LMF 2022-2023 Historian Report

Introduction: 

If you read the previous blog post titled "Events that Defined the 2022-2023 School Year," you probably already know who I am. But I will just reintroduce myself here briefly again. I am Vivian, the current LMF historian, a role that's pretty new as I started in January 2023. Previously, I was the MIT ESP (Educational Studies Program) historian and wanted to do something like that, but for LMF. I was curious to know how different LMF was in the past and how LMF changed from its early beginnings in 1974 to now. I also wanted to get to know LMF alums better because I find it unfortunate to see information get lost over time. 

After interviewing over a dozen of people from all the decades, I have gathered some information about LMF in the past. While some things have changed such as the amount of French spoken in the house, some things have stayed the same such as our cooking system. 

Findings:

French Language/Culture: 

For most of LMF history, entering members were expected to come in knowing how to speak some French. French was spoken during dinner unless there was a guest and at meetings. Past education chairs also enforced French marathons for immersion purposes. Around the late 00s to early 10s, however, being proficient in French was no longer a strict requirement for incoming residents. What mattered was whether residents had an interest in learning French. In the 2010s, the number of people who spoke French declined, with Sasha '16 saying that when she entered, she estimated it to be around 50% and by the time she graduated, it went down to around 25% (these are all approximations). Avi '18 also said that when he joined, French was more enforced. For instance, major emails were written in English and French, but this became less consistent over his time at LMF. 

Nowadays, French House pretty much speaks English, though Kate '25 tried implementing the concept of "5 minutes of French" during dinner last year. Unfortunately, things didn't turn out so well as it was met with awkward silence for half of the residents who didn't know French. 

In the future, I hope that we can reintroduce more French into LMF and encourage others to become budding Francophiles. Currently, there's a French expression of the week (thanks Teo '26) as well as a French piece of the week (something I started). Practicing some conversation starters and vocabulary at dinner would be a plus and help people like me with French pronunciation. 

Cooking Culture: 

This aspect of French House has remained constant except for some minor changes due to advances in technology like online food ordering. For most of LMF history, there was only one designated shopper (ministre de aliments) but sometime around the mid-2010s, LMF decided to have two food stewards, with Avi '18 and Sarah '17 being the first pair. Ever since then, this role involves two people. 

In the early days, groceries were purchased at the Stop N Shop on Memorial Drive that's now replaced by a Microcenter. Then, they were delivered back to the dorm by calling a taxi. The grocers we used have changed over time as we initially used Sysco, but then switched to other stores like Stop N Shop, S.S. Pierce (now Seneca Foods), Roche Bros, and now Wegmans plus other online services like Weee and Instacart. 

In regards to cooking, nothing much has changed. Before renovations, LMF only had around 25 residents, so cook teams had around 4-5 people. After renovations, LMF expanded to 32 residents, so cook teams have expanded to 5-6 people. Each meal is expected to have a starch, veg protein, meat protein, vegetable, and a dessert or drink if possible. Like the old days, people rotate cheffing duties and prepare their own menus that then get reviewed by the food steward, cook team starts at 4 PM, and dinner is served at 6:15 PM. 

Outside of dinner, LMF's culture of baking has also remained strong as the concept of "sactab" (short for sacrificial table) has existed for quite a while in which people bake with communal ingredients and put sweets on a designated table. In the past, there were pause cafés in which freshly baked goods were made around 9 PM. While we don't have a designated pause café, we do have birthday surprises at 10 PM or dinner, which do make good study breaks. 

I find it nice that LMF's cooking tradition has persisted to this day and I hope it will be the case many years down the road because it is at these countless dinners that I get to know the people at LMF better. 

General Culture: 

From my interviews, it seems that LMF overall wasn't the floor in New House known for partying or being loud. Mary '04 called LMF the "milk and cookies dorm." However, it seems like there was some time during the 80s to 90s when LMF threw parties more often. Janice '85 said that LMF was very close with Spanish House at that time and would party a lot. Although the people in LMF have various interests and different personalities, some common things they share include a love for cooking/baking (food!) and an interest in French language/culture. Another common theme is that LMF is a tight-knit community. 

Traditions: 

In the past, intramurals were a much bigger thing in French House and we played against German House in sports like baseball and soccer. We also played intramurals with Spanish House. According to Christine '86, we sang La Marseillaise and waved the French flag at intramural hockey. We also had a semiformal distinct from Dîner for a while and a Halloween party that involved wearing costumes, carving pumpkins, and having a good time. Before Talbot House (an MIT retreat house) closed, LMF did a trip to Talbot House in Vermont. 

Layout/Renovations: 

Before renovations, French House used to have French-themed murals. The most iconic one was the green Metro sign where we took our yearbook group pictures in LMF merch. There was also a nice river mural in the kitchen and some cute ones like Asterix and Le Petit Prince. For some time, we had a very old fridge painted as Le Petit Larousse. One of the fridges was named "Le Frigo Violé" for an unknown reason. Prior to cell phones, there was a telephone closet where people called their families and loved ones. Given that New House has an interesting corridor/suite structure, some of the "suites" had nicknames at that time, such as la maisonette in the 2010s. 

