Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op

Subject: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jan 02 - 03:53 PM

Maybe some other folks would like to share their stories of memories of living in a collective house. Here's one of mine to stir the pot:

PLACENTA HELPER


Way back in the 1970's when I lived at Rivendell Housing Co-op in Michigan with six other friends, we used to host itinerant folk musicians who performed at the 10-Pound Fiddle Coffeehouse. Well, one time I'll certainly never forget. There was Stan Rogers, his brother Garnet and bass player Dave Eddy. The concert was the evening before and, of course, the evening continued as a late night party in our living room, partially fueled by a bottle of absolute alcohol supplied by one of our resident bio-med students. Anyway, everyone was somewhat bleary eyed when they awoke late next afternoon. We pulled together a wonderful vegetarian chili and some meat chili especially prepared for our carnivorous guests. Most of our members were vegetarians, and Stan and the boys could not resist baiting the vegetarians with stories and songs. Steve, one of our shy med students, rose to the occasion by vividly describing the home birth that had taken place in our house a few years back, casually mentioning that since we didn't know what to do with the placenta in the middle of the winter, someone had wrapped it up in wax paper and stuffed it in the freezer. One of our newer members and cook for the day, Karrie, then chimed in on cue, "In the freezer downstairs? Oh, no!" Stan and the boys turned ashy pale…We did bury the placenta the next spring in the backyard before a real "accident" happened.

Cheers!

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Oversoul
Date: 17 Jan 02 - 08:02 PM

My cat licked all the frosting off the carrot cake I had prepared for the post-rehearsal snack/buffet thing. I was hanging with to wrong crowd, but that is another story. Can you see where this is going? Beware, oh seekers! at a social gathering of strangers, only eat what the chef doth consume.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Jan 02 - 10:37 PM

Ahhh, 112 Admiral Road in Toronto. 12 of us attempting to live communally. Major disaster! Some immediate thoughts:

Dispite a feeble attempt to be egalitarian at first, it ended up with the women doing most of the cleaning 'cause they couldn't stand the shoddy job done by the guys.

When the vegetarians did the cooking, three of us would lie about 'other obligations' and flee to the nearest burger joint. A meeting was held (and boy, were there a lot of them) informing us that not eating dinner together was very 'anti-communal' and that I should damn well learn to like cauliflower, cabbage, turnips, and whatever awful veggies the Creator provided. I tried...no dice.

Jealousy!! After a few months every woman had slept with every guy....except one! He felt like total shit, and got really nasty with everyone.

A member came running in the door one day yelling "We're gonna be busted in ten minutes, quick, eat this hash!!" We did. We weren't busted, but nobody slept for three days. We just sat there talking pretentious gibberish to each other......then we ALL slept for three days!

Ahh youth.

Rick

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 08:59 AM

Oversoul - Ah, you've brought back memories of Malvolio, our adopted stray gray tomcat, who consumed half a chocolate cheesecake he discovered cluttering up HIS table.

Rick - you've brought back fond memories of the "Thanksmas Celebration" (The new holiday that falls between...) in which one member's mother discovered the "special dressing" on top of the sideboard, gobbled down an immoderate amount, and giggled in the corner for the rest of the evening. She fared better than I did, at another party, after consuming someone's "special brownies", I being clueless and consuming far too many; I remember amazing flights of fancy following by a long session of throwing up and dry heaves. What joy!

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 18 Jan 02 - 11:09 AM

Ah - The vagaries and indiscretions of youth !!!

Thirty-odd years ago I was living in a sort of commune in Beckenham SE London. I expect quite a number of names on the folk scene can remember 24 Foxgrove Road.

One of my flatmates was rather more impecunious than the rest of us and anything left open or half-eaten in the fridge tended to disappear without trace. One day when the culprit was out we made a meat pie out of the cheapest can of dog food which we could find (we did add some herbs etc) cut it in two and left half in the fridge - it disappeared. We transferred the other half from the freezer the next day - that went too. The flatmate never understood all the jokes about biting the postman, entering for Crufts etc. over the next week or two.

