Hey everyone! I just created a new post in my and Max’s blog titled The Technicolor Tree Tribe Through the Years, with pics from years past. Pretty cute… check it out!
-Rachel Y.
Category: Writings from Former House Members
from former co-oper alex, in beirut…
It’s strange living in the shadow of war. For the last few months every week or so some political leader or another has threatened to take this country to war over some issue or another, but in the last week the government has collapsed and the threats are becoming daily. Yesterday, one friend was swearing tonight would be the first clashes; other friends think he’s being ridiculous and a fearmongerer but are sure that within two weeks we’ll be at war. Tonight, tires are burning in major cities across the country and the roads have been blocked by protesters, while the radio is telling us not to go out. A number of members of Parliament have labeled tomorrow a “day of rage.” Life continues.
This being Lebanon, plastic surgery and expensive boutiques are still doing brisk trade, but the streets feel notably tenser as banners have gone up the past few days in every other neighborhood reiterating their allegiance to one warlord or another. The issues are unbelievably complex; it suffices to say that it involves Lebanon, Syria, the US, Israel, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sunnis, Maronite Christians, Shias, Orthodox Christians, Druze (an offshoot of Islam), Alawites (another offshoot of Islam), Armenian Refugees, Greek Catholic Lebanese, Palestinian refugees and an extremely delicate balancing act between all of them. But that’s always been life here for the Lebanese: the 4 million here, and the 15 million scattered around the globe. But now, again, it almost seems like the whole thing is about to disintegrate…
Even amidst this chaos, however, we all continue working. A feminist collective I’ve joined tries to expand the discourse on what indigenous feminisms and sexualities will look like in this region, while at my office we continue coordinating workshops on democratic governance and children’s rights among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, a population around 300,000-strong that were forced out of their homes in what is now Israel in 1948 and will probably never be allowed to go back to their homeland so they can practice their “democratic governance” skills. It’s a bit tough realizing the world’s biggest military power [the US] and their most militarized ally [Israel] are pretty set on not letting you go back to your home (in order to keep Israel a majority Jewish state). And annoying in a silly way realizing that road blocks have been set up by protesters on the road I need to take to help set up one of the seminars tomorrow morning in the South…
So much is left to be fixed in this world, and there are still so many intent on fucking it up. Here, in Beirut, the results of policy decisions made in Washington D.C. are felt on a very real level- as I wrote this the U.S. government released a statement saying that they would loath to recognize the new Lebanese government, a decision that would serve as a virtual okay for an Israeli attack and invasion á la Gaza 2008-9.
So much of what needs to change cannot be affected by those who are themselves being affected; unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly clear that the Empire must be brought down from the inside, even as we strive to support those who work from the periphery. Militarism is the only way many of the beleaguered Lebanese feel they can defend themselves after invasion after invasion and war after war that the world community did little or nothing to prevent; but it is up to us, as children of the Empire, to fight for the real change that must come at home. Our safety cannot and must not be guaranteed at the expense of others’ safety, and we must always be aware that this is the case.
It is not that we live in peace while others suffer; no, this is far too simplistic and naïve of an equation. Others live in insecurity and war BECAUSE we live in peace, because we have a government willing to murder abroad to keep the peace at home. We must never forget the true cost of our stability in Los Angeles. Here in Beirut, no one is given even a chance to forget, as tonight’s riots remind us.
.
Dear Technicolor Tree Tribe,
I have been meaning to write a good-bye letter to you for a while now – my original intention was to read it at our last house meeting – but Max and I have been working non-stop on the bus, and now that it’s finished, we can’t wait to hit the road. So I am writing it now, the night before we depart, appropriately/ironically right after a meeting about recruiting new co-op members. 
I officially joined the TTT in August 2008, a year after I had graduated from USC, so I’ve never been a student cooper (which I can imagine must be an incredibly difficult task). I spent my first year after graduation back home in Seattle, a year during which I was constantly on the phone with my LA friends who were working tirelessly to start this thing called a co-op. By the time I was ready to leave Seattle I was so fascinated by the concept of the co-op that I had to come back and experience it for myself. So I returned to LA – not because I love LA, or had a job lined up, or to return to school… but simply because I was inexplicably drawn to the idea of a cooperative house full of politically conscious, artistic, fun-loving crazy people who happened to be my best friends and lovers.
