LAUREL HOUSE ALUMNI/AE NEWSLETTER
Vol 2, No. 1 (August 1997)

NEWSLETTER REVISITED by Ron Kumon It's been a full year since the last newsletter went out but we're hoping to get it out at the end of each session once again. Instead of trying to write them at the end of each session when things are busiest, I'm going to try to put them together during the beginning of the next session. Note that this version is going to be a little longer than usual in order to recap the events of the past year. See past versions on the Laurel House web site. COOPERATION IN CYBERSPACE CONTINUES by Ron Kumon The Laurel House Co-op and Laurel Net Cooperative web site was updated during the year. Enhancements included a typical house menu and improved links to other Austin co-ops. In addition, the site's categoriz ation in Yahoo was changed to better reflect the nature of the site [Regional: U.S. States: Texas: Cities: Austin: Education: Colleges and Universities: University of Texas at Austin: Campus Residences]. Furthermore, sea rches on the phrase "Laurel House" in Yahoo, Alta Vista, Lycos, Infoseek, and Excite all had links to pages on the site as the first returned listing. All the materials previously included on the page were retained including on-line versions of the Laurel House Fact Sheet and Laurel House Meeting Schedul e, links to members' home page(s), and links to other cooperative organizations like the National Students of Cooperation (NASCO). The page continued to act as a primary marketing tool as demonstrated by several email contacts from prospective applica nts without previous contact with the house. In fact, at least three such members moved into the house this year. During the spring an electronic mail version of the College Houses application was created and sent out in several cases. Electronic applicat ions reduced turn-around time, especially for applicants who are overseas, and also saved money on postage. Hopefully, the inclusion of the page's address in the College Houses letter to prospective applicants and inclusion of a link to the site on the ne w College Houses home page (http://www.collegehouses.org) will continue to increase the number of hits on the site. Future plans for the Laurel House web site include an on-line membership application form, an o n-line guest book, more information about cooperative principles, and the addition of features like frames and Java applets where appropriate to improve clarity and navigability. THE LABOR CZARINA SPEAKS by Susannah Engquist Fall 1996 Labor Holiday, held during the first weekend in November, was quite productive. The majority of activities involved landscaping and yardwork; as the weather was cool and sunny it proved to enjoyable work. The big project of the day was tilling u p the front and back lawns and laying down Texas native buffalo grass. We also removed a diseased palmetto tree, planted many more flowers, plants, and bushes around the co-op including such god- forsaken areas as the south side of 1905 and the mudpatch l eft from the installation of the new grease trap. Some cleaning and organizing took place indoors and the commons walls received their semesterly scrub-down. For the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy working outside and the results are visibly evident. MEMBERSHIP MEETING HAPPENINGS by Ron Kumon As usual, membership meetings have addressed a wide range of issues. Highlights of fall activities included: rejected the proposed design for the College Houses T-shirt because it was, well, just really ugly, adopted a stricter policy regarding the storage of personal items in the walk-in refrigerator that gives the kitchen broader no-show powers, required all officers to provide written notification for all full no-shows and the labor czarina to provide written notification to members whenever they accumulate a full no-show, required all members with pets to co-sign a copy of the house pet policy along with the Director, appropriated funds for the purchase of a laser printer and additional memory for the house Mac Performa and PCs, approved funds for a "pumpkin party" to be held on Halloween. During the spring, the house: recommended changing the times of membership meetings to improve flagging attendance, made changes in the labor schedule to eliminate After Dinner Alice and merge that job's responsibilities with dinner clean-up, approved getting a milk machine that can dispense whole and skim milk, passed a motion to require all applicants to submit a full written application at least 24 hours in advance of the meeting in which his/her application is to be considered and have such applications be made available to house members at least 20 hours in advance, approved the creation of a study room and additional double room, amended the room assignment policy for members absent for the summer to allow them to reserve rooms different than their own, appropriated $300 from the LH Beverage Account to become a business partner in recycling with Ecology Action. During the summer, the house: changed the dinner time from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm in order to reduce the heat strain on dinner cooks, voted to change the registered agent of LH to the Director and the registered office to the house address, voted to continue the 7:00 pm dinner hour through the fall/spring. Future policy development will probably include a grievance policy, a five year plan, and compilation of a comprehensive