LAUREL HOUSE ALUMNI/AE NEWSLETTER (SUMMER 1996)
Vol. 1, No. 3 (24 Aug 1996)

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the summer version of the Laurel House Alumni/ae newsletter! If you are new to the newsletter mailing list, previous issues are available in a hypertext format on the Laurel House web site at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~laurel/memalum.html in the Alumni/ae section. Also, please forward this message to anyone who you think might be interested and is not already listed in the addresses above.

LAUREL HOUSE ON THE WEB UPDATE
by Ron Kumon

Check out the new Laurel House Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~laurel/tour/faq.htm. The FAQ is divided into 19 sections: General, Quiet Atmosphere, Membership, Contracts, Rent, Deposits, and Fees, Labor, Meals, Rooms, Facilities, Computers, Restrictions, Parking, Guests, Security, Maintenance, Special Benefits, Between Contract Periods, Management, Applying for Membership, and Moving In and Out. Your feedback on the questions and answers is very much encouraged. Speaking of feedback, selected results from the last several years of the Laurel House Exit Survey are now available online at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~laurel/survey.html. The purpose of both these documents is to try to pre-educate applicants and incoming members so they are better prepared for the "co-op experience" and, hopefully, make better co-opers.

MEMBERSHIP MEETING BRIEFS
by Ron Kumon

This summer's membership meetings were uncharacteristically busy (for summer time anyway). Topics during this summer included:

• Approval of a motion directing the food buyer to purchase only skim milk (with exceptions for special recipes). Previously, 2% was the standard.
• Approval of an increase in the menu planner labor credit to three hours per week all year long. Previously, the menu planner only received two hours per week during the summer.
• Approval of a motion supporting plans to install Ethernet infrastructure in College Houses co-ops.
• Modification of the criterion for approval of applications from YES > NO to YES > NO and YES+NO > 60%*(YES+NO+ABS). This prevents applications from being approved when there are large number of abstentions (e.g., previously a vote of 1-0-10 would approve an application). If the first criterion is satisfied but the second is not, the application is not automatically rejected but instead discussion is reopened and debate is continued.
• Discussion of remodelling the recycling areas to make them easier to use and require less work for the members doing recycling labor. Due to the size of this projected, it was agreed to delay activity until the fall labor holiday.
• Discussion of summer dinner time changes. Several members suggested that dinner be moved to a later time so that cooks would not have to cook during the heat of the day. Due to the complexity of rescheduling labor, ultimately no change was made.
• Discussion of summer labor holiday projects (See "The Labor Czarina Speaks" below for details.).
• Discussion of purchasing a house answering machine or voice mail system. Several members volunteered to look into this possiblity.
• Officer Feedback Time for Membership Coordinator. In order to try to get more feedback for officers, the Laurel House Board of Directors recommended to the house that officers be given time a meetings to ask questions and receive comments on their performance. It is hoped that this will be more convenient for members and more useful for officers. The membership coordinator was the first position reviewed under this new system.
• Discussion of proposed changes to the College Houses application for membership.
• Review of the officer job descriptions for Education Committee Rep, Social Events Coordinator, and Newsletter Representative. The new descriptions provide clearer descriptions of the job responsiblities and more definite penalties if these responsibilities are not completed.
• College Houses News Updates. In order to try to make sure the membership is better informed about activities at the College Houses Board of Directors, the director and CH Board Rep will be making regular news announcements.

Policy development for the fall will probably include continuation of work on a five year plan for the house and compilation of a comprehensive Laurel House Policy Manual (which some work was done on this year but is not yet completed).

THE GREAT GREASE TRAP CAPER
by Ron Kumon

Infamous for its repulsive odor and general grossness, the grease trap has long been a part the "Laurel House experience." Fortunately, funds were approved last year by College Houses to purchase and install a brand new and greatly improved grease trap to replace the old model. Replacement had recently become a high priority as the old grease trap had for all practical purposes ceased to function and, moreover, the city of Austin had mandated its replacement during the last building inspection. The previous grease trap was a 30 gallon, filter-filled bin covered up by an old piece of plywood and hidden away under a black rubber sheet by the mop rack. Even though few members probably had the opportunity to see the grease trap "up close and personal," everyone knew that cleaning the grease trap was the worst possible labor assignment and hence sentenced to those who had most recently offended the labor czar(ina). The new grease trap is a 350 gallon concrete tank complete with a full-sized manhole cover and is located outside the window of Room #7, the double room next to the TV Room. Due to its large size (and much to the relief of current members!), plans are to have it cleaned periodically by a trained professional.

