Luther Buchele Cooperative House
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Luther House is a set of cooperative houses located in Ann Arbor, Michigan at 1510 and 1520 Hill Street. It is a member of the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan
Luther House consists of two adjacent houses on Hill street: 1510 and 1520. They are right across from The Rock. The maximum capacity is 49 people
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[edit] History
The house is named to honor the extensive contributions of Luther Buchele, who was hired as the executive secretary of the ICC in 1951. Luther later became the ICC's General Manager and has held the position longer than anyone else. You can still see Luther in action when he makes his regular appearance at the ICC's Winter Annual Meeting. The beautiful Victorian house is officially recognized as an Ann Arbor Historic Building, it was originally built for John Cutting and his family. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the house was home to John Sinclair and the White Panther Party. Sinclair was a political activist and manager of rock bands such as the MC5, whose legendary debut album "Kick out the Jams" influenced the later musical styles of Punk, Heavy Metal, and Grunge. The White Panther Party later became the Rainbow People's Party, to reflect the inclusiveness of all humanity. The property next became home to a guru from India and his ashram, it became a place where people took classes in meditation and yoga. The ICC bought the property in 1984, the houses were converted into a co-op and the carriage house in back was transformed into the ICC Education Center. The Ed Center has just been refurbished with new paint, spongy new carpeting, a new projection system, and a DVD player. The Ed Center can be reserved by any ICC member.
Recorded history of what life was like at Luther begins at a time, that later groups refers to only as "the before time." This group was know for their love of Pornography, which demonstrated by a woman who is only known to us as Jenny throwing a weekly Pizza and Porn celebration, and intense love of the ICC, as well as rampant copulation between members. Other traditions in the house involved ritual theft of symbolic items from other Co-ops, which they would gift in turn to another Co-op in the name of yet another Co-op. This tradition led to a feud between the Co-ops of Michigan house, and Owen house, following the gifting of a trampoline from Owen house to Renaissance by Lutherhaus in the name of Michigan Co-operative. The house was a Matriarchy at this time led by legendary good leaders such as Samantha The Shut Up and Listen, and Robin the It Isn't Your Turn To Speak. While dress was similar to that of the Co-op members of today, the members at this time were very different. With only rare exception, men at this time were tall and wore Beards, many also carried weapons. The women wore thick rimmed glasses as was the style of the time, and took their roles in the matriarchal hierarchy quite seriously. They often would assault male members physically and verbally that they deemed unclean in thought, or behavior. Unfortunately the rampant copulation in the house led to its demise. Many of the female members chose partners which they chose to cohabitate with, and in turn left the house. As this happened their numbers became smaller and smaller and the few that were left behind were pushed out by a group that became known as "the old guard." This change began suddenly, when at turn of the century two strange men known as Thom and Brendan arrived with an a woman named Lucia, who to this day lives in the Co-op. They must have seemed strange to those from "the before time" with their smooth shorn faces, love of a substance known as bourbon, as well as strong taste for the flesh of dead animals. Those from "the before time" didn't know what the meaning of the arrival of such men meant, and welcomed them with open arms. Here there are gaps in even the oral history of the house, we don't know what happened to these people from "the before time." All we know is that they disappeared one day, never to be heard or seen again. Some say that they migrated to a places called the "Old West Side," and "Portland" but no one can be sure, and because of their small number and relative isolation, they certainly were vulnerable.
Shortly after the turn of the century, the group known as "the old guard" came to power in the house, it included Brendan Keeley, Thom Gentz, Ron Nelson, Michaela Medlin, Todd Patterson (who was renown for his great beauty), and Audie Veloria. Recorded history for this group is thin due to frequent celebration involving a substance known as bourbon. However, we have gleaned that they were a festive and strangely hard working people. They kept many of the traditions of those from "the before time," such as ritual theft, and copulation, however, it seems pornography fell violently out of favor following an incident that was only described as, horrific. Whether connected to the events of that night or not the group ended its tradition of strong ties to the ICC almost simultaneously. This does not necessarily mean that there is a connection between the ICC and pornography. Most of the stories of these people involve celebration where charred flesh, and or alcohol was imbibed. These stories are usually didactic, and demonstrate the volatility and impishness of these people.
