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Pine Press December 2020
Brought to you by the MSU SHC Education Cmte
TABLE OF CONTENTS Letter from the Editor - p.1 Haven House Donations Update - p.2 A 131 Whitehills Convo with the Prez - p.3 HAUS LUV - p.5 Sounds of the SHC - p.5 Winter Tips for Staying Warm (and Saving Energy!) - p.6 Recycling @ MSU - p.7
Regional Co-op Spotlight: Madison Community Co-op - p.10 Training Opportunity: Culture Creation & Collective Liberation - p.12
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Emily Tyler, Vesta, Vice President of Education Hey SHC, Well, it’s the end of the year. What a fucking year, am I right? We went through a lot, individually and collectively. But I don’t need to prattle on with my own remembrances and reflections on 2020. I’m sure everyone’s thinking of these things themselves. I’m happy to present this last Pine Press of 2020, the December edition. Inside you’ll find reflections on a conversation with president Erik Berg about 131 Whitehills; some tips and tricks
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on recycling and saving heating energy, a feature on a regional neighbor-co-op and more. Cozy up with this snuggly Pine Press and read on for articles written by MEMBERS LIKE YOU. I hope everyone is having a cozy dead-of-winter despite the mild winter it has been. Take it easy! Yours in coop, Emily Tyler, Vice President of Education
HAVEN HOUSE DONATION DRIVE UPDATE Remember the Haven House donation drive? Over the past several weeks, members of our co-op houses have donated a total of
$822.58!!! Here’s a breakdown of what the houses donated, for the sake of the friendly competition: Beal 15$ Bower 95$ Apollo 5$ Orion 220$ Hedrick 100$ Vesta 65$ Howland 60$ New Comm 257.58$ So, the competition was that the house that donated the most PER MEMBER would be the winner. That means the amount donated by the house divided by how many members it has. New Comm incidentally donated the most as a house, and per resident. The winning house will receive a Cottage Inn pizza party, a 60$ Michaels giftcard for house craft supplies, and the choice of a community organization to which the education committee will donate $200 of our community service budget line item. New Community, you are the winning house! Congratulations! Your education officer, Eliot, has been notified and we’ll coordinate how to get your prizes to you. Thanks for your donations to Haven House! It will make a difference in the lives of members of our community.
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To Buy or Not to Buy (131 Whitehills): A Conversation with Pres. Erik Berg By Emily Tyler from Vesta
A photo of Left Bower (right) and Bower (left) Not too long ago I had a good ole google meet conversation with our SHC president Erik Berg about the merits of purchasing 131 Whitehills, AKA “Left Bower” due to its next-door proximity to Bower house, to add as a new co-op house to our SHC collection. As you may or may not know, MEMBERS HAVE THE POWER to decide whether or not we as a co-op go ahead and purchase the property. There will be a referendum in the springtime by which members will vote on this decision. It is vital for members to know that this decision lays in their hands - so here I’m sharing some notes from my conversation with Erik about the idea of acquiring Left Bower. So, why should we buy another house? I asked Erik. He went into a trademark historical narrative about the formation of the SHC. When we think back to 1971, there were many reasons for the various co-op houses in East Lansing to incorporate into a joint body, and prime among those reasons was that of expansion. At this moment in the history of SHC, there was a co-op house for women, called Ulrey after one of our co-op granddaddies Orion Ulrey, but they were renting the house--which Erik referred to as a “travesty”. You’re not truly an autonomous and independent co-op if you don’t own your home; renting means the landlord has power, and the residents don’t. So one reason for cooperative expansion is for residents to own their organizations and have the homeowner’s power that comes with that. At that time, Ulrey, New Community and Elutheria (which burned down in 1972) were all co-ops renting their houses. The formation of the SHC entailed a combining of the rented houses with the owned houses, so that the rented houses had more power to eventually buy property of their own. Erik provided me with a quote from another of our granddaddies, Jim Jones: "The genius of starting SHC was to combine the older, owned co-ops with the new, rental groups. The two oldest co-ops in town, Hedrick and Elsworth, agree to donate their property to the new organization. Elsworth had completely paid off their mortgage, and Hedrick was only about two years away from doing so.