It was hard to justify my return to LA to some people (namely my parents and my Seattle punk friends), but honestly I never had to work hard to justify it to myself. I have always proudly identified as a feminist and as Hapa (look it up), and have never tired of fantasizing about utopian societies. The nuclear family into which I was born was abusive and depressing, so I have always searched for a “chosen family” to which to belong. My world view is a mix of hard science and Nature mysticism, and though I don’t call myself an artist I believe art is an essential aspect of human expression and health. The evolution of human social behavior and the rise and fall of hippie communes in the ’60s and ’70s are two of my favorite topics. Thus I felt the Technicolor Tree Tribe (which I assumed to be trying to create a utopian society) would be a wonderful place and project for me, and in preparation for joining I read the following books, all of which I recommend:
Walden Two, B.F. Skinner
Ecotopia, Ernest Callenbach
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
Brave New World Revisted, Aldous Huxley
Utopia, Sir Thomas More
The Republic, Plato
Erewhon, Samuel Butler
1984, George Orwell
Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy
Drop City, T.C. Boyle
The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan
The Ethical Slut, Easton and Liszt
Living Walden Two, Hilke Kuhlmann
I would also highly recommend two documentaries: The Commune (2007) and Taylor Camp (2009), both about hippie communes back in the day.
I guess I’m telling you all this because I want to encourage and inspire you to do some reading and really give this community everything you’ve got – by learning everything you can about it: what it could potentially be, what you want it to be, what it has been in the past, and what others have wanted from it. The co-op isn’t just a place to live. It’s a family, a trip, a gift, and an enormous responsibility. I believe that most people who truly love this community despite its inevitable problems grow much more than they would had they lived anywhere else – this is definitely true for me. Most people in our society don’t question institutionalized prejudice or try to make their culture better for themselves or others. By living in this house we have a chance to create our own society that isn’t racist, sexist, heterosexist, violent, hierarchical, or consumeristic. Imagine what your ideal society would be like – egalitarian, consensual, respectful, etc AND MAKE IT SO. Changing the whole world is an admirable goal but it’s too big for most people, so start with 20 people and see how far you can get.
That is what the Technicolor Tree Tribe is to me. It is an experiment in creating a different kind of society, and the on-going outcomes of the experiment are incredibly important lessons: we learn how much the culture in which we were born affects us even if we consciously reject it; we learn how difficult it can be to even identify oppression, let alone eliminate it; we realize how much time and energy it takes to educate ourselves; and we learn how to create safe spaces for ourselves within the larger community which may or may not feel supportive at any given moment. Taking advantage of where you are living right now is so important – please, please do not take the co-op for granted. It’s not perfect – it never will be – but just remember how much more fun and mind-expanding it is compared to your other current options, and try to imagine how much time and effort previous coopers have put in to keep it going. Having a communal house this big is not easy logistically, financially, or emotionally. But it is worth it if you make it worth it. Please embrace it, expand it, and love it. USC needs it, LA needs it, all of us need it.
I have spent the last two and a half years of my life thinking more about our house than about anything else in my life – seriously. It has been all-consuming for me, and though I’m excited to leave and do some informal research on other communities to get a better understanding of the larger intentional communities movement, I will always adore the Technicolor Tree Tribe like family – even when no one knows me anymore (perhaps even more then!) I have accumulated a satisfying wealth of good memories, weird memories, fuzzy memories… and I can only hope that everyone else who leaves our house leaves with as much joy and satisfaction.
THANK YOU to all the previous Tribe members for putting in so much blood, sweat and tears
Tani Ikeda
Reina Fukuda
Sunny Yang
Bryan Susman
Teddy Raven
Erin Christovale
Alex Shams
Iris Fung
Laila Ekboir
Charlie Furman
Mitch Graw
Taylor Ganz
Donnie Pepper
Dru Pollini
Taylor Webb
Manpreet Sadhal
Nicole Hummel
Noelle Miller
Kellee Matsushita
Daniel Alexander
Payam Pakbin
Jacob Jensen
Patrick Keller
Erin Hern
Ali Bissonette
Carlo Adorno
Caroline Caselli
Teresa Cheng
Rafaela Luna-Pizarro
Zebah Pinkham
Wave Melen
Strawberry Raskin
Drew Peltier
Joanna Stulting
Sara Smith
Katie Wilde
Anna Mkhikian
Rachel Finfer
Hannah Wong
Angie Hermes
Hestia Rojas
Daniel Estevao
Adam Werner
Kevin Daley
Alicia Liang
Gerardo Inzunza Higuera
Andy Bunting
Laura Simmons
Gale Bartkiewicz
Max Hoilland
Toni Cannon
Sonya Collier
Brian Peachy
Michaela Wagner
Kadhja Bonet
Emma Sheffer
Rachel Yukimura
Max Bittman
Willoughby RIP
Rascal
Mana
Puppy/Gandalf
Voltaire
Coby
Chin Chin
Bubbles RIP
George
Ducky
Daisy
Beyonce
Oreo
Chub Chub RIP
the hampster RIP
Clementine
Radagast
Van Buren
Angie’s beta fish
Toni and Sonya’s parakeet
and THANK YOU to all the future co-op members for keeping the community alive!