At the end of the Winter 2005 contract period, a majority of the group left for various reasons. Some left due to clashes with members in "the new guard", who would post signs in the house. These signs were generally stupid and childish in nature, but some female members in "the old guard" generally found them destructive. "The old guard" had outgrown Luther, living there for many years. This included Presidents Danielle Amato and Michael Perry. With the mass exodus, "the new guard" would take control. Keeping with traditions learned from "the old guard", "the new guard" (who lived with "the old guard" for at least one year) came to power. "The new guard" includes members such as Nick Mank, Sybil Moody, Abbie Shaw and Nicole Jamieson. New presidents Josh Rutt and Nate Minnick set out to keep the house running smoothly. Unfortunately, the vacancy of "the old guard" brought in new members who were living away from home for the first time. Despite valient efforts, Minnick and Rutt could not predict that members would play "beer pong" non stop, play crappy techno music at high volume, and be uncontrollable and disturbing while drunk. The main reason for this is general immaturity, but for the most part the new members lacked interests outside of beer pong. On three different occasions, this group caused other people (non members) to physically assault them. After the first two incidents, one would have guessed that the group would realize that the way they handled things only brought damage to them. However, the group was too blind to realize this. Unfortunately the "the new guard", mostly comprised of crack-heads, self-important trust fund raiding rich kids, mama's boys, and losers of various denominations, beliefs, and socio-economic status, were at best far too unlearned and generally incapable of performing even the most marginal tasks to keep the house in good working shape or even a somewhat decent place to live. Things got much worse when Rutt & Minnick were implicated in a sensational in-house sex scandal when they were caught naked on the downstairs pool table with a border collie that had been reported missing from the Owen Co-op just down the road.
Now a new group has come to Luther, they seem to share the same love of copulation that groups before have, as well as being devoid of the problems of "The New Guard." Still we must ask ourselves; What are their traditions? What will their impact be? We know not, only the further study will give us these answers.
[edit] Traditions
The Haus has many traditions:
Dinners are served at 6PM on Monday through Friday.
The largest Halloween party in Ann Arbor takes place at Luther.
A wine and cheese party kicks off the school year, with haus members dressing in style to meet each other.
A curious tradition started when Minnick and Gentz found a movie called Maniac Nurses Find Ecstasy" , a Troma film. Each year, the haus watches the movie in November, before Thanksgiving. Alcohol is required in order to watch the movie.
Sex and the City and the OC are frequently watched on the haus television, much to the dismay of members with any amount of testosterone.
Eric Lauer, a member who lived in the haus in the time that "the old guard" and "the new guard" were still living there, began a tradition of launching water balloons from the roof at sororities and frat chatches who paint The Rock, causing many stories and police intervention. Water balloons continue to be launched.
In Winter 2005, Lauer began cooking chili for the haus on weekends. Until then, nobody cooked chili in great amounts and of such quality. It is unknown whether this tradition continues today.
The fooseball table of the haus came from Stephens house, another coop. This house burned to the ground. The fooseball table joined the ranks of the pool table and ping pong table as diversions and fun for haus members. Initially it was rarely used. Beginning in September 2004, members Pascal Wahlen, Patterson, Minnick, Mank, and Lauer began to play frequently. With time, members Veloria, Ben Figa, PJ Edgar, Kori Pund, and Rob Bell began to play also. The result was a constant and non-stop barrage of fooseballing. In February of 2005, Wahlen and Berk Ozluk rehabilitated the table, including a refinishing of the playing surface.
At the end of each school year, the house has many outdoor bbq's.
One person in the house is usually addicted to "forty's" of Mickey's.
Generally, some haus members copulate together, causing drama in the house. Other members laugh hysterically at this idiocy.
Taco night is widely considered to be the best night for dinners.
[edit] List of Past Presidents
Danielle Amato
Lynn Eckert
Nate Minnick
Michael Perry
Josh Rutt
Vanessa Shkuda
Bernd Steinbock
[edit] List of Members who lived at Luther for at least four years
Brendan Keeley
Michaela Medlin
Ron Nelson
Josh Rutt
Lucia Santos