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They provided an equity pool to draw from, and when other groups joined, a combined membership made it easy to pay on a loan. This is a simplification, but today SHC now owns 17 houses in the Lansing/East Lansing community." Erik calls it a “tragedy” that co-op housing is relatively scant, niche, and rare. So another reason for expansion is to widen the opportunities for cooperative housing. Expansion is a main reason for co-ops’ existence, in providing affordable housing/economic opportunities to community members. Erik pointed out that the reason we are all here right now is because people in the past chose to continue and expand the SHC into the future; he sees us as having an obligation to the future members to maintain the co-op. Then I asked Erik another question, which I’ve seen asked in historical Pine Presses regarding property purchases of the past - should we focus on maintaining the houses we already have, rather than add a new property into the mix? Erik emphasized that these two things maintenance and expansion - are not mutually exclusive. We can do both, and we have historically done both. He also pointed out that the money that would go towards buying 131 Whitehills comes from a separate line item or section of the budget than money for maintenance comes from. Erik informed me that we have a development reserve for the specific purpose of expanding our co-op. The development fund was started back in ’72, when we were a “poor co-op” just getting started - but our forebears had the foresight to start setting aside money for when opportunities arose to expand our co-op. Erik says now we are a “rich” co-op; we’ve been able to set aside money over all the years, and we have a hell of a lot of equity, which is money that’s locked up in your assets - all of our 17 current properties. Our co-op has millions of dollars of assets - our homes. Here’s the next question I asked Erik: how would the purchase of 131 affect assessment? You know, that portion of your monthly charges that feeds the SHC. Erik says that the purchase of 131 would increase our “economy of scale”, meaning that more money is coming in, more money going out, and our margins increase. The point of the matter is, Erik says he’d be “shocked” if the purchase of Left Bower caused assessment to increase. Erik pointed out that as margins increase, there is more money coming in that can be spent on maintenance - so there’s not rational reason to worry that adding a new property would cause a lag in maintenance at our other houses. In fact, it would likely mean the opposite, as there’s more money coming in from those additional assessments paid by the future/potential residents of Left Bower. There just isn’t a scenario where assessment would increase. Assessment does increase by a couple bucks each year, but because the SHC is not for profit, the only way for the SHC to increase the money it pulls in to sustain itself is by either expanding (adding more living spaces for members) or by raising assessment. So really, expansion of our co-op is a way to bring more funds into our organization and thus be able to do more for our members, without making assessment higher for that purpose.
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I wanted Erik to tell me some reasons how SHC purchasing 131 Whitehills would benefit our members and community, and the answers were pretty obvious. The big one is that expanding our co-op provides more opportunities for community members to find affordable and democratically operated housing and intentional community. The City of East Lansing would benefit from an increase in cooperative housing because simply put, there would be more affordable living situations. Not for profit housing that is owned by its residents will provide a more quality living experience due to those characteristics. At the end of my conversation with Erik, we talked about the bigger picture. Here’s a quote from Erik expressing his final sentiments: "One way or the other, the property is going to be sold, re-enter the market, and filled with new occupants. Our decision boils down to this: Do we want 131 Whitehills to become affordable cooperative housing, or an expensive apartment complex? We've been trying for the former since April of 1971, and for the first and last time we finally have the opportunity to do so. We've never had an opportunity this conveniently arranged for us in our existence, and if decades of market trends are any indicator, we never will again." So Erik’s point is pretty clear: we can either let 131 Whitehills become more landlord-owned apartments, or we can buy it ourselves and use it to provide more cooperative, democratic and community oriented housing for the East Lansing community.
