MSU SHC Pine Press October 30 2020
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MSU SHC Pine Press October 30 2020
October 2020 Pine Press Brought to you by the MSU-SHC Education Committee
TABLE OF CONTENTS Cover design by Chrystel Lopez from Miles Davis p2. Note from the Editor p3. A Spooky Night in Bowie House p4. Left Bower Updates & Community Design p7. Spooky Cocktail Recipes p8. Album Rewind: Romeo Void p10. COVID Corner p11. Body Liberation p12. HAUS LUV p12. Sounds of the SHC p14. Haven House Contributions p15. Contact Us
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR By Emily Tyler from Vesta Hello readers of the Pine Press! Hey, thanks for picking this up! Inside this edition you’ll find some seasonally appropriate features to get you in the spooky spirit, as well as some updates on what’s going on within our co-op. Some updates that aren’t written about in articles include the relatively new hiring of Marshall Clabeaux, resident of Rivendell, as temporary full-time staff for the SHC to help us out during a time of personnel shifts (Nola’s on maternity leave, MC reduced his hours to 2
MSU SHC Pine Press October 30 2020
work on the redistricting committee, Mike is only able to do outdoor maintenance fieldwork…). Marshall will be dedicating his time to website development, maintenance desk work and field work. Another update is that the SHC has at long last filled the position of Corporate Secretary, who ensures that our executive committee meetings and Board meetings are properly documented and recorded. His name is Dale Kruithoff, member of Howland House. A warm welcome to these two dudes - thanks for the help! For me, these two additions to our staff and leadership team demonstrate the keen ability of co-ops to mine the resources that we already have within our membership. It is because of the vast assortment of people within our co-op with their own individual strengths and skills that we are able to find the people to help us do the work. Go us!! Have a SAFE and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!! Luv, Emily Tyler, Vice President of Education
A SPOOKY NIGHT IN THE BOWIE HAUS By Blake Hedges from Bowie T’was a cool autumn evening, the sun was setting, the wind was beginning to pick up and the sounds of leaves battered against every window of the David Bowie Memorial Coop. It was what seemed like a normal night to me and everyone in the house, until suddenly we heard some emphatic banging from the floors above us. First it sounded like jumping or stomping, but it was so abrupt, so abnormal. We moved gingerly up the stairs, peering around every corner to investigate. The sounds became louder. Now it seemed like someone was dragging something, I looked at my housemate Danny as his eyes widened. Danny was fearful, and I couldn't blame him. Danny covered his face with his hands and said, "Blake, I think I'm gonna wet my..." and just before he could finish we heard another voice from the third floor. "RAAA RAAA, AHHH,
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AHHH, AHHHHHH!" I wanted to run away, but I didn't. Danny screamed, and proceeded to lose consciousness. Was he okay? Was he dead? Perhaps consumed by the Bowie ghost? The only thing I knew for sure was that I had to find the source of the noise to end the sudden terror I encountered. With my legs shaking, I entered the third floor and the banging and yelling was even louder. The hallway echoed with the sound of the voice, now screaming, "ROMAAAAA ROMAMAAAA!" I was so confused, was it some sort of witchcraft? an evil spell? I looked over my shoulder to see lights flashing. I could see a shadow moving beneath the door. This must be the source of the noise. I was trembling from head to toe, but I opened the door anyway. I never would have dreamed of what I saw inside. Lucas was jumping on his bed, spinning and dancing with quite a remarkable amount of flexibility, while he and Chloe sang along to a music video on the TV screen. It was Lady Gaga's famous tune, "Bad Romance." Acclaimed Horror Author Blake Hedges
LEFT BOWER UPDATES & COMMUNITY DESIGNÂ By Casey Paskus, Climate Resilience and Development VISTA with the SHC, from Bower House On a stormy October evening, the Bower Family gathered in our dining room to eat delicious fried vegan chicken and talk about the design of the potential new co-op house next door. I hosted the design discussion as part of my AmeriCorps VISTA service with the SHC - one of my objectives is to conduct a community-led design process for 131 Whitehills (otherwise known as Left Bower), a property that the SHC is hoping to renovate into a new co-op house.