Construction procedeed slowly as the contractors had to dig out and remove the old trap, dig out a hole for the new tank and trenches for new pipe out to the alley, and then refill and repave the disturbed areas. Much rejoicing was heard around the co-op as the holes were filled in and the new concrete was poured (well, it was probably due more to the fact that people were anxious to get into the parking spaces that were unavailable due to the construction) over a month after it began.

Speaking of concrete, former members may recall that a series of names were etched in the cement between the back of the walk-in and courtyard along the sidewalk (including those of current resident D.J. Holder). While many of these had to be torn up for the new grease trap to be installed, the new concrete was not left uninscribed by current members. New etchings include a drawing of Booger, names of current residents, and other miscellaneous phrases like "Exile in Freaksville" and "The Labor Ho Was Here."

THE LABOR CZARINA SPEAKS
by Susannah Engquist

Peals of joy rang out into West Campus on the weekend of July 27 and 28. Passersby likely assumed that it was a Saturday wedding at St. Austin's or that perhaps the tower bells announced another Longhorn victory in sand volleyball. If one listened carefully, however, beneath the harmony of voices singing the chain-gang blues could be heard the distinct sound of tools-- hammers, scrapers, power saw, and the almost silent swoosh of the paint brush in use. Yes, it was Labor Holiday at Laurel House and everyone was happy about it. Well, actually, despite a few grumbles and the evil Texas summer, Laurelians actually accomplished quite a lot.

The big project for the weekend was the replacement of the glaze on the 1905 windows that began on Saturday morn. Those that did not get up at 9 am to help scrape off the cementesque old glaze around the edges of the window frames were soon enticed to join by sound of tapping, scratching, and, yes, singing outside their windows. How satisfying it is for a Labor Czarina to see eight of her subjects, oops, I mean fellow co-opers, effectively learn a new basic construction skill. Those not busy spreading goo on the windows helped replace the 1907 deck railing and assisted in the ceremonious painting over of the "Abstract Seagull with Flowers" mural near the pantry door in the commons.

On Sunday, a group of strapping young men (as Laurel House is known for such types), cleaned out the woodpile on the south side of 1905 that runneth over. Smaller jobs also taken care of that day included the creation of window security bars, the installation of a new organizational system in the commons, and the scraping of old cat food from the walls surrounding Boogie's dish. Pizza, sugary soda, and ice cream were enjoyed in the evenings as a much deserved reward.

FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK: News of College Houses
by Warren Fincher

The major event of concern this summer has been the failure of the Taos air conditioning system. College Houses had known of the deterioration of the Taos a/c for some time and had taken measures to order the necessary parts to be installed during October 1996. The system, however, had other plans as, in June, the coils failed. The last part needed had luckily arrived the week before the failure, and the Board decided, rather than a costly "patch" to the problem, to go ahead and replace the coils. This entailed destroying walls, rewiring the electricity as it entered the building, and heating the new parts and walls to 150 degrees to cure, making the house much hotter before it could get cooler. Last week, the rebuilding process came to a close and the a/c was turned on, producing a 57 degree breeze for the long-waiting residents.

Because this job cost so much, CH has contacted the National Cooperative Bank about a loan for around $100,000. Although initial paperwork reflected a gross typographical error by offering us the incorrect sum of 900 million dollars (placing CH in a define position to expand) we are expecting to receive the $100,000 as requested.

The Board has been considering an offer by Waller Creek Communication to install ethernet connections in each room. With this technology and a small monthly fee, residents will be able to directly access the internet and the UT system and be able to do so some 700 times faster than with a modem. Negotiating is still going on, and the board will probably make a decision by the end of the fall semester.

WE HEAR THAT...