HAUS LUV Compiled by Kiran Lantrip from Raft Hill “Dearest Leah Rogers, thank you for all of the p-funks” - Vesta “Thanks for hanging out with me in the living room Zoe!” - Phoenix “roses to MICHAEL for being a really good person, one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met. we’re going to miss you (and ‘Tini) so much; love you lots and lots. you always have a home here no matter where you go just remember that” - big blue
Sounds of the SHC Compiled by Kiran Lantrip from Raft Hill Hello again! As we’re rounding out the end of winter semester for students and heading into the new year, I hope everyone’s able to take some time for themselves to relax and recharge. Here
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are some music recommendations you can check out while you’re doing so! The Spotify playlist for this month can be found linked here or on the Facebook page. “You oughtta know - Alanis Morisette” - Phoenix “The Prodigy - Breathe” - Bowie “Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers” - Beal “Wasteland Baby! - Hozier” - Beal “I usually do end of the year lists, but haven't made it for 2020 yet. My favorite song right now is Divide by Adzes. My favorite song this year was Citadel by Inter Arma.” - Phoenix “This Is Our Life— Des Rocs; 30— Badflower; Lonely— Palaye Royale; Break Stuff— Limp Bizkit; Mudshovel— Staind; Savior— Rise Against; DEVIL— Shinedown; Possum Kingdom— Toadies; The Grey— Thrice; The Red— Chevelle; Cut The Cord— Shinedown; Death by Rock and Roll— The Pretty Reckless; Bath Salts— Highly Suspect; Low— Cracker; Loser— Beck; Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked— Cage the Elephant; Where Is My Mind?— Pixies; Born For Greatness— Papa Roach; Last Resort—Papa Roach; Elevate— Papa Roach; A Reason To Fight— Disturbed; Still Counting— Volbeat; Take Out The Gunman— Chevelle; Breaking Down— I Prevail; Heaven Beside You— Alice In Chains; Again— Alice In Chains; Killing In The Name— Rage Against The Machine; Pistol Grip Pump— Rage Against The Machine; Shuggie— Foxygen; Part III— Crumb; Move With The Season— Temples; Run— Rainbow Kitten Surprise; Pick Your Poison feat. Kay— Datsik, Diplo, Kay; Medusa— GRiZ, Wreckno; Koto— CloZee; Cake— Ivy Lab; Caught Up— Death from Above 1979; Alien Blues— Vundabar; West Coast Raga— The Donkeys; Nicole— The High Curbs; Closer— Lemaitre, Jennie A.; Lofi Jazzy Rap— Lofi Radiance, Neat Beats, Lofi Hip-Hop Beats; september— BROCKBEATS; Say You Do—LoFi Chill; no shame in my game— halberd, Dingus; Again.wav— Xori (SoundCloud); ( Finally, let me blow your mind real quick) BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix 02.03.2013– Zeds Dead (SoundCloud) (you’re so very welcome).” - BIG BLUE (haus anthem: Heat Waves— Glass Animals)
Winter Tips for Staying Warm (and Saving Energy!) By Sanders Aspelund from Raft Hill Adapted from: Heating & Cooling (written by Connor Meston, published in Feb. 2020 Pine Press) The crux of energy conservation in the winter is keeping the warm air in and the cold air out. That’s it! The question though, is how to do that easily. Here we have presented some do-it-yourself ideas. Feel free to ask your maintenance officer for help if needed.
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Windows and doors! ○ Close windows all the way & lock them to ensure a tight seal at the edges. Sometimes this needs a bit of elbow grease for more stubborn windows ○ For windows that remain leaky, wrapping them with plastic can have a huge effect! If the wrap puffs up, then you know that you have blocked off an active leak! ○ Seal gaps around the outside edges of window & door frames with caulk and check the weather strip seal, door sweep & jamb around outside doors. Bug your maintenance officer! ○ Keep attic doors or hatches closed to prevent heat loss Sneakier tips to keep the heat in! ○ Keep dryer doors closed to stop airflow in & out of the dryer vent (cleaning the lint screen before each dry cycle also helps!) ○ Turn off bathroom fans when not taking showers (adjust for moisture) ○ Clean bathroom fans so backdraft prevention flaps in fan housing work properly ○ Make sure your furnace filter(s) has been replaced & be sure to replace it every Fall to ensure efficient hot air flow & good air quality in your home ○ Still too cold or hot? Items hung on walls slow heat loss (think tapestries) & rugs can insulate your room/basement Improving circulation helps when your room is too hot or too cold compared to the rest of the house ○ Prop your room door open! The thermostat is likely in a common space/hallway so sharing air is ideal! You might even get some four legged visitors :) ○ Move furniture, carpeting, & window curtains off of air vents and away from radiators to improve air circulation. Every little bit helps and your body and wallet will thank you!