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Though the purchase of Left Bower won’t be official until an all-member referendum in the Spring, I’m aiming to have some design ideas to present to the whole membership in the coming weeks so that we can all envision the newest co-op house together!
Community-led design is about asking the community directly what they need, rather than assuming that architects or government agencies know best. Community members are the experts on local issues; who better to ask about potential challenges and opportunities in redeveloping Left Bower than the residents of Bower! Bower and Left Bower are twin buildings, and were initially built with the same interior layout. Bower was renovated into a co-op house decades ago, while Left Bower still has individual apartments and no shared kitchen or living room. I had two activities planned to get design ideas from my housemates, which I hoped would be more fun and less soporific than an hour-long slideshow presentation. First I handed out paper and markers and asked my housemates to draw Left Bower and Bower, and how they envisioned the relationship between the two houses. One housemate, excited about the opportunity to add new members to the Bower family, drew a big patio connecting the two houses, with picnic tables and string lights so members of both
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houses can eat meals together. Many drawings featured shared gardens, greenhouses, and compost bins! Other housemates….. were not so excited about a new co-op. One housemate drew a river between Bower and Left Bower, with a note: “moat w/ alligators”. After a show-and-tell of our drawings, we jumped into the next activity - I passed out some colorful post-its and asked my housemates to answer questions I had posted around the room on large pieces of paper. Some questions asked what people liked and disliked about living in Bower, which will give us insight into design pitfalls to avoid when renovating Left Bower. Other questions asked about important aspects of Bower House culture that we want to share with Left Bower, and how we want to relate to a new co-op house right next door. Will we become one giant co-op, or will we remain separate? Will we share meals once a week? Will we join Bower and Left Bower together with a hallway to become one building? Over the course of the design process, these are the questions I hope to get answers to. To give you an idea of how this activity went, and the wide range of answers, here is one question with some of my housemates’ responses: What sort of community do you envision between Bower & Left Bower? -2 co-ops, one big shared yard -One co-op, two houses; extension of existing Bower culture -Vampires vs. werewolves -Enemies to lovers -Combine our powers, and save the world! Or make big meals together -A long-standing feud resulting in a...Bower Civil War While me and my housemates ended up having a good time, this meeting was an important step in the design process for Left Bower! I am sharing my housemates’ design ideas with Jim Jones (the first president of the SHC), who is drawing up some possible designs for Left Bower. I plan to share these designs with the whole SHC 6
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membership in November, so that everyone in our community can participate in this discussion about a potential new co-op house. That’s it for now! You can always email me with any questions at paskusca@msu.coop.
SPOOKY COCKTAIL RECIPES By Duncan Begley from Vesta + submitters It’s that time of year again where the leaves change color and fall off of trees. The time of year where the weather is cooler and paradoxically both dryer and wetter. The time of year where the air begins to smell like pumpkins and spice and sweetly rotting leaves. The time of year where if it weren’t for a global pandemic a lot of us would be going out to celebrate and be with friends... It’s therefore the perfect time of year (for those of us 21 and older) to enjoy some festive spirits, have a nice relaxing evening with your housemates, and drink something that makes you feel warm after a cold day. This month we reached out to you the reader and asked about your favorite Halloween and fall themed drinks. Spooky Orion Cocktail Submitter: Anonymous ●