Laurel House Policy Manual. Further work was done this year on the policy manual but it is not yet complete. In order to encourage the completion of the policy manual, the house voted to give the Director a 5% rent credit bonus for successful completion of the project. FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK by Warren Fincher The 1996-97 year has been a progressive and beneficial one for Laurel House. Two major maintenance projects were undertaken this year. Courtney Ward oversaw the replacement of the grease trap from initial research to with the city to the completion of the job with Climate Mechanical. The project began in June and was finally completed in late July. The electrical capacity was also increased in the 1905 building along with the installation of new wiring; this project was largely overseen by Jerry Chavez an d Chris Koenig, and the contracting company was Wappler Electric. Work began in January, by request of the house membership, and finished in mid- May. Both of these projects were funded by the College Houses Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) fund and cos t about $8,000 and $32,000, respectively. Three labor holidays occurred that brought the house together on a number of projects. The summer holiday targeted remodeling the commons area, making security bars for the 1907 windows, painting the doors in the downstairs 1905 hallway, and generally cleaning the house and grounds. The fall labor holiday focused on replacing the lawns, composed almost entirely of weeds, with buffalo grass which is drought resistant. The spring labor holiday put Spring cleaning and gardening on the top of activity list. The Laurel House Birthday party was held on October 26. Rusty Ulrich coordinated the evening with dinner at Thai Passion, followed by a party in the Commons with coffee, desserts, dancing, and drinks. About fifty people attended. Officer job descriptions were redesigned druing the annual review of responsibilities. All descriptions are in a bullet form for easier reading. The Education Coordinator, Newsletter Rep., and Social Events Coordinator descriptions were restructured so th at a more quantitative description of the duties was included, as well as requiring more contact with the Director regarding the plans and progress on projects/events. THE LABOR CZARINA SPEAKS by Mónica Vallin This summer was not an unusual one in terms of labor and occupancy. Everything ran smoothly and the instances that did arise were those expected of any summer session. Laurel House did not have a full occupancy during the summer and we were especially low on members during Summer I, not to mention the usual summer problem of people arriving late and leaving early. Nevertheless, we didn't run into trouble, and were not forced to go up to 6 hours to supplement a labor shortage. In the one instance during Su mmer I in which I was dealing with a 15 hour labor shortage under the bare minimum, the situation was solved by rescheduling the people who had gotten the Fourth of July weekend off. That worked well for the two weeks we needed labor until more arrived at the beginning of Summer II. As for Labor Holiday, this was, in my opinion, a tremendous success. Not only did the house come together (yes, we hung out for a whole weekend!), but all the projects were accomplished. The major task was installing a drainag e system for the yard. Smaller jobs included building cabinets to replace the racks in the commons, patching the holes near some parking spots with asphalt, repairing some rotting wood paneling on the 1907 exterior, and the installation of a new desk in t he Computer Room. I would like to Bill Murray, LH Maintenance Coordinator, who took care of scheduling for the whole holiday while I was preparing the permanent labor schedule for Summer II. KITCHEN REPORT: SUMMER 1997 by Eddie Shvartsman In the first summer session, all members were required to attend orientation, The new members where given the standard General and Kitchen/Labor Orientation, and all old members were asked to attend a brief reorientation. The purpose of reorienting old me mbers was to address specific chronic problems. The orientations were successful in that many of these problems were subsequently solved. The new member Kitchen/Labor orientation went well, although it ended up being too long. In the second summer session , three new members went through an informal Kitchen/Labor orientation. Several major and minor additions were made to the kitchen facilities and equipment. The most significant was the installation of the stainless steel splash guards around the organic (food only) sink. The house also purchased a Sunbeam Mixmaster and a spi ce/coffee grinder. Most other purchases were standard supplies like chemicals, equipment, and replacements. We had a lot of kitchen stuff disappear, including large knives, cooking pots/pans, cutting boards, cleaning supplies, and large utensils. Several other problems are currently being addressed. In an ongoing "oven mystery," several cooks have reported that the ovens were malfunctioning, but two professional repair contractors could not find anything wrong. The Hobart has lost its mi xing ability entirely and is generally on its last legs. The three bay sink controls are acting up again and may require a plumbing overhaul. The walk-in has developed a leaking problem which appears when it rains heavily. Future projects will try to solv e some of these