MIT LMF Fall 2024 Report

 Introduction 

The 2024 fall semester for LMF was eventful. We welcomed 9 2028s, 2 2027s, and 2 2025s. The semester began with the 50th anniversary reunion, and concluded with Dîner de Nöel. Although the 2024s graduated in May, seeing many of them come back and visit us in December was wonderful! 

LMF 50th Anniversary Reunion 

Although LMF had its 50th anniversary celebration in May during Tech Reunions weekend, I decided to organize a second reunion during the Labor Day weekend for the residents and other alums. We had around 25 people attend the event, and it was a pleasure to see some alums come to the event (Jim '76, Barbara '76, Dan '78, Keith '03, Allison '09). There was cake, snacks, and refreshments in the MPR, then a house tour for the alums, since New House got renovated in the 2017-2018 school year. 

Half-sheet cake for the celebration 

It was fun to hear the alums share stories of their times at LMF, and learn how much LMF has changed over the last 50 years, from our first year in Ashdown with German House in 1974 to the present day. A fun fact is that Jim and Barbara are the first LMF couple! 

A group photo of the LMF 50th anniversary reunion

LMF Wedding 

Daniela '18 and Jakob '20 got married this summer by the ocean, which makes them the 14th LMF marriage! Cece '21 was the officiant. We can't wait to hear about future LMF marriages in the coming years! 

Wedding photo of Daniela and Jakob 

Wet Wednesday 

On Wednesday 9/11, German House invited LMF and La Casa to their Wet Wednesday mixer that happened from 10-1 a.m. Around 10 LMF residents attended the social event. The event was kind of loud and chaotic, but it was nice getting to know other cultural house residents. Our social batteries were on the lower end though, and we ended up just chatting in the New House courtyard. 

2028s Day Trip 

The 2028s organized a Newburyport day trip during the long weekend in mid-October. The group took the commuter rail, and explored the shops in the town. Some highlights of the trip included strolling around a fancy olive oil and vinegar store, getting ice cream, and having fun! 

Top row (left to right): Giani '28, Jacob '28, Libi '28

Bottom row (left to right): Alysha '28, Fiona '28

Fall Retreat 

 During Veteran's Day weekend, 12 LMF residents went to Vermont. Christian '27 and Greta '27 organized the retreat, and everyone had a great time. Here is what Christian '27 has to share about the trip: 

For the fall retreat, we rented 3 cars and went with 12 people to hike the Lonesome Lake Trail in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. We left Friday morning and stopped by a restaurant along the way for some quick food and then made it to the White Mountains after another hour. We hiked the trail, it was really pretty and as we kept going higher and higher, more and more snow appeared which was cool.

 Eventually, we got to the lake for which the trail was named and it was beautiful. We took a bunch of pictures and then started going down. Eventually, we got everyone and made it to the Airbnb which was in Vermont. We made dinner, watched movies, made smores, and just had a good time. We left early the next morning after making breakfast and then went back to the white mountains to stop by a scenic waterfall. Then we came home and made it back around 5 pm on Saturday. 

Dinner Plate 

One new thing that LMF has started doing this semester is taking dinner plate pictures, 0.5x lens portraits in which the head chef takes a picture of their plate. Zoomed-in shots of the plate were also taken. Social media chairs Eileen '26 and Greta '27 started the idea, and it quickly became part of cook team. As a result, the #dinner channel on the LMF slack is more populated, and there is more visual documentation of the meals that people cook in LMF, which is great! The dinner plate photos were also posted on the MIT LMF Instagram account at mit_lmf. 

Teo's '26 British food menu 

Giani's '28 Uruguayan food menu 

Thanksgiving 

Although the majority of LMF residents went back home for Thanksgiving, about a third stayed on campus. An LMF friendsgiving happened on Thanksgiving, which had a lot of good food, from Tobi's '26  pies to Teo's '26 large Swedish sandwich. Although turkey was not served at the friendsgiving, there was steamed fish. 

On Saturday, Kate '25 invited some LMF residents to her family's friendsgiving. Delicious Thanksgiving food was served at the event, which included Turkey and mashed potatoes. After the meal, the residents got to explore Kate's house. Overall, it was great to leave the MIT bubble and spend time with Kate's family and friends. 

Thanksgiving food at the Ellison's 

December Holiday Treat Challenge 

Tobi '26 started the December holiday treat challenge, which began on 12/1 and ended on 12/21. Each day was a different dessert. Although the majority of the desserts were cookies, there were also other desserts such as Fiona's '28 matcha pistachio muffins (swamp bread) and Alysha's '28 gluten-free chocolate lava cake. Many LMF residents participated in the challenge, and it was great to try a vast array of desserts, from the churro cheesecake cookie that Eileen '26 baked to the brown butter chai cookies that Anita '28 made. Overall, it was impressive to see LMF residents put their baking skills to the test. 

Another nice aspect of the challenge was that it added some festive spirit to the environment, especially the cookie decorating event and the gingerbread man cookies on the last day of finals. I hope this challenge returns in the next coming years and becomes a LMF tradition! 