Gin ● Tonic ● Lime ● That’s it Ghost o’ Haus Past Submitter: Anonymous ● Fernet Branca ● Ginger Beer Fall Spirit Submitter: Annika
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● A shot of Jim Beam Apple Whiskey Goblin Piss Submitter: Anonymous ● Burnett’s Sour Apple Vodka Hot Toddy Submitter: Nate Beran ● ● ● ● ● ●
2 squeezed lemon wedges 1.5 oz bourbon 0.75 oz honey syrup 1 dash angostura bitters 4 oz boiling water Garnish with 2 lemon wedges and grated nutmeg
I’d like to thank everyone for their awesome submissions they were willing to share with all of us. I can’t wait to try all of them. To top off the article I’d like to share a classic recipe attributed to “the father of American mixology” Jerry Thomas. Finally I’ll remind everyone to please drink responsibly and know your limits. Hot Buttered Rum ● ● ● ● ●
2 oz dark rum 1 t Brown sugar 1 t ground spices (allspice and cloves) 3-4 oz boiling water 1 t butter “as large as half a chestnut”
ALBUM REWIND: It’s A Condition (1981) by Romeo Void By Gia Haddock from Apollo Vibes: dirty, heavier, badass-ier Talking Heads with sick sax Tracklist: 1. Myself to Myself
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2. Nothing for Me 3. Talk Dirty (To Me) 4. Love Is an Illness 5. White Sweater 6. Charred Remains 7. Confrontation 8. Drop Your Eyes 9. Fear to Fear 10. I Mean It 11. Apache - Outtake Christopher Columbus fucking sucks and fuck honoring him during October. Instead, let’s dive into an underrecognized post-punk, new wave album by a band with a badass, indigenious front woman. It’s A Condition is the debut album of Romeo Void, a band headed by Debora Iyall. A gritter, more distorted sound is heard on this album, a contrast to their later singles which will garner mild popularity. With classic, heavy bass lines, purposeful guitar, and the overlay of jazzy saxophone riffs, It’s A Condition provides dissonance and uniqueness, distinguishing Romeo Void from many bands of the era. The San Fran music scene during the 80s (and now) wasn’t exactly a space welcoming of an outspoken Cowlitz Native American woman, especially a heavy one. Pair that with a drawly, beckoning voice and lyrics of provocation and you have, surprise!, a real, multidimensional woman. She didn’t fit into the “women rocker” box that had been constructed during that era (think Pat Benetar) and spoke out her disapproval of society. Ever the advocate, Iyall never shies away from her prescribed controversy and still speaks out as an activist today: “Our nation was built on many wrongheaded philosophies and until we really come to terms with that our society isn't going to be able to do many positive things. If we had come to America and said, "Look at how these people live in harmony with the earth, use nature for medicine, they're excellent hunters and they take care of the land . . ." Had we come here with that idea things would be a lot different. Rather, the people who settled here were concerned with what they 9
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could take and how they could get rich. It was the spoils from America that really fueled the imperialism of the European nations around the rest of the world.” - Debora Iyall
COVID CORNER By Casey Paskus from Bower The following houses still need to submit their COVID policies to covidteam@msu.coop: ● ● ● ●
Bowie Miles Davis Rivendell The Shire
The COVID Response Team has been reviewing all the house COVID policies and have noticed some common corrections to make. Please take a look at the suggestions below and determine if you need to edit your house's COVID policy: ● A house's guest policy MUST be passed unanimously to make sure every member feels safe in their home and avoid conflict. If your house needs to vote on your guest policy again to make sure it is unanimous, please do so!! ● Include the name and email address of your COVID Communications person in your policy. ● We suggest using the default disciplinary policy if a house member ignores the guest policy, so that the SHC staff and COVID Response Team can best support you and your house (find it on the last page of this doc!) ● Policy changes should be unanimously approved to maintain each member's safety in their home. The COVID Response Team is in the process of sending policy edits to each house. Please keep an eye out for these emails and discuss any edits within your house. Email covidteam@msu.coop with any questions about your house’s policies!
