Word: co-ops
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...culture. For a short while, my expectations of what people were going to do next and of what they expected of me were subtly out of joint. My colleagues seemed foreign to me, and I ventured to Harvard Square with trepidation. One place only seemed comfortable and familiar--the co-op house...
...them, I was disconcerted by the way one person spoke continuously. My vocal Berawan friends in Borneo never allow such a thing to happen; no one lectures them. I found myself aching to interrupt other speakers and tongue-tied when an audience stared mutely back at me. At the co-op, things were much more to my liking. Even at our most solemn corporate event--a full House meeting--it is hard for any speaker to hold the attention of the audience for long before suffering a barrage of interjections. In fact, these meetings are very like house meetings...
...Berawan etiquette, and I found Bostonians childishly assertive and threatening in their posture and way of talking. No one acquainted with Berawan history, full of warfare and headhunting, could accuse them of being sissies, but I suspect that many Americans would mistake them for effeminate at first meeting. The co-op house members were easier to get along with on both these counts. They seemed unoffended by my abruptness and, in common with most students, I suppose, unconcerned with displays of machismo...
...Berawan arrive at this fluid structure starting from a premise of aristocracy. The co-op house gets there from the other direction...
...individuals in the three Jordans and the two Dudley houses share a common basic attitude which has evolved from their commitment to a cooperative venture. Co-op residents have countered the anonymity and pressure of a large university by sharing the closeness of a smaller community. The experience of working together leads to a psychological commitment that holds most people in a co-op until they leave here, loyal to a way of life that continues in separation--but not isolation--from the mainstream of Harvard...