• Kirsten Bohl recently accepted a position as a legal assistant at Roose, Birmingham, and Lavender, an Ohio law firm specializing in social security disability claims. She had previously been working as liaison between co-ops and Oberlin College.
• Diana Ballard recently accepted a position as a statistician at SEMATECH in Austin.
• Ken Farrall is continuing his work as a webmaster for Xindeco Business Information Company in the Xiamin Special Economic Zone in China. Check out his work at http://www.xindeco.com/. He recently came back to the U.S. for a visit and stopped by the house while in Austin. He is hoping to start his own Far East Internet consulting firm soon.
• Ben Chesluk is continuing work on his Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has been writing articles on graffiti and hip-hop and plans to visit New York City in September.
• Lucy Thomason is returning to Austin this fall to complete her Ph.D. in linguistics after working for the past year at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
• Robert Schuessler will be continuing in the graduate program in classics and philosophy at UT in the fall.
• Danny Smith will be returning to Laurel House in the spring to finish working on his Ph.D. in Spanish linguistics. He has been on leave doing fieldwork since January.
• Michelle Botello was chosen to be an official Oscar Meyer "Hotdogger." Among other things this means she gets to ride around in the Oscar Meyer "Wienermobile" and promote those infamous hot dogs.
• Tasneem Mogri recently announced her engagement to her sweetie, Aziz. Wedding bells probably won't be ringing at least in the near future though as she is still working on her Pharm.D. at UT and he is working at Lincoln Labs in Boston, MA.
• Ron Kumon will most likely be switching dissertation topics. He was previously working on a project entitled "Thermoacoustics of the Rijke tube phenomenon" but probably better known as the "Moo tube" project. The new project is tentatively titled "Nonlinear Rayleigh waves in anisotropic crystals" (don't worry, he's not quite sure what that means yet either). Stay tuned...

We apologize in advance if we left out any important announcements about anyone-- these are just items we've heard in random, roundabout ways. If you have an announcement about yourself or others, please contact the editors at the addresses below.

GRADUATIONS AND/OR DEPARTURES

• Beverly Wachtel graduated with an M.A. in radio, television, and film after finishing up her thesis on recent developments in radio in the Czech Republic this past spring. She hopes to find a job in communications in Austin.
• Suzanne Marrs will be leaving the house at the end of the summer. She hopes to finish her Master's degree in Pharmacy within the next year.
• Courtney Ward will be graduating from her Master's program in Teaching English as a Second Language at the end of the summer. She has already already accepted a position as a program coordinator at El Buen Samaritano, an Episcopal outreach center in south Austin.
• Erin Rafferty graduated from UT with a B.A. in education during the spring and has been job hunting during the summer. She will be leaving the house at the end of the summer and hopes to begin teaching at an elementary school some time soon.
• Pete Haney left the house around the beginning of August. He plans to continue working on his Ph.D. in anthropology.
• Surya Santoso will be leaving the house at the end of the summer. He hopes to finish up his Ph.D. in electrical engineering during the fall semester.
• Bing Wu, a summer resident, left the house at the end of the first summer session after finishing her English program at UT. She is continuing her studies at Kansas State University.
• Bill Schreiber, a summer resident, left the house around the end of July to continue his studies in transportation engineering. He is also pursuing a patent for an new road sign system.
• Keri Berg, a summer resident, will be spending next year teaching English to high school students in France.
• Tonatzin Barragan, a summer resident, will be returning to the Women's Co-ops in the fall. She hopes to finish her Bachelor's degree in radio, television,and film within the next year.
• Ruby McAdoo, a summer resident, has returned to Bard College in Annandale, NY, to continue her studies in psychology and work as resident assistant,
• Phil Tavernier, a summer resident, has returned to Union College in Acton, MA, to finish his degree in chemistry after a summer internship at UT. He said that he may even come back to Laurel House if he decides to attend graduate school at UT.

CONCLUSION

We hope this newsletter was useful and/or interesting to you. If you would like to make contributions, please send a message using the contact information below. We hope that you have happy, healthy, safe, and cooperative fall season.

LAUREL HOUSE OFFICERS FOR 1996-97

Director                   Warren Fincher 
Food Buyer                 Chris Koenig (June 96)
                           Patty Griggs (July 96+)
Treasurer                  Suzanne Marrs (Summer 96)
                           Amer Latif    (Fall/Spring 96/97)
Maintenance Coordinator    Jerry Chavez  
Labor Czarina              Susannah Engquist
Membership Coordinator     Ron Kumon     
Kitchen Manager            Courtney Ward (Summer 96) 
                           Eddie Shvartsman (Fall/Spring 96/97)
CH Board Rep               Neshtikin Byram 
CH Subcommittee Rep        Patricia Griggs (June-July 96)
                           Stephanie Black (August 96+)
Menu Planner               Chris Koenig (Summer 96)
                           Alison Fisher (Fall/Spring 96/97)

CREDITS

Editor: Ronald Kumon
Contributors: Ronald Kumon, Susannah Engquist, Warren Fincher

CONTACT INFORMATION

If you have any contributions or comments, please email them to laurel@uts.cc.utexas.edu. You may also send comments via the LH Web site at http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~laurel/. Of course, "snail" mail contributions in the form of letters and postcards are always welcome too at 1905 Nueces, Austin, TX, 78705 or calls at (512) 480-0605. Anyone who wishes to be added to or deleted from the mailing list, should send a message to the house email address above.