmingly sexist was their coverage of Hillary Clinton. And no matter who your favorite candidate was, that's just not right. But this isn't about one candidate over another, or sour grapes or me being on my period. (Insert Midol joke here.)

There were two great candidates, and one of them had to lose. I'm not bitter about that. (Yeah, I am a woman and can be angry without being a bitter shrew.) I will proudly cast my vote for Barack Obama in November. He is going to be a great president.

But as enlightened and liberal and progressive as the Democrats may be for nominating a black guy for president, we need to take a break from congratulating ourselves and look at the treatment of women by the media.

Let's start with the way the term "likeability" was thrown around on cable television. Decades of public service and experience don't count, because Jack Cafferty doesn't want to wake up next to Clinton or have her bake him cookies.

Chris Matthews can say on the air that the only reason this woman has a career is because her husband can't keep his dick in his pants, and nobody does anything about it. People laugh. I guess having an unhappy marriage is the only reason a woman would want to leave the house, right? Meanwhile, on the same network, MSNBC, Don Imus was forced to quit his job after making racist remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Last time I checked, Chris Matthews still had a job. In addition to being the biggest ass hat on the planet. [Imus was later hired by WABC, so racist bigots may also be immune to a proper comeuppance—Ed.]

Male pundits clearly get off on insulting Clinton because of her gender, in the guise of doing real reporting. And we let them. They've been calling her a political failure since last year, before she racked up 17 million votes in the primaries and walked away with the swing states.

And remember when she got a little teary at a campaign event right before the New Hampshire primary? President Bush cries all the time in speeches, and he's never accused of being emotional, manipulative or a pussy. Incompetent, a liar, borderline-retarded, a murderer and a criminal—but never a pussy ... I guess because he doesn't have one.

Tim Russert, a giant of journalism, dies at age 58. Both sides of the aisle mourn him. MINUS 2

A series of advertisements targeting drivers will be launched by the MBTA ... you know, in case you haven't heard of it. Saving energy and gas money is fine with us, as long as you're about an inch wide or can float on the ceiling of the train. PLUS 1

Students at Wentworth Institute of Technology filmed two women in an apartment across the street lying in bed together then leaked the video online. One Peeping Tom's defense? "This all would have never happened if their windows were closed." Why is this kid studying at a tech school when he was clearly born to be a lawyer? MINUS 1

In other pervert news, the ex-operator of the Empire State Building's Skyride was charged last week of pretending to be a doctor so he could give women fake gyno exams ... really, how can we make that more ridiculous? MINUS 1

The Bulger Task Force announces that after 13 years of searching, Whitey is still on the loose and on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. The case has sent FBI investigators on a worldwide vacation-investigation to Italy, England, Sicily and Mexico in search of Whitey. This past year, the task force has pursued about 300 leads and investigated more than 100 look-alike sightings ... but they're still looking ... seriously ... any day now ... MINUS 1

Presidential candidate Barack Obama launches a website that he will use to dismiss myths about him, his background, religion and family. Dear LJ, so much drama. MINUS 1

George, a Tewksbury family's pet rabbit, has been declared the oldest rabbit in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records. The lil' guy is 14 years old—which translates to a wise 160 bunny years. PLUS 1

The US Supreme Court decides to allow Guantanamo Bay prisoners to challenge their detention in civilian courts. Due process?! What a novelty! PLUS 3

After threatening to ruin a state trooper's life, being charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, WHDH Channel 7's Randi Goldklank finally resigns. The general manager announced her resignation Friday morning after she admitted in court that she did indeed go on an alcohol and prescription drug binge at Logan International Airport, before attacking airport employees. Now that's a news story! ... sort of. MINUS 1

CELTICS!!??!! WE DON'T KNOW YET.

Somerville's Good Time Emporium has to close by the end of the month to make way for an Ikea. A Swedish furniture store replacing a local arcade? Gentrification has never been so ridiculously overt. MINUS 1

THIS WEEK'S TOTAL: MINUS 3

LAST WEEK'S TOTAL: MINUS 6

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