Recycling @ MSU! By Devon Diaz-Ferguson from Bower Greeting my fellow cooperative folks. The Green Team has been researching recycling. So I wanted to share some information on recycling at the MSU Recycling Center and Surplus Store. The Co-Op houses have curbside recycling, but I thought I’d bring some attention to our local alternative and what they have to offer, as well as some general information on recycling. I am employed at the MSU recycling center working on the (material recovery facility) MRF, sorting the items. So here I am, giving some inside perspective to the process, whether you decide to recycle at MSU or East Lansing, the process looks similar. Now, the curbside accepts different waste than the recycling center, which you can distinguish via the flyer next to your
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recycling bins at home. But the MSU recycling drop-off has changed what they’re accepting due to the pandemic. So here we go! First, I’d like to point out that recycling should be the LAST (or second to last next to landfill) resort to your waste cycle. As humans, we create about six pounds of waste per person daily. Only about a pound and a half get recycled. About EIGHTY percent of the waste that ends up in the landfill could be recycled. In reality, we should take the initiative to limit the waste we purchase. Yet, it is inevitable that we will be responsible for all kinds of waste. I dunno about ya’ll, but it really depletes my serotonin knowing that all plastic that has been produced is still on the planet, and will accumulate forever. Whether it is your food packaging, mail, toiletry packaging, or Amazon boxes, we can’t avoid accumulating waste. So trying to change what kind of packaging we purchase will help a lot, as our dollars are our voices and action in sustainability. Personally, I am a hoarder of containers that are still usable. I have a plethora of pill bottles, paper bags, and ziplocks. Now, you don’t have to be that extreme, but rather than throwing things away, try to take the extra time to make sure it ends up in the recycling! Now, while recycling is awesome, there is some extra energy that goes into it to do it properly. First, it is really important to rinse your containers and make sure they’re clean. We have to throw away pizza boxes with cheese and grease, milk jugs with milk, etc. Proper recycling is knowing trash vs recycling, and taking the time to separate what bin you put them in. For example, if you’re recycling a number one plastic, like a boba cup, it is important to remove your straw that can’t be recycled. As someone who worked on the MRF, it makes our job much harder when there is a plethora of tissues, receipts, coffee cups, chip bags, and contaminated containers. It is helpful to separate different materials that can be recycled, like the plastic film potentially attached to a boxboard box. Since there is so much improper waste separation on the MRF, we often miss a lot of recyclable material that has to end up in the landfill. It makes us really sad to jump towards the bottle we may have missed buried in the trash and watch the conveyor belt to drop it in the landfill. We try our best when we empty the chambers of separated materials to handpick the missorted items, but we aren’t perfect. So it helps a lot if the public properly recycles! I made an infographic that demonstrates what you can and can’t recycle at the MSU recycling center. It is a great place to bring your recyclables AND donations! The surplus store is an awesome place to get weird and wild second-hand tings. I highly recommend adding your funky things to the MSU community! Lastly, I would like to bring to light what you should really try to recycle at the recycling center. We pay to have most of our bails of recycling sent to facilities, most of them in Michigan! We had to stop accepting flimsy plastics like yogurt containers and plastic bags because they have low value in the recycling industry. We also paid a LOT to get rid of styrofoam that would end up in the cardboard bins (there was SO much). This really burned a hole in our financials. But, we recycle on! Our profit fluctuates, but corrugated cardboard and #2 cloudy plastics are very valuable! If possible, I would urge you to never throw away your milk jugs and laundry detergent containers that are thick and cloudy! They keep the recycling
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facilities going. Like I said before, recycling should be a last resort in the waste cycle pyramid, but we can only do what we can! Try not to beat yourself up over waste too much, we live in a society where it is basically impossible to avoid it. Keep on learning and trying to be more sustainable. We can still make a big effort even in this disposable pandemic period. Go Green!