Peace and love always,
Rachel Y.
Some additional wonderful books about counterculture, gender, sexuality, utopia, race, living together, and revolution I’ ve read since living at the co-op:
The Children of the Counterculture, John Rothchild
The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Theory, Carol J. Adams
Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, ed. Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti
Island, Aldous Huxley
Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity, ed. Mattilda
Fruit of the Motherland: Gender in an Egalitarian Society, Maria Lepowsky
Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex, and Power, ed. Shira Tarrant
Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg
Beloved, Toni Morrison
Gender Outlaw, Kate Bornstein
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion, Marshall B. Rosenberg
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex, ed. INCITE Women of Color Against Violence
O Au No Keia: Voices from Hawaii’s Mahu and Transgender Communities, Andrew Matzher
Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin
Triton, Samuel R. Delany
Even before I moved into it, the Coop was affecting the way I saw things. It is the people that make the space, and when we are all together, I think something special happens. Maybe it’s as simple as friendship. I’d like to think it is friendship mixed in with the political, with passion, drive and consciousness. I don’t know how much of that is a fantasy and how much a reality. I do know though that there are very few places in my life that have been as thoughtful and lovingly critical as the Co-op has been. Throughout this year, though the personal transformation I have undergone has been less radical than I’d thought and hoped it would be, the coop has framed the kind of personal and political growth that will stay with me and continue to shape me forever. And I realize now that it is a change that has to come from myself, from personal research, and awareness.
This space has been from the get go, a place of music and art. Living with so many other artists has inspired my own art. The following are two poems that I have written about, or have been directly inspired by the co-op. Feel free to use one or both or parts of them!
You are the sonata to my ear ache.
You are the Picasso to my blind spot.
You are the wheel throwing to my insensitivity.
You are the Galileo to my apathy.
You are the nonsensical to my dictionary.
You are the cooperative to my prison bars.
You are the minnow to my cornucopia.
You are the encyclopedia to my pile of tattered rags.
You are the percussion symphony to my fish patties.
You are the electricity to my quivering desires.
You are the fruit medley to my guitar solo.
You bond the fanciful to my questionnaire.
The first of many houses
Music travels easily through these walls; the
Rising xylophone of Rachel’s laugher, and
The thud of bodies jumping up the
Stairs. Conversations come and go
Like speeding cars on a highway:
They are a distant hum at the porch,
They build force in the hallway,
They crescendo at the living room door.
Visions travel quickly down these halls. The
silhouettes of blackbirds soar across the walls,
wings beating like drums. Witches, and quetzals
have kept watch over my bedside, have
visited me in my dreams.
In the garden, an old ghost woman stands like a tree,
feeding tears into the soil. On warm nights,
she comes alive and whispers stories
into the wind. She dances between
the carrots and the tomato plant,
in little rhythmic, trembling steps
pressing seeds into the soil as she goes.
Laila
alright. here are a few things the co-op taught me.