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BODY LIBERATION By Roz Schaefer from Howland It is almost impossible to go online or on social media without hearing the phrase “body positivity.” This is a buzzword that gets thrown around by youtubers, corporations and by that one random girl on your Instagram feed. The idea of body positivity is righteous and liberating; it holds the idea of being free from societal expectations of what we should or ought to look like, weigh or wear. However, the movement is not all it is cracked out to be. Historically it has excluded women of different races and social classes, it has excluded men and, in some ways, it has manifested into a movement that corrupts the idea of body positivity as a liberation movement to become a new way of subordination and power. Today the body positivity movement has become an infectious trend that spans almost every social network. The acceptance of all bodies and the ideal of self-love has become a strategic advertising tactic. The revamped movement has attempted to shift the expectations away from a perfect hourglass shape, clear glowing skin and has prompted the acceptance of “flaws.” There are brands such as Dove, Aerie, Neon Moon, ASOS, as well as the voices of writers, activists and models such as Roxanne Gay, Tess Holiday, Stephanie Yeboah lead many aspects of the movement. However, the mainstream movement often contradicts itself. You see campaigns such as the Dove “Real Beauty,” Victoria's Secret “Love Your Body,” but these movements excluded women larger than size 14 and darker than milk chocolate. People who are disabled, people with none hourglass shapes, those with acne, those with non-traditional wardrobes are still excluded. In many ways the mainstream movement corrupts the self-empowerment that is associated with the self-acceptance. Sonya Renee Taylor is one activist who acknowledges the dissonance between the body positivity movement and social activism and introduced the idea of radical self-acceptance. This idea says that we must call truce with our bodies to “disrupt a system of violence and power that profits off your hate.” We must “...interrogate the biases you have about other people's bodies, to interrupt a process that profits about the way that you feel and the systems of comparison.” The body positivity movement, while a great movement in theory, lacks urgency, and most of all, it assumes that people can get to a place of self-love. The Body Positivity Movement has roots in rejecting the politicized aspects of our bodies that are used to manipulate the way we think of ourselves and others. Maybe just respecting your body, fighting for your body and speaking out for your body is radical enough to disrupt the systems of subordination.
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HAUS LUV Compiled by Kiran Lantrip from Raft Hill Vesta: to NICKY my dear! Thank you for being so sweet and chill and always down to hang. lob u :) Duncan! Your first dish duty as a Vesta member left the kitchen spotless! Thanks for putting in the work! :) Phoenix: Yo Elena, Welcome to the crib! Phoenix is happy to have you :) (Phoenix Haus) Orion: I just wanted to say shoutout to claire for always being so nice and supporting for everyone in the house! your positivity and encouragement means so much to all of us here! Howland: HUGE BOUQUET OF ROSES to Chloe Ribco for being a huge support for our house since the old members left. You’ve helped everyone feel so comfortable in a time of great uncertainty. You’re always there for whoever needs it. You’ve really stepped up, especially in becoming the COVID officer and doing the work to develop the COVID response team. We love you Chloe, you’ve become an integral part of the haus and Howland wouldn’t be the same without you. (-: xo
SOUNDS OF THE SHC Compiled by Kiran Lantrip from Raft Hill Thank you everyone for your submissions for this month! Our Howland submission’s list is a whole playlist in its own right, shoutouts to you for going the extra mile. The Spotify playlist for this month’s playlist can be found linked here or on the Facebook page. Tezeta (Nostalgia) - Mulatu Astatke (Phoenix) Yin Waster is a smaller band I found recently that I'm in love with. Their song Before the Morning / in Fredericksburg is my favorite (Vesta)
