Our Stories

laurel & ben hara

Originally from New Hampshire, Ben was raised in a rural farmhouse with four parents and seven kids.  He's spent the last several years traveling, farming, learning, and growing.  He's become obsessed with studying sustainable design and building, and is counting the seconds until the day he and Laurel build their own house together.

After starting her life on her parents' organic apple farm in rural Colorado, Laurel spent 17 years growing up in Miami, Florida.  She graduated from MAST Academy, a marine science-themed magnet high school in Miami, in 2000.  She attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts for two years and is currently completing her Bachelor's degree in Social Ecology at the Institute for Social Ecology.  She plans  to continue her education with certification as a direct-entry midwife.

In November 2003, our relationship began in the most perfect, fertile context--we had both travelled to Miami to organize massive demonstrations against the Free Trade Area of the Americas, and we were ready to create some change.  Neither of us knew that we would come away from this protest experience not only with a renewed sense of dedication to social change, but with new fuel, new inspiration, and new dedication--to eachother. Since meeting in Miami, we have travelled and explored the country and deepened our commitments to grassroots social justice and to each other.  We stand dedicated to sustaining a personal relationship and a world community that reject oppression and hierarchy.   We currently live in Grand Junction, Colorado, where we have opened a collective house and community center called The Confluence Collective.  To learn more about our travels and our activism, visit our _____ page.