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Regional Co-op Spotlight: Madison Community Co-op By Emily Tyler from Vesta Steve Vig is a fellow co-oper who I originally met at NASCO Institute 2019 in Austin, Texas, when he gave me some tylenol the Sunday morning of the conference. I had participated the night before in a big ole co-op party at 21st Street, a nearly-100-member co-op that’s a part of Austin’s College Houses co-op. I then reconnected with Steve at 2020 NASCO Institute in November, which despite its virtual nature still allowed for personal connections with other conference attendees. Steve and I traded contact information, and then we had a couple of virtual chats, talking co-op stuff. This article will share some details about Steve’s home, Madison Community Co-op (MCC). MCC was founded in 1968. Local co-opers attended a conference in Washington DC, and were inspired to form a coalition of co-ops. The first try didn’t work out, but the second effort became MCC. MCC is comprised of 11 houses, with 7-31 bedrooms in each, for a total of about 200 members in 180 total rooms. Steve lives in Hypatia house, which he has called home since January 2014, pictured to the right. MCC’s leadership structure isn’t too different from our own at SHC. There are five officers of the co-op: Coordinating Officer/president (that’s Steve), Membership Officer, Finance Officer, Education Officer, and Maintenance Officer. Each of these officer positions are filled by members elected in the spring. Each of these officers deals with pretty much the same stuff that our Executive Committee members do. At the house level, leadership is again similar to SHC’s: each house has various coordinators, what we at SHC call officers. One interesting difference between us and MCC is that each house has one or t wo Board members, depending on house size, unlike our Board which has one director per house regardless of size. Each Officer chairs their corresponding committee; each committee meets once a month, including the Board. MCC also has several staff positions which primarily oversee administrative functions of the co-op. Three to four full-time and two to four part-time staff manage major maintenance, leasing and legal issues, bookkeeping, and office functions. Most of the part-time staff are MCC members, while most full-time staff are not. Officers are not staff, but they do receive stipends and work 10-20 hours per week.
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Some of MCC’s strengths relate to its ability to withstand the challenges that arise over time. MCC is 52 years old and has seen economic recessions, varying demand for housing, and has had internal conflicts, but has survived it all. Resilience marks MCC’s history; when a house gets into a bad place, be it financially or membership-wise, MCC is able to rescue a house before it crashes or help it start anew. This is one of the huge benefits of being a network of co-ops rather than sole independent houses. MCC has established itself in the Madison community, as well as in the cooperative movement. They have relationships with several independent co-op houses in the area, with people often moving between the independent and MCC houses. Members often shop at food co-ops, some work for worker co-ops, and typically use credit unions over banks. Ever since NASCO Institute became a thing, MCC has been sending members to it. MCC also has a history of making loans to other co-ops that need help; a fellow co-op not only shares the same mission and values, but also is more understanding and flexible than a bank would be when giving loans. Cooperation amongst cooperatives! One exciting thing that’s happening in MCC’s world right now is expansion: two years ago, MCC members voted to purchase a new property, a house that is currently divided into apartments, and have been waiting for the prior leases to wrap up. MCC is going to be renovating the house to convert it into a co-op with common spaces; they hope to sign with a contractor by the end of the year. Cooperative expansion - just like the SHC is pursuing with Left Bower! Expanding housing cooperatives means more opportunities for people to find affordable housing and intentional community. Many thanks to Steve for the chats - it’s always fun for me to talk to other co-opers about their experiences.
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*****Training Opportunity!!***** CULTURE CREATION: Shifting to collective liberation A three-part training series for SHC members to begin to identify what white supremacy culture looks like and to embody a collective shift in organizational culture so that all people are supported 100% and no one is left out. Sessions are 2 hours long.
Sundays 2-4pm January 31, February 21, and March 14th 2021 SIGN UP BY EMAILING EMILY EDUCATION@MSU.COOP OR BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: Register for session 1 here. Session 1 - Introduction to The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture, from Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, ChangeWork, 2001 Session 2 - Deeper dive into the following questions: - How does this document & shift align with cooperative values? - How are we already practicing some of the antidotes? - How can we be creative in using this resource and what we know about collective liberation to support a shift in our organization & houses? Session 3 - Open group coaching session to move beyond challenges that are coming up in making this cultural shift & support to see & take your next action. FROM THIS TRAINING SERIES YOU’LL GET: ➢ Alignment to your purpose & values as an organization ➢ Language to identify the reason why certain behaviors and attitudes may be creating barriers for a more diverse set of folks to lead in your organization ➢ Specific antidotes to white supremacy culture that you can implement ➢ Shift your attention to supporting things to go right, rather than focusing on what is going wrong. ➢ See creative ways that you can take action to continue building a culture with your team that is a magnet for collective liberation THIS IS FOR YOU IF: ★ You are dedicated to creating a culture in the SHC where all people can thrive.
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★ You have read "The Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture" (From Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, ChangeWork, 2001) . Or, you are willing to read it before we begin. ★ You want to develop skill in aligning your actions with your values when it comes to embodying the antidotes to white supremacy culture. ★ You see that the SHC has difficulty supporting diverse leaders ★ You are in this for the long haul and you see that changing the mainstream culture means taking consistent action to rebuild a new culture everyday. ★ You want to bring creative energy to what you’re building for the new world
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