Another flatmate's parents visited one day - we were all out at the pub - but as the back door was rarely locked they let themselves in. It was a hot day and they found some orange squash and used a few ice cubes out of the freezer.... I never did find out what they really thought about their first (and presumambly last) trip !

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 10:49 AM

Dave - indeed, what joy! Here's more of a nuts and bolts description of how a well organized co-op functioned, in principle and practice:

THE MATRIX

The Matrix! Do you remember the Matrix, tacked on the wall, all columns and rows, household chores on the y-axis (or was it the x-axis?), dates on the other axis, and a CELL for a name, YOUR NAME if so desired. At Rivendell Co-op, our collective household of kindred elves, considerable discussion centered on the relative weights of chores. Preparing and serving the evening dinner for some was creative work, whereas cleaning up afterwards for those same souls was drudgery. Which was worth more or less on the absolute point scale? If these two jobs were done by separate parties then wasn't there a danger of fermenting ANIMOSITY: "You've used practically every pot and pan in the house!"

There was also the principal of strict rotation – no one exempt from particular jobs so that individuals would not become identified with them: "queen of the kitchen" or "bathroom swabbie." Fortunately there were seven of us and seven days of the week so it was possible to lend sanity to our busy lives by signing up to do something, say, every Monday.

It is also true that some were initially better cooks than others, and that some actually improved their culinary skills with practice. All got to better appreciate what it took to cook and to satisfy the appetites of their housemates. Oh, I forgot to mention the DIETARY RESTRICTIONS. Some of us were carnivorous, some vegetarian, some lactose intolerant, one wheat intolerant, and a neighboring 10-year old who hated anything unless it was sugar, salt, or chocolate based. We gradually evolved a practice that the vegetarian cooks cooked vegetarian means for everyone and that the carnivore cooks prepared vegetarian meals with a side dish of dead cooked animal.

Some of the other chores were assigned a weekly schedule, such as cleaning floors and bathrooms. It's amazing looking back on it how much cleaner our co-op household actually was compared to my present apartment with its married resident couple and 2.5 cats. Other chores were done when fortune dictated, when snow fell. There were also collective work week-ends for preparing the garden in the back yard, repainting the house, clearing the basement of whatever had accumulated DOWN THERE. And there were a few specialized jobs such as bookkeeping, food club ordering, and specialized home repair. There are times that I miss the Matrix…

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Ebbie
Date: 19 Jan 02 - 10:24 PM

Shades of the 'Golden Girls'- I have always wanted to try communal living and never have. Part of that time period I was in a traditional marriage- and part of the time I was just too old and cautious, I guess.

The idea of having one's own bedroom/office and sharing the living room and kitchen with other people still intrigues me. Getting less and less likely I ever will. At least, this time around. :)

Ebbie

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: katlaughing
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 12:09 AM

I still love the idea of sharing land with separate living (house/cabin/etc.) for each *unit* and maybe a communal hall for dining, sing arounds and such, also a communal garden. There are some intriguing ads in the Caretaker's Gazzette along those lines.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 11:38 AM

"Saying Grace" was an issue in our house. the "Earthy people" would say long Graces praising various creators, Goddesses (this was the sixties) and great spirits. The Political Aetheists tried to outvote them...and give thanks to "peasant workers" instead, and the Jewish members wanted Krishna mentioned. I just wanted a ban on cauliflower and broccoli.

And OHHH THE MILK WARS!!

"That was MY milk...and you drank from MY bottle!"

"You didn't LABEL it"!!

"Who bought fuckin' SOY MILK"!!??

"You idiot! YOUR milk went sour, and made MINE go sour"!

There was more than just Lactose intolerence at 112 Admiral Road!

Peace

Rick

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 20 Jan 02 - 11:57 AM

Rick, the truth resonates! We never could deal successfully with anything more complicated than basic vegi/carnivore diets. I wish we'd had Barryman's fine song, "When Did We Have Sauerkraut", about cleaning out the refrigerator when we did our periodic search, rescue, and heave it away. "It wasn't saurkrute but it's Sauerkraut now" also has that ring of truth.

