Black Elk Cooperative House

Our house was founded in 1986 and named for the Lakota Ogallala Sioux holy man Black Elk, who was born to a paternal lineage of shamans and has been an important source of information on Native American tribal traditions and Plains Indian spirituality. When he was nine years old he suffered from a life-threatening illness, during this time he had "the great vision" that took him to the spiritual center of the Lakota world where he was presented to the Six Grandfathers that symbolized Wakan Tanka or The Great Mysteriousness expressed in the powers of the four directions and of the earth and sky.

Community

Our house has a strong tradition of being a creative, festive community. Folks may have a fierce, emotionally charged debate about politics or culture, but the former factions may all end up cuddling together on the couch during the next hour. Besides giving the house members a unified sense of purpose, regularly scheduled dinners offer all members a chance to share news, gossip, and to keep track of each other's lives. Our members are active in a diverse group of social, political and cultural causes and activities, so living here is an excellent way to get to know more about campus and Ann Arbor life.

	Care to hang out? Our porch has held lots of memories over the years.	In our backyard is our spiral garden as well as fireplace with seats for our members.
Here is our kitchen...one of the few rooms in our house that isn't decked out with amazing murals, as you will soon see.	We have ample stove space for everyone to cook with.	We pride ourselves in being a vegetarian house. Look at all the different grains and beans we have to choose from!
In our common room can often be found a random assortment of instruments such as a piano, drum set, guitars, bongos, and more!	Check out our invisible space ship!	Upstairs in our living room we have a public computer and printer for our members to use. We also have wireless internet access for the whole house.
The living room provides a comfortable venue for our members to hang out with each other and socialize.	Here is another picture of one of our many murals!	An older photo. Here is the back of our living room.
Just in case you were wondering what our bathrooms might look like!	Just as in all co-op houses. We provide coin-free laundry to our members.	Black Elk also provides up to 9 parking spots for its members.

Responsibilities

At Black Elk our guiding ideology is that the house is no more than its members. Keeping our house running demands that members be actively involved in decision making and participate in the chores of the house. House members jointly share responsibility for proper functioning of the house, i.e. cooking, cleaning, maintenance, and budgeting expenses.

• Work: At the beginning of the semester, a Work Manager schedules chores necessary for maintenance of the house that will fit in with members' schedules and preferences. This includes cooking, cleaning common areas, dishwashing, and other chores members feel are necessary for maintaining the good condition of the house. Work responsibility for each member is 4 to 6 hours per week.
• Decision Making: At the first meeting of the Fall semester, members elect candidates to other positions necessary for management of house affairs. Some offices include:
  • House President - Elected in April for a 1 year term
  • Treasurer - responsible for preparing a budget for house member approval and collecting house charges.
  • Food Steward - responsible for ordering food and supplies and working with cooks to format weekly menu plans.
  • Composter/Recycler - responsible for recycling and environmental education.
  • Maintenance Manager - responsible for general house upkeep and repairs
• Additional: Attendance at the regularly scheduled meetings is vital to hear officer reports, to express concerns and praises, to iron out rifts, and in general, to keep track of the state of affairs. The key to living successfully at Black Elk is to bear in mind always that this house is what you make it.

The Lorax Mural!
Along the stair case you will see our mural paintaings from Dr. Seuss's story "The Lorax." These photos, however, do not do these murals justice!

Facilities

Since Fall 1995, we had a beautiful, newly renovated kitchen, with French doors leading to an outside deck. We have a nice front and back yard with communal flower and vegetable garden in the spring and summer. Each floor has an outside porch and the first floor front porch has a lovely, hand crafted porch swing. Our back porch looks out on our woodsy yard, garden, and performance area. We have a VCR and monitor in our basement common area for watching movies as a group (but no cable connection). We also have a redbrick fireplace in the second floor study area that draws people together during all hours of the day. There is also a brand new bathroom with a tub and shower that seats two!

The monthly budget covers, besides room and board, all utility costs, household supplies, bar soap, newspapers, and all other items the house members choose to budget for. Decisions regarding long distance telephone calls are determined at the beginning of the year.

Historical Photos

Conclusion