linder student cooperative
20-person student cooperative house, of which I am a co-president. also some tour music!
about
Linder house is a student cooperative within the ICC, home to about 20-25 house members (those who live there) and boarders (those who live elsewhere, but eat meals at linder).
At co-op houses, members meet regularly (1-2 times per month) to make decisions about life in the house. We all contribute 4 hours of chores per week, which results in
- cooking meals for one another every night
- buying all of our food in bulk (much cheaper!!)
- regular bathroom and common space cleaning
- frequent social events
Living with a large, rotating group of people can be hard sometimes, as it necessitates a degree of compromise – the whole house will never agree on the best temperature for the thermostat, for instance. That being said, I truly love living in a group setting, as it has made me a much more compassionate, social, and collaborative person on the whole. I think this is also true of many of my friends (many of whom I have seen grow personally via co-op living).
responsibilities
As a president of the house, I am responsible mainly for facilitation of meetings, resolution of conflict between members, communication with the central co-op governing bodies, and many day-to-day house operations. I do these things with my wonderful co-president and friend Shani :-)
With the advent of COVID-19, our job has become somewhat more difficult. Paying attention to and resolving conflicts about COVID policy and having much more frequent meetings to modify said policies has become an important part of the house’s routine.
This work generally takes anywhere from 2-6 hours per week – averaging towards the high end, as of late. Though it has only been ~3 months, I can say concretely that this job makes a person at once more tired, more empathetic, more patient, and more considerate of how their actions might impact others. Overall, it has certainly changed both Shani and I for the better.
house video
Around september 2020, Shani and I were asked to make a video to give a tour of our house (in lieu of physical tours). Other house members took interest in helping, so we delegated the task to the two most excited (and overly-qualified) people, Kavin and Aiden.
They did an absolutely amazing job, and basically filmed a series of super short sitcom shots. I helped with some of the music, writing a half dozen short tracks (half of which were used).
The full set of tracks and completed video are below :-)