German House: 

Before renovations relocated French House to the other side of New House (currently the fourth floor of towers 1,2,3), LMF had a stronger relationship with German House. Up until 2017, French House occupied the fourth and fifth floor of Tower 6, while German House occupied the bottom. The pranks were more prevalent prior to the 2010s that involved all sorts of things from invading German House to switching their TV channel to France 5. Back when WWII was not too far in the past, LMF would proudly march around German House on VE Day. Despite the pranks, French House and German House were friendly rivals and close. 

Nowadays, we sadly don't really contact German House that much, though it would be nice to host inter-house events like study breaks or even an exchange dinner. The lack of proximity definitely plays a factor. 

LMF Marriages: 

From my dozen or so interviews, there have been more than 10 LMF marriages over the past 50 years of history, which means that there's probably one LMF couple that ends up getting married during one's time at LMF. This is a rough estimate and is probably not super accurate. This number is of course an undercount since I didn't interview people from every year to keep track. A fun fact is that the earliest one is Jim and Barbara Miller '76. An even crazier fact is that there's a mom and daughter pair who both lived in LMF - Christine LeBeau '86 and Elisa Boles '18! 

Conclusion: 

While things have definitely changed quite a bit in LMF, some things have stayed the same, whether it is people describing LMF as a tight-knit community or having home-cooked meals six times a week. Doing these interviews with alums from all the decades was so fun and I can't wait to hear more funny stories when alums come back for Dîner. LMF's 50th anniversary will happen next year, so we definitely should start thinking about what to do. 

Links: 

If you are curious about what the current LMF looks like, you can check out our website here. While we do have a Facebook page, we use Instagram more often now. Interviews, pictures, and other relevant documents can be found in this Dropbox folder. 

4177's Unhinged Charts 2022-23 (Part I)

Well would you look at that; the blog is back online!

A kind thanks to Vivian 25' for re-opening LMF's blog, it is truly an exciting time to have nothing better to do. 

In her last post, Vivian mentioned a somewhat "quirky" and "chaotic" class of 2026, words that I, as a member of said class can only describe as a gross understatement.  For you see dear reader, we are a rowdy, unpredictable bunch, with interests and talents of all shapes and sizes. But rather than describe our class to you, I think I'll show it. 

You see, about halfway through the year, I realized I could write dumb things on the whiteboard in the elevator lounge outside my room, and, better yet, if so inclined, other passers-by would also write on said board. So were born the chaotic charts of 4177. At LMF, we like to draw charts, categorizing our members in a wholesome, community-building activity.

Ratatouille, Fois gras, Paris, Provence, où êtes-vous ?

The charts outside my room, are the same, but uhh... stupider. We began quite simply, ranking... things... on a scale from "Omegalul" to "BIG." It is not the first time the hellish 8.012 would appear, and the characteristic unhinged arrows really add flavor to this and future charts. This chart, originally spawned from a one-off bit with Alfonso 24', grew into a tradition after Tobi 26' and Kailyn 26' expressed their appreciation (upper right).

Featuring a jab at the Mexican national soccer team, the best equation of 18.06, and a correct opinion about the fingering of Bb on clarinet

We continued with a more informative chart, helpfully telling LMF that in terms of self-fulfillment, trebuchets >> 20-2 pineapples (ask Anson 26') >> sleep >> yo mama. To say the least, the lack of trebuchets (and lack of sleep) that endured in the house indicated that this chart was at least a little underappreciated.

Only those with the best taste will understand that Posy #3 > Posy #4

The next chart continued our efforts to aid our house, providing a helpful tier list of breakfast foods. Fun fact: this chart is correct, if you disagree then you are quite simply wrong. Waffles, apples, and tea were, accurately, placed above scrambled eggs, coffee, and hot chocky, and foods from England were, rightfully banished to the bottom of the whiteboard. The chart while popular, continued to be in vain, LMF continued to, on average, wake half an hour before lecture, mozzy over to the communal fridge to consume last night's rice and curry, and sprint to building 10 to catch the last ten minutes of class. Alas and alack, for the breakfast foods we crave are oftentimes skipped by the hosed MIT student.

To clarify, we don't actually hate Britain here. It's just a bit.

Well, that is all for the moment, tune in for next post, featuring five more idiotic charts, and the second half of my slow descent into madness.

Au revoir!

Events that Defined LMF in 2022-2023

Hello, this is Vivian, the LMF historian and secretary! I am a member of the Class of 2025 and a Course 6-7. It has been 32 months since someone wrote a blog on this website, the last one written by another Vivian from the Class of 2020. For some context, I appointed myself the role of historian this year as I wanted to do an LMF history project that involved interviewing alums and gathering various documents of the past (pictures, videos, etc.). While a substantial part of the LMF history project has been completed as I have interviewed over a dozen alums from the Class of 1978 to 2020, I still have work to do, including documenting memorable events during the school year. 