existing problems while also replacing old cookware, installing a gooseneck sprayer in the three bay sink, and touching up the paint in the Kitchen. FROM THE DIRECTOR'S DESK by Ron Kumon with help from Bill Murray & LaQuita Hilzinger The summer has been a period of transition for me as I moved from being Membership Coordinator to Director. I spent the first few weeks trying to wade through the many files of Director-related materials before going away for much needed vacation. After r eturning, I worked on several projects including: changing the official registered office and agent of Laurel House Cooperative, Inc., overseeing the redesign of the commons bulletin and dry-erase boards, preparing a LH Membership Coordinator's Manual, coordinating the completion of the house re-keying project, overseeing the study room and double room renovation, overseeing the 1907 deck renovation project along with the Maintenance Coordinator and CH Board Rep. Due to unexpected projects at the other houses, the CH Summer Work Crew was unable to work on the deck. Instead, professional carpeters will move the stairs to the front of the deck to cut down on the noise transferred into the building. We hope to receiv e approval from the city very soon so construction can begin. On the maintenance front, the water heater in the 1905 building died during the Spring Interim and was promptly replaced. The existing water heaters in the 1907 building were rearranged so that they now work more efficiently together. For the long-term, w e hope to have a new system installed in the 1907 building to reduce calcination and soften the water. We also would like to get the 1907 electrical system updated soon. While the debate over skim and whole milk seems to have subsided with the installation of the new "double udder" milk machine, the carnivore vs. vegetarian debate remains. Recently the vegetarian population has reduced significantly and menus ha ve been adjusted accordingly. In other food news, recent comparisons among vendors put Sysco again as food supplier of choice for both economic and quality reasons. Finally, the Food Buyer and Menu Planner have established a three week fixed menu plan of inexpensive, balanced, tasty menus. It is hoped that this will make the beginning of the semester easier on the cooks and the Food Buyer alike. The College Houses Board of Directors reviewed several issues this summer. They drafted and approved a CH-wide hosteling policy and set down guidelines for a redesign of the CH brochure. The Board also sponsored a "Co-op Olympics" that included events like greased watermelon racing and pudding wrestling. To try to deal with long-term strategy, the Board discussed future directions for College Houses at its annual retreat. We have twenty new members entering the house this fall including two exchange students from France. Getting into everyone into the cooperative mode will take some effort, but given the set of officers that we have I'm confident that we will be able to wo rk together and have a really great year. WE HEAR THAT... Alex Schnell received a position at an agency in Washington, DC, in the area of environmental law and policy. Angie Tello will be returning to the house for the Fall/Spring. She has been working on her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Arun Bokde started as a post-doc at the National Institute of Health during Summer 1997. He will be working to improve the quantitative analysis of brain imaging. Danny Smith has been continuing his work on his Ph.D. in Spanish linguistics from Georgia. He is hoping to return to Austin within the next year or two finish up his dissertation. Don Jordan is continuing his work on his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia and was recently engaged. D.J. Holder continued into her 11th year at Laurel House. She has been working at the Benson Latin American Library and looking for a permanent academic library position. Jorge Herrera has been working as a high school math teacher near Dallas, Texas, and is currently in training to become a certified networking consultant. Kirsten Bohl has been working at She has retained her links to the cooperative movement as a NASCO board rep. Leanne Beaver had been working for architectural firm in Austin until the end of Spring 1997. She is currently taking the summer off to consider various future options. Ricardo Guerrero has been producing "Que Pasa Austin," a weekly email listing of world music and dance happening around town. He is planning to supplement the listserv soon with a web page at austindan ce.com. For more information on the listserv, send mail to musica@bigfoot.com. Robert Schuessler received a Javits Fellowship this spring to support his work on a Ph.D. in classics and philosophy for the next several years. Susannah Engquist and Cara McAteer have been living and working in Prague since May 1997. Suzanne Marrs has been working as a pharmacist's assistant in Dallas, Texas and hopes to get a job as certified pharmacist soon. 