We all had our separate bedroom/offices, with shared large living room and kitchen. There were initially 3 couples and a single male, but the later permutations, additions, exciles, and overnight sensations merit their own stories. Generally, we were fortunate that we seldom needed to replace more than one person a year. And our supper interviews with housemate prospects also deserve a book of their own.

Separate apartments would offer more PRIVACY, but when we were collectively good the living situation was probably my best experience.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 10:28 AM

Here are some musings about one co-op dog:

PUPPY

Puppy, a Norwegian Elkhound of female persuasion was a typical co-op pet. She was the product of a broken home, her human parent having been forced to abandon her when she had to vacate her apartment, through lack of centralized heating, and her new landlord had a rigid NO PET policy. Puppy had also had the misfortune to have been "knocked up" by a neighboring dog by the name of Willow, who bore a remarkable resemblance to a hyena, a litter of more ugly puppies can not be imagined. However, Maxine and I came to her rescue, having also being forced to move out of the now furnaceless apartment building, but fortunately we had already made plans to pioneer a new housing co-operative with some of our music and political friends.

"Puppy" never acquired a more dignified name, which may be typical for adopted animals. She soon made herself welcome with our new housemates; she was particularly thrilled with Steve and Robin's waterbed. She also became the terror of the local gray squirrels, stalking them low to the ground, using a nearby tree to help shield her approach. Puppy was most definitely not a vegetarian. Although extremely friendly with her co-op "pack" Puppy also was a terror to anyone in uniform (a byproduct perhaps of her early political training), be that mail carrier, policeman, or serviceperson; she would bark and snarl, tree them if possible, and then sit back and look proud. She was also very territorial with regard to garbage pick-up day; the entire block was her domain and no bag could be moved before she had personally inspected it. As I remember it, one day she returned home especially pleased with a garbage bag around her shoulders, with her head sticking out the middle. I'm amazed that our neighbors were not more offended by her, but after a few years of residence we did become one of the more established residences on our block.
When I decided to leave Michigan and Rivendell Co-op in 1982 to return to Maine, one of the leaving ceremonies was focused on Puppy. At our collective dinner one evening we decided to take her to the Lansing Zoo (you know, the one over at Potter Park) to visit with some real elks. This seemed like an irresistibly good idea at the time, and I'm not even sure if it was inspired at all by any "special brownies." However, we knew we could never achieve this adventure by bringing her in the front gate, although there was some discussion of disguising her as a see-and-eye-dog, an idea which was quickly dropped because of her predictably rude behavior in the presence of authority figures. Thus, we planned this foray for the dark of night, with access over an abandoned railroad trestle that entered the rear of the park. Hours later we all piled into a pickup truck and made our way to the railroad trestle, and contrary to some peoples' stories everything went like clockwork, good clockwork. We found an elk cage with elk inside and Puppy actually got to go nose to nose with one massive elk. Puppy, however, was more thrilled by the cage of wolves, who appeared equally thrilled to see her, raising one unholy din and persuading us to abort an otherwise fascinating foray as torch lights appeared from the security shack.
Puppy did make it to Maine with me, terrorizing a new neighborhood of squirrels in Portland before finally retiring to my parents' farm. Then one day she went out into the woods and didn't return. Sad, it's true, but I like to think of her spirit still out there in the woods, keeping the squirrels on their toes.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 21 Jan 02 - 12:10 PM

Ha Ha! Privacy Issues...that was a good one! Oh, and Charlie, I agree about "Interviewing new members". Actually we had a reasonably high turnover at our house, and I remember at least 8 or 9 "interviews".

