Volume S, Issue 2
MSU Student Housing Co.
February 18, 2002
PINE PRESS T H E H I S T O RY O F B OW E R H O U S E
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Co-op Bidness
2
Local & Community
3
People
4
Food
5
More Food
6
Random!
7
Ummm
8
Want a position of leadership in the cooperative movement? Letters of Candidacy for the next Executive Committee are due Feb 27, 2002 to SHC. Please contact Erin W. at Bower with questions!
“We must be the change we wish to see… do something!” Julia Butterfly Hill February 15, 2002
By: Erin Schwartz
As a newcomer at the Bower House Co-op, I recently discovered the origin of its very existence. Bower resulted from a massive explosion of soybeans in Sri Lanka in the year 1955. The sun was really hot that summer in Sri Lanka and as weeks went by, the soybean plants started to light on fire. The farmers could do nothing about it as the fire grew out of control, screaming its arms miles out in every direction. Townspeople quickly gathered their possessions and moved away from the soybean fire. One day at dusk, the firey flaming arms came together like a rubberband ball, overlapping their arms in a circular rotation. And, before the sun rose that day, the ball a’blazin blasted off into the sky and was never seen nor heard of again. About 12 hours later, however, on another hemisphere, the firey hug set itself down in a small town called East Lansing. Soybeans went flying everywhere on a hill. It was white. It became white when all the soybeans covered the land in atrocious amounts. Ergo, the road Bower Co-op stands upon is called Whitehills. I’m sure this historical documentation of
Caption describing picture or graphic.
such an event may seem surprising to some. But, mark my word, you have the right to believe whatever you want to believe. In addition to discovering the origin of Bower, I also have taken the liberty to interview some current Bower residents, better known as Bowerites. I came up with a few questions offering some very profound perspectives.
Question #1: If you could be an appliance at Bower, what would you be? Answer: “Appliances are a part of the capitalist conspiracy against all that is pure good. And, appliances are cold and dead…except for the Bower sandwich
maker.”
Another Answer: “I don’t believe in appliances. I believe all light and electricity should come from our natural inner light, evolving from pure love, Dude.” And Another Answer: “I would be the broken food processor, cuz I love it. I love to make peanut butter chocolate tofu and I like to lick it off my fingers and feet after I walk around barefoot for a while.” And, yet, another answer: “I would be the house sex toy because I’m fun, I’m accessible, and I come with my own set of rechargeable batteries.” (Continued on page 8)