* community is more important than cleanliness and chores (but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your chores)
* give
* support people in their endeavors outside of the house as much as possible
* learning to listen instead of waiting for your turn to speak
* learning to speak in a way that is adding something new to the conversation
* learning that i always have something to learn
* communal cooking (in mass quantities) is the only way to live
Something that I noticed during the summer after I moved out of the house made me realize just how valuable the community/space of the house really is. This might sound kind of contrived, but it really did get me thinking about what is important to me in life – the things that I value without realizing it. When I lived in the house, I very, very rarely used stuff like Facebook, except to advertise events on campus (so it goes with student organizing…). I definitely never updated my status, rarely posted things about myself, or even wrote on other peoples’ walls. When I moved back home for the summer, though, (before moving to NY in August), I found myself on Facebook, actively using it, much more frequently. Part of this may have been a result of just having more free time, but I realized that one of the biggest reasons I started doing this was because I just wanted to share things that were going on in my life. When I lived in the house, if something exciting happened, I could come home and there would be at least five people around whom I could tell about whatever happened. I had a very real community of people with whom I could share my life and the things that I cared about. During the summer, though, with significantly fewer people around in my parents’ house, I had to find another way to share with people – so I wound up trying to use internet communities as a surrogate. Let me tell you… it’s significantly less satisfying, and nowhere near as meaningful as having real interactions with people. I know this sounds obvious, but it was a very real experience of not knowing what I had until it was gone.
So I guess what I’m trying to say is, there are probably things about the house, or your life, or the world, that you love and appreciate without noticing that they are there. Just think of them as wonderful surprises that are waiting for you as you move on in life.
1. What you remember about your first encounter with the Co-op or why you wanted to move in and what your expectations were
my expectations involved a lot of art, a lot of tripping together, and a lot of sex. all of those things happen, but never really in the way i expect them to. we need to bring menstrual art back into the scene. i think that’s the most radical feminist thing we have ever done, and it was AWESOME.
2. A story (i know there’s one about someone falling through the ceiling from way back when)
brian did fall thru the ceiling, back at the old house when we had a great sweat lodge-style attic. there was a big gaping hole in the ceiling above the stairs for quite a while…
oh there are so many stories, how do you choose one? how about the story of Mana Gets Spayed? ok, so we found this tiny kitten on the street a couple years ago (has it really been that long?) and took her in… we still think of her and treat her as a baby, but lo and behold she grew up and realized her sexuality as we all do one day, and started meuwing at the windows day in and day out. and we found this black cat outside every day, lurking around, caterwauling back to her. something i love about our co-op is how many non-human animals have become members of the house. all in all we’ve had four cats, 6 chicks/4 chickens and a rooster, and clementine (the snake). i think this is kind of unusual for a mostly-students’ house, and it definitely makes the house a home for me and many others. the animals also remind us of our responsibilities, because when you have a cat in heat you cannot ignore her! we ended up having to keep her in the house for a week or so, which was difficult cuz everyone’s used to leaving all the doors open all the time, and we took her to the vet as soon as we could. i remember the person who took her told the vet that she was in heat, and the vet’s response was this really ominous “well we’ll take care of that” as he whisked her away. geez!
3. Things that were frustrating about the Co-op
a) there are some people who never clean up after themselves,
b) we try to make addressing issues of oppression central to our collective identity, but there will always be sexism, racism, homophobia, etc,
c) you are NEVER alone. not even when you’re the only one home, cuz wait five minutes and someone’s going to come home. this is both a pro and a con. i used to think that i was the kind of person who liked to be surrounded by people all the time. but i’d never lived in a communal house before, and my first semester i was rooming with two others in a space that was treated as common space. it’s a beautiful thing to feel a part of a big family, and doing things together (meals etc) is very fulfilling and joyous. but alone time is important too, at least for most people. my advice in this department is to get to know the roof really well. on clear days it’s a spectacular view.
4. How I met…(first time you met someone at the house)
this isn’t exactly “at the house,” but i met payam thru the outdoors club — i rode in his car to a camping trip in… malibu maybe? we spent the entire drive smoking and the entire camping trip drinking. someone peed all over their tent. it was THAT kind of camping trip.
5. Most important things for future co-op ppl. to know (from cleanliness to quotas)
just remember what your INTENT is in this INTENTIONAL community! realize that everyone’s intent is going to be a little (or a lot) different. the goal is to find the things you all agree with and rally around those. remember you are a chosen family. treat housemates who you don’t know well yet as cousins you’ve just met and are destined and determined to get to know well.
6. Why it’s important for the house to exist…
…because USC desperately needs it! the technicolor tree tribe is a colorful oasis in a desert of conservatism. i think it’s important to visit other schools’ co-ops and see how they do it. some schools (berkeley, stanford) are very open to students living communally and making change in their communities thru their houses. usc isn’t that kind of place. if you want a safe space for yourself, you have to build it… this is the first step.