About four or five of our members felt that "Privacy" was a Capitalistic Oppressor type concept, and said that every room whether occupied or not should be open to anyone to just 'walk in'. It was suggested that when anyone had any extra cash, they'd just plunk it into the big coffee can in the kitchen....to be used by anyone who needed it. Naturally the folks who had JOBS weren't terribly thrilled with this....especially when the standard excuse for taking money was "hadda buy dope".

Naturally, after about six months, a hierarchy formed itself with an "earth mother" rising to the top of the heap. She made herself indespensable to the group in many ways, often keeping us just this side of anarchy. We called her "Big Lynda" and I have no idea whether her ascent was the result of strategy, or natural selection. I know one thing though; She was smart enough to have a series of rotating male "consorts". When she'd choose a new one, the old one would become a sort of "boyfriend Emeritus".

When our communal 'house of cards' finally came crashing down, it was shortly after Big Lynda chose one of the other women to be her "consort". There was instant hostility from both the male and female members of the house...it had nuthin' to do with 'anti-gay' sentiments, but everything to do with some kind of "primal balance" thing. Shortly after, people just seemed to move on. I have to admit that even for a 'non-communal' kind of person (I thought I was communal at first) it was an amazing time.

Rick

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 22 Jan 02 - 11:25 AM

Here's another tale which focuses on the FREEDOM one has in a communal house to inovatively personalize your private space:

DAVID'S BED

David was the housemate who was the engineering genius. Nothing would make David happier than when something broke down, something with a jillion tiny parts that he could spread out on the kitchen table, admire, and then reassemble in working order.

David, like many a genius, had a dream. Well, actually he had many dreams but the one in question had to do with fabricating the ultimate bed, one which would make the most efficient use of his two small rooms and be fully functional. We laughed when he proposed one evening during our communal supper that he was going to design a bed that would rise and disappear into his ceiling. But after due discussion he got our full approval to try.

Well, first he tore out the ceiling plaster exposing the joists, and then he tore off the wall paneling exposing the studs. He designed a pulley system powered by an electric motor and counterweighted with cement blocks that went up and down the stud cavity, with a network of chords that attached to ringbolts in each corner of his new bed frame. He put in a push-button switch on the wall and after some trial runs was able to demonstrate before our admiring eyes the success of his project. He re-installed the wall panel and the finishing touch was to install a fake ceiling onto the bottom of the bed frame so that when the bed was "levitated" the room look perfectly normal to those who entered, although rather empty.

Well, David was one happy boy and his bedroom soon became a "must-see" on the Rivendell house tour. What we'd do is invite our guests to walk into David's room, where they'd look around and invariably say "But where does he sleep?" Whereupon we would trigger the switch and the ceiling would slowly descend above their heads. This usually provoked a pleasing reaction from our guests, pleasing to us at any rate.

However, I'll never forget the time when the bed frame jammed before descending, only to free itself ten seconds later to drop rather abruptly on those below...

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 01:44 PM

Still looking for more contributions. Maybe I'll work up the story of Thanksmas, our alternative holiday between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: GUEST,jayohjo
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 11:09 PM

I fear I'm showing my youth here....but what is the actual practical difference between a commune and just living with people as most students do these days, aside from political statements and actually calling it a commune? Did students not living in communes used to live on their own? Somebody please explain....

jayohjo xx

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 11:11 AM

Yeah, I'm intrigued too! These descriptions of communal living sound not unlike my undergrad days...is it just the ideology that differs?

(BTW jayohjo, didn't you mention ages ago that you were coming to Bristol or something...?)

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 03:05 PM

What is a housing co-op, commune, collective pad, condo, or whatever?

Well, it's only important to those of us who like to make distinctions about living situations. The co-op we formed and lived in was also a legal entity, a non-profit corporation that held the title to the house. We had a "limited equity" interest in the house restricted to the size of a security deposit. What happens in the future if the house is sold? Well, according to our bylaws, if anyone can still find them, any sales money would go toward retiring outstanding co-op debts and then if there were any profits left they would have to be donated to some other housing co-operative organization. The decision to sell the house would require a "Type 3 Vote", a vote of all current and former residents who could still be contacted; this was our defense against some future generation of Rivendwellers ripping off the co-op. We did a lot of thinking and discussion about this, but I'm sure some legal minded free enterprisers could still unravel our checks and balances.