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PLATONIC PLANET - KOTO (BEAL) Bladee (artist) - 333 (album) (New Comm) ive been listening to a lot of the band mom jeans and also the song kataomoi by aimer! (orion) *deep breath* Fall in Love Too Fast - GRiZ; Liquid Lightning - LUZCID; Koto CloZee; Take It - Dom Dolla; Wax City - GRiZ; Pick Your Poison ft. Kay - Datsik, Diplo, Kay; Sugar - System Of A Down; Nanã - Polo & Pan; Blue Sunday - The Doors; Closer - Lemaitre, Jennie A.; Rave in the Grave - AronChupa, Lil Sis Nora; Possum Kingdom - Toadies; The Red Chevelle; Medusa - GRiZ, Wreckno; Breaking Down - I Prevail; Heroin Badflower; Spanish Moss - Of The Trees; Beautiful & Filthy - Mersiv, Chill Bobby; Dusty Lungs - Jade Circada, Chris Karns; ATWA - System Of A Down; Gun Finga - Eptic; Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea The Arcs; Tomato Can - The Arcs; Voice of the Soul - Death; Again Alice In Chains; Flava - Ganja White Night, Boogie T; Inferno - Marty Friedman; Everlong - Foo Fighters; The Man Who Sold The World Nirvana; Next Girl - The Black Keys; Fade Into You - Mazzy Star; Norwegian Wood - The Beatles; Girl - The Beatles; While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles; Ghost of Perdition - Opeth; The Less I Know The Better - Tame Impala; Let It Happen - Tame Impala; Pali Gap Jimi Hendrix; Heavy Soul - The Black Keys; Gutter Girl - Hot Flash Heat Wave; Ode to Viceroy - Mac DeMarco; My Kind of Woman - Mac DeMarco; Epiphany - Papadosio; Caught Up - Death From Above 1979; Her Cold Cold Heart - Night Beats; Tomorrow - Strawberry Alarm Clock; Incense And Peppermints - Strawberry Alarm Clock; Bright Blue Day Haze - Mystic Braves; Give It to Me - HOMESHAKE; Every Single Thing HOMESHAKE; Khmlwugh - HOMESHAKE; Vicious Cycle - Mystic Braves; Magazin - White Denim; A Horse With No Name - America; Lake Superior The Arcs; Big Toe - The Growlers; Creep - Radiohead; Run - Rainbow Kitty Surprise; Where’d All the Time Go? - Dr. Dog; Killing In The Name - Rage Against The Machine; Pistol Grip Pump - Rage Against The Machine; Pepper - Butthole Surfers; Let Her Go - Mac DeMarco; You’re Either On Something - Temples; No Rain - Blind Melon; House Of Gold Atreyu; The Grey - Thrice; Novacaine - 10 Years; Aerials - System Of A Down; Alien Blues - Vundabar; Beginner’s Luck - King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard; Orpheus Under the Influence - The Buttertones;
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Cornflake - Psychedelic Porn Crumpets; Sick Shit - together PANGEA; How Do You Sleep? - John Lennon; (HOWLAND(-:)
HAVEN HOUSE CONTRIBUTIONS Haven House is a community organization located right next door to our Bower Haus, which provides emergency housing to families with children experiencing housing insecurity. In addition to housing, residents receive meals, crisis counseling, assistance with goal setting and referrals to other agencies as needed.
Throughout the month of November, the SHC Education Committee will be collecting monetary donations from SHC members/houses to benefit our neighbors and fellow community housing org Haven House. EduCom is working on the details of how this will work, and you can expect to hear a final plan by the 10th of November. We will likely be doing a friendly competition amongst houses to give a prize to the haus which donates the most per member. You can learn more about Haven House by visiting their website at https://havenhouseel.org/ Keep your eye on your email/Facebook for an announcement around the 10th of November about how we’re gonna do this! We’re excited to provide material support to this organization which serves our community.
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CONTACT US EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE PRESIDENT - ERIK BERG president@msu.coop VICE PRESIDENT OF FACILITIES - NIKKI PHAN facilities@msu.coop VICE PRESIDENT OF EDUCATION - EMILY TYLER education@msu.coop VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBERSHIP - LEAH ROGERS vpmembership@msu.coop CORPORATE TREASURER - SHYLA CRUMP treasurer@msu.coop STAFF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - HOLLY JO SPARKS exdir@msu.coop MEMBER SERVICES COORDINATOR - JAIME WISE msc@msu.coop FINANCE COOPERATOR - MC ROTHHORN financemanager@msu.coop MAINTENANCE COORDINATOR - MIKE MCCURDY maintenancecoordinator@msu.coop
MAINTENANCE DESK ADMIN & TECH - MARSHALL CLABEAUX maintenance@msu.coop AMERICORPS VISTAS CLIMATE RESILIENCY - CASEY PASKUS paskusca@msu.coop MEMBER RELATIONS & MANAGEMENT - JAIME WISE j wise@msu.coop
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