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 Alison Fisher will be finishing up her nursing degree over the next couple of years. She is hoping to start working as a nurse as soon as she receives back the results of her R.N. exam. Amer Latif will graduating with an M.A. in Middle Eastern studies at the end of the summer. He will be continuing his studies of Rumi and Sufi mysticism at SUNY-Stony Brook. Andy Ginzel will be on an exchange program in Great Britain during the Fall/Spring. Beth Segar left at the end of the summer and will be continuing her work on a Master's degree in Library and Information Science. Daniel Ting graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Architecture from UT and is currently looking for employment. Fabrice Barthier finished his internship with a microelectronics firm during June and returned to France to continue working on his degree. Farid Zouioueche received an internship for an oil company during Summer 1997. He will be continuing his graduate studies in Petroleum Engineering next year. Heidi Cooper graduated during Spring 1997. She will be working in Arkansas as part of the Americorp program. Ian Au graduated at the end of the Spring and is hoping to get a as an artist or graphic designer in New York City. Jerry Chávez moved out at the end of the Spring and spent the summer is finishing up his Master's degree in Speech Pathology during Summer 1997. JoAnne Ortiz graduated from UT in the Spring with a Bachelor's degree in Communications. She recently received a public relations job with Barnes and Noble. Karsten Kallevig finished his internship in Austin and returned to MIT to continue his studies in material science. Katie Jahnke returned to Pearl St. Co-op at the end of the Spring. She will be continuing her studies in vocal performance. Mamadou Signaté moved out at the end of the summer. He will be continuing his English studies and hopes to eventually enter the UT Law School. Mónica Vallin left the house at the end of the summer. She will be continuing her studies at UT in the fall. Phil Fulmer finished his internship in the UT chemistry department and returned to finish his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Scranton. Rafael and Patty Segovia (nee Griggs) were married during August 1997 in Dallas, Texas. They both graduated during the Spring and have since moved to Houston where Rafael is an associate at a bank. Sandra Fuentes graduated with a Master's in Library and Information Science at the end of the Spring and has been working during the summer as an academic librarian at a small college in Tennessee. Tasneem Mogri has been doing a series of internships in and around Dallas as part of the last year of her Pharm.D. program. Shelton Henderson moved out at the end of the Spring and will be continuing his program in Middle Eastern Studies. Stephanie Black moved out at the end of the summer. She hopes to finish her degree in psychology during the Fall. Vanessa Buschschlüter finished her exchange program at UT and will be returning to Germany after spending the summer in Washington, DC. Virginia Dosher left the house at the end of the Spring and hopes to finish her M.A. in French at the end of the Fall. Warren Fincher and Chris Koenig moved out at the end of the summer to join community at Opsis. Chris will be continuing his program in Spanish at UT while working as the College Houses Kitchen & Membership Coordinator. Warren will be continuing work on his dissertation in sociology and on the NASCO board. Several co-opers left for just the summer: Jennifer Yeh spent the summer in the jungles of Costa Rica studying frogs for her research towards her Ph.D. in Biology. Michael Mathieson spent the summer touring England and Scotland on his bicycle. Rocío Toriz received an internship at the Office of Management and Budget in Washington, DC. Sergio Guerrero received an internship with the State of Texas and spent the summer driving all over West Texas doing public policy research. Congratulations to everyone! CONCLUSION We hope this newsletter was useful and/or interesting to you. If you would like to make a contribution to the next newsletter , please send a message using the contact information below. We hope that you have happy, healthy, safe, and cooperative fall. LAUREL HOUSE OFFICERS FOR 1996-97 Director Warren Fincher Food Buyer Chris Koenig (Jun 96-Jul 96) Patty Griggs (Jul 96-May 97) Treasurer Suzanne Marrs (Jun 96-Aug 96) Amer Latif (Aug 96-May 97) Maintenance Coordinator Jerry Chavez Labor Czarina Susannah Engquist (Jun 96-Dec 96) Sandra Fuentes (Jan 97-May 97) Membership Coordinator Ronald Kumon Kitchen Manager Courtney Ward (Jun 96-Aug 96) Eddie Shvartsman (Aug 96-May 97) CH Board Rep Neshtikin Byram CH Subcommittee Rep Patty Griggs (Jun 96-Jul 96) Stephanie Black (Jul 96-Dec 96) Kate Sanford (Jan 97-May 97) Menu Planner Alison Fisher (Jun 96-Dec 96) Margarita Terán (Jan 97-May 97) Newsletter Rep Matt Corey (Aug 96-Dec 96) Andy Ginzel (Jan 97-May 97) Education Comm. Rep Stephanie Black Social Events Coordinator Rusty Ulrich (Aug 96-Dec 96) Vanessa Buschschlüter (Jan 97-May 97) NEW LAUREL HOUSE OFFICERS FOR 1997-98 Director Ronald Kumon Food Buyer LaQuita Hilzinger Treasurer Amer Latif (Jun 97-Jul 97) Jennifer Yeh (Aug 97-May 98) Maintenance Coordinator Bill Murray Labor Czarina Mónica Vallin (Jun 97-Aug 97) Kate Sanford (Aug 97-May 98) Membership Coordinator Zahid Khan (Jun 97-Aug 97) Roberto Diener (Aug 97-May 97) Kitchen Manager Eddie Shvartsman CH Board Rep Neshtikin Byram CH Subcommittee Rep Pete Farley Menu Planner Margarita Terán Education Coordinator Angie Ware CREDITS Editor: Ronald Kumon Contributors: Susannah Engquist, Warren Fincher, Monica Vallin, Eddie Shvartsman, Bill Murray, LaQuita Hilzinger, Ronald Kumon 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 #1, Austin, TX, 78705 as are 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.