We could also have rented space as a legal co-op entity, or bought an apartment building with separate co-op units. Other types of co-ops grant members a full equity interest in their share of the co-op. Sometimes there's really not a whole lot of difference between a co-op apartment unit and a condo apartment unit, such as in places like New York City. And NOTHING guarantees a long term co-operative spirit.

We, back in the 1970's, were both students and ex-students, with an age range of early 20's to late 30's. But co-ops are also operating for retirees as well, with an in-house manager hired to provide specialized care; sometimes this situation is described as "congregate" housing, generally subsidized by state housing authorities. Now that I am approaching the age of 60, that option has more appeal.

You could also have a co-op schooner, but I bet that enterprise would soon "sink" under the burden of co-operative management.

The essential thing about any successful "household of unrelated individuals" (or related ones for that matter) is that they have a process of getting to know one another BEFORE they are living together. All of the original members of Rivendell Co-op knew each other through friendship networks, music associations, or politics, or even all three. We still had a series of breakfast meetings to discuss a whole range of "what ifs" and it's amazing how many we were able to nail. Afterwards, when we were replacing a member (the predecessor generally left voluntarily although usually under stress...) the procedure was to inventory our non-resident friends and if none of them were active prospects, place an AD, invite the prospects individually to a dinner, and then assemble the residents for a discussion followed by a "Type 2 Vote" - each resident could unconditionally veto a prospect.

This is probably more than anyone really wants to know about housing co-ops. Suffice to say, ours survived to this day in some fashion. Two neighboring ones which formed about the same time as ours did not survive, one the victim of anarchy, one the victim of fascism (one couple drove everyone else out).

Have a nice day!

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 27 Jan 02 - 06:38 PM

Next time "Thanksmas" - that communal holiday that fits in between.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 02:13 PM

THANKSMAS

Holiday are stressful to us all, as well to the communal household and those of us sharing the comforts of Rivendell Co-op were painfully aware that when a traditional holiday hit we split off in all different directions leaving one or two members rattling around in an almost empty house.

Then one year we got the brillant idea that instead of trying to compete with the holidays, the major ones being Thanksgiving and Christmas, we would create our own alternative one. And so "Thanksmas" came to be and all was happy again in our nest, that is until we tried to implement the concept.

Who would attend was no problem except there was a long list of prospects from relatives, friends, and ex-members. Our livingroom space was L-shaped and rather narrow in each dimension - no round table would fit, nor our octagon kitchen table which was needed out there anyway for a staging area. What were we to do for tables? Well, looking around at the blank faces, and then the walls didn't help much, until we came to the doors. DOORS! Doors could be taken down and with the assistance of milk crates would make excellent modular tables. Off we flew for tools and in 15 minutes we were lumping in doors from various parts of the house and laying them out in the configuration of a skewed cross. Not bad, we thought, except for the door knobs that might get confused with salt and pepper shakers. But we had a plan and it seemed to work. We giggled over how years later new members of Rivendell would be terrorized by the annual call of "Thanksmas, Assemble!"

That's all there really is to this story. Things worked out as planned, usually about 30 people showed up with huge amounts of food, and left with huge cramps in their legs necessitated by having to sit on the carpet with their legs folded somewhere to gain access to the table. The last time I checked in, some 5 years ago, Rivendwellers were still celebrating their annual Thanksmas.

Subject: RE: Torrid Tales: The Housing Co-op
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 09:32 AM

Surprisingly I've received some PM's seriously expressing interest in housing co-ops. The best resource for forming or sustaining a housing co-op has to be NASCO, the National Association of Student Co-operative Organizations headquarted in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Several ex-Rivendwellers spent years working for NASCO. They deal with both student and non-student co-ops, and everything from large apartment-like complexes to smaller co-ops like Rivendell.