Dearest new members of the beautiful house of love,
The Coop is not just a place where people make bird names and discuss the finer points of ethnicity. It is a place where anyone can come and find a beautiful, welcoming environment. You hold in your hands a precious and unique opportunity to promote love and acceptance among all. Do not abuse that privilege. Our world needs you to laugh at stupid things, to cook delicious dishes, and to be a united whole.
Thank you for carrying on the coop. Value its traditions. Spread its joy. And smile like it was your job. A smile can change lives, and the smiles (and hugs) I received from my fellow coopers changed mine. Please never forget to smile. It makes all the difference.
Much love and peace
ali
1. What you remember about your first encounter with the Co-op or why you wanted to move in and what your expectations were?
The co-op was a dream revealed. After years of trudging around USC, wandering, looking for a place to rest my hippie-heart, I finally was able to help bring about a change. Many of us “political” kids were really struggling to keep our organizations alive as it was the Beginning of the Bush reign and nobody knew what was coming. And then it all started. I expected to find a group of people who were willing to have no Tv’s in the house, who were willing to organize social movements AND create a social movement of its own. I had travelled to the Enchanted Broccoli Forest at Stanford and it was soon after that I received a phrase that came to me, and I believe I said it to Taygroove :Technicolor Tree Tribe. Taylor and Payam agreed that it sounded cool and we didnt think much of it. And here it is. Thank you to Noelle and Manpreet and Nicole for really bringing this into reality.
2. A story (i know there’s one about someone falling through the ceiling from way back when)
Not only did Brian Peachy fall through the ceiling, he also flushed a huge giant bottle of sun screen down the toilet.
The summer that Strawberry, Augie, Taylor, Payam and myself lived there was crazy! We turned that place into a jungle. Taylor and Max and I surfed that summer, and we made about 1000 pot brownies and sold them on Venice. One night, Payam and myself and perhaps some others dragged a couch out onto the Roof. We also dragged a family room into the front yard and spent much of the summer in our newly redecorated front yard with the Hooka. As the summer came to a close, we were asked to bring this stuff outside. Not too long after, a free piano was left on the street, and the neighbors helped us move it inside.
My other favorite memories include when Andi Bunting would come around having already graduated and sit on the couch all day smoking whatever he could find being and distracting the rest of us from school. I missed many a classwhile he was around making snarky comments.
3. Things that were frustrating about the Co-op
I think the frustrating thing about the Co-op is the fact that it is so insulated. But that is the result of living in a self-sustaining community. its ok then.
4. How I met…(first time you met someone at the house)
HArd question. I remember meeting you (Michaela) when you came over for an outdoors club meeting perhaps? And I stalked you and Told you that you had to live there or else. That this place would save you, as it would save us all.
5. Most important things for future co-op ppl. to know
This is not a frat house. This is not a party house (at least not solely
This is a SAFE HAVEN for hippies, freaks, geeks, pushers, rousers, paradigm shifters and shakers, activists, socialists, queer, straight, fluid, colorful, poly-futuristic robots, yoga-freaks, alternative, artists, suffragists, poly-everything, pagan, earth loving, dirt eating, naked, anarchists, farming, ufo enthusiasts, musicians, hula hoopers, politicos, outsiders, tree-hugging, trippy, consciousness expanders, crystal lovers, freedom thinkers, pacifist, bicycling avatar’s and it is to be no other way!!! Please insert any other necessary words.
6. Why it’s important for the house to exist…
Before this house, there was an empty hole that people of our persuasion were sad about and would be forced to attend events and parties where the Basic Concept was the Default
World. Now, the co-op shaped hole is filled, and we are a happy bunch, not being forced to accept said Default World. This is the most important occurrence to happen at a University. Every other college campus in California has a Co-op that has been successful for tens of years, It is OVERDUE here at USC. “What better place than here? What better time than now?”
-Possibly the first real connection I had with those who would
eventually form the coop was peeing in kitty litter while sitting in
President Sample’s office in an attempt to persuade the administration
to adopt fairer labor provisions.
-I simply would not have finished school at USC without the coop. It
took the love of all of my new family members to convince me that it
was all worth it.
-There’s simply no other place where you can come back and spend a
month sleeping in a hammock in the back-yard.
-You are all our future
-Movie Screenings with home-popped popcorn!-I miss the cooking schedule more than I could have ever thought possible.
good luck!
max
