To what length will we go to avoid loneliness? Facebook may once have been the one-word answer to that question, but for the hundreds of millions flocking to engage in ebocloud.com, "friending" seems frivolous by comparison. In the "great belonging" of the cloud, few stop to consider what sacrifices are being made as they work together with their "ebo cousins" to build a more loving society, under the leadership of ebocloud's idealistic architect, Radu Cajal. For New York artist Ellison Luber, however, the losses are not abstract-they are immediate and personal. While nearly oblivious to the...

The Colony is in mourning. The residents of the Hudson Valley farming collective share a close-knit life and a vision for remaking urban neighborhoods with the skills they are learning. They have also shared a loss so devastating they fear the shock will undermine all their efforts. In a scheme to unburden themselves, they turn to storytelling. Through their heartrending accounts, we view blighted American cities from society's fringes - from the squatter homes of Detroit to the embattled streets of Philadelphia. We meet a veteran who returns home to find his neighborhood walled off into a...