The 2022-2023 school year went by quickly, and we welcomed a fun Class of 2026 that made LMF livelier and somewhat more chaotic. Here are some notable events that we probably won't forget many years down the road, each having its own eccentricities. 

Events: 

Random Hall LMF Milk (10/27/22 Thursday): 

On Thursday afternoon, a plastic bottle containing very old milk exploded in the kitchen. The horrible stench filled up the entire kitchen, causing cook team to move to the country kitchen to cook dinner. It took around a day for the smell to go away, so the kitchen was pretty much off-limits for the rest of the night. LMF used a fan and odor eliminators to resolve the issue. 

Slack chat history of the milk incident

How did this happen in the first place? According to Melbourne '24, the current LMF president, "The milk was in Frigo 1 for about a month till the end of September. Then it was taken out for fridge cleaning and the owner was notified." For some unknown reason, the milk in the plastic bottle was left on the windowsill. Either the owner or the person cleaning the fridge forgot about it. Over time, this bottle was forgotten and people never really thought of this suspicious-looking bottle as a problem. After being under the sun for a long time, the color turned from white to brown over time, so people weren't aware that the bottle originally contained milk and instead thought it was some liquid containing fertilizer for plants. Also, the stench was well-kept inside the plastic bottle and never leaked until the day when too much gas buildup inside the bottle and then it exploded. 

While this milk incident is not the same as Random Hall milk since we never stored it for future generations of LMF, nevertheless it is indeed a very interesting incident. The main takeaway is that if you see something strange that's rotting or decomposing, just throw it away. No questions asked. What if there will be another similar situation to this one in the future? We hope not. 

Mysterious Paper Scraps (11/19/22 Saturday): 

On Saturday morning, LMF residents saw something unusual on the quiet lounge table: many tiny scraps of paper covered with Maela's name in small font. The event may have been done in reaction to Maela's name being on each tiny whiteboard outside each room in LMF. Not surprisingly, this event really concerned Maela. To determine who the person was, people in LMF wrote on the quiet lounge whiteboard the names of residents and did process of elimination. The culprit turned out to be Anson '26 and he confessed to doing this for amusement and fun. 

The Broccoli War (week of 2/10/23 Friday): 

The first week of the 2023 spring semester started off in a rather unusual way. A week before 2/10/23 Friday, Teo '26 hung up some interesting posters that said "prepare yourself" to build some anticipation for their broccoli-themed menu. Nothing much happened until a few days before Friday when there were big posters that involved taping many printed pieces of paper together to make a big picture from the broccoli mosaic virus to a long document generated by chatGPT declaring broccoli to be bad and illegal.

   The ChatGPT-generated law in various languages 

The moldy broccoli 

A fat X over Teo's broccoli drawing 

These large-scale posters were made by Anson '26. Teo '26 retaliated by drawing a comic about how good broccoli is on the big whiteboard near their room as well as writing about how broccoli should be celebrated in LMF on the whiteboard outside the kitchen. 

Inspired by the Bible 

Writing broccoli on people's board 

Despite Anson's opposition to broccoli, the broccoli-themed menu was a success. To celebrate broccoli, there were many green balloons that hung around the LMF kitchen and green streamers. The menu consisted of the following items: 

Protein: Broccoli Quiché

Starch: Broccoli Farfelle

Vegetable 1: Roast Parmesan Broccoli

Vegetable 2: Sautéed Chili Broccoli

Side: Broccoli Cream Soup

The broccoli dinner

Teo wearing the broccoli crown 

CPW Decorations (4/13/23 Thursday to 4/15/23 Saturday): 

A few days before the start of CPW, the German House put their CPW events outside our kitchen as a small prank. Other communities in New House were also postering in various places around the dorm. But was there a more creative and attractive way to entice some prefrosh to come to LMF instead of other places in New House? Anson '26 was quite creative by creating an extremely long paper trail in the French colors of red, white, and blue. This trail started from the New House desk and went up from the first floor of Tower 1 to the outside of the LMF kitchen on the fourth floor. 

It is truly a wonder how the paper trail was taped and made. 

Face Morph Pictures (May): 

Anson '26 put a face morph picture of two roommates on the door of each double in LMF. The accuracy of each picture varied, with some looking 50/50 of each person while others looked more like one person over the other. Some faces looked real and familiar, like Melissa '23+1 and Ashley '23 's, while others looked like an AI generated one like Lila '25 and Kate '25 's. The face morph pictures were an amusing topic to discuss in the LMF kitchen. 

A face morph of Melissa '23+1 and Ashley '23

Conclusion: 

While this blog post doesn't cover some key events of LMF like Dîner de Nöel or Senior Brunch, the events covered in this blog are unique and memorable. I can't wait to see what will happen in my next two years at LMF with this community of wonderful people.