Dîner de Nöel

This year's dîner went well! We had a total of 11 alums (2 2022s, 9 2024s) attend dîner, which is a record turnout. Teo '26 was the head chef, and Fiona '28 was the sous chef. The two did a fabulous job of planning the event. There were a lot of dishes, including many desserts such as the classic bûche de nöel and basque cheesecake. Unlike previous years, we did chicken skewers instead of roasted duck/turkey for the main meat dish. The chicken skewers were a success! 

Group photo of 2024-2025 LMF residents at dîner

Although dîner itself was memorable, what was just as or even more memorable was the cooking that happened before dîner. Maya '26 was responsible for the hummus, which required boiling a large quantity of chickpeas to serve over 50 people. Maya used a pressure cooker to speed up the boiling process for some time, and then released steam from the pressure cooker. What followed was incessant steam that made the hood grates and the electric stovetop wet. Thankfully, the steam eventually came to an end and the electric stovetop worked despite the water buildup. 

A video of the pressure cooker incident

Another chaotic cooking incident was the chicken skewers. The chicken skewers were fried on a pan, and this led to a lot of smoke, so much that it went to the dining section of the kitchen. Lowell '26 had to hold up a fan near the stove to drive away the smoke. Thankfully, the chicken skewers did not result in setting off the fire alarm. 

Conclusion 

This may sound like the introduction, but a lot of events happened this semester. Like the alums, I still find it slightly crazy that LMF is 50 years old. We have had LMF siblings, LMF mom/daughter pair, LMF married couples, the list goes on. I have no idea what LMF will look like in the next 25 or 50 years, but I hope that the cooking/baking traditions and sense of community remain strong after all of us graduate. 

Stories from LMF Alums

On Thursday, May 30, around 25 LMF alums attended the LMF 50th anniversary online reunion on Zoom. Attendees came from various class years, from 1976 to 2020. Hearing alums share all kinds of stories was a great and enriching experience. Although Zoom isn't the same as in-person, the reunion was fun and is something that LMF should do every year right around Tech Reunions, considering that not everyone can make it in person. 

This blog is a compilation of interesting stories alums shared. I did not transcribe the meeting, so the stories below are based on the notes I took. I am not sure how to organize these stories, but for simplicity's sake, I will organize them in chronological order based on people's graduating years. Unfortunately, this blog does not include all the interesting stories told in the Zoom reunion. Nevertheless, I think it's a good selection of stories. 

Barbara Miller '76 

What makes Barbara's story interesting is that she was originally in Russian House for two years, but decided to move to French House for her last two years. Barbara took Russian and French, and was "ready for change." Considering that the dorm community was founded in 1974, the early years of French House had few upperclassmen, as Barbara said that there were "four juniors that year."

 Construction of New House wasn't completed by the fall of 1974, so French House and German House stayed in Ashdown (now Maseeh) for the 1974-1975 academic year. French House and German House shared the same kitchen, but not surprisingly sat in separate rooms to eat. 

A funny story that Barbara shared is that French House and Russian House came together to invade German House because France and Russia were allies in World War II. At this time, WWII happened around 30 years ago, which meant that WWII was still considered as recent history for people in the 70s. 

Barbara met her husband Jim Miller '76 at French House, making them the first LMF couple! They enjoy long-distance cycling, and will bike across the U.S. this summer. 

Dan Halbert '78 

Dan was one of French House earliest residents and lived in Ashdown his first year. He jokingly said that French House "outnumbered the Germans quickly" in Ashdown, so it was called French-German House instead of the other way around. As the food steward, Dan went to the Stop N Shop along Memorial Drive (now Microcenter). Buying groceries was quite an ordeal, since he had to walk to the grocery store, fill the shopping cart with lots of groceries, then call the taxi to go back to New House. Nowadays, the food stewards order groceries online, which makes logistics easier. 

Jon Morrow '85

Jon talked about water games/wars in French House during his time, which we don't do nowadays. Back then, MIT had a tradition of "showering" the freshmen at the start of the school year, which meant surprising the freshmen by bringing them to the showers and getting them wet. He said that there was a "strict social code that you could not get water in people's room, but everything else was fair game." Jon also mentioned that people used rubber hoses and surgical tubing to make "industrial" water balloons, which could be "sprayed at the enemy." Although French House does not take part in that kind of tomfoolery nowadays, we still enjoy doing silly things such as meme posters. 

Another story Jon shared was how French House convinced the regional telephone company to install a telephone closet near the dining room in House 6 by convincing the company that New House was an apartment with a room number. While calling fees were expensive during this time, after 11 pm, they went down to "10 cents a minute," causing "everyone to use the phone during that time." Given that so many residents used the phone, the treasurer was also responsible for keeping track of people's phone bills. 

James Wooten '93

James discussed various things about French House, from French House's language requirement to French House's relation with the other language houses. 

Back in the old days, French House was a lot more serious about speaking French. French was spoken not only during dinners, but also in house meetings. French House held a French marathon, a language game in which the person who outlasted everyone else by only speaking French won the game. The basic rule was that the public area (kitchen, lounges) were French only. If you spoke "two words in a row in another language (except asking for definition)," you were out of the competition. The game ended up going on for several days, and finally ended when two residents were declared as winners. James credited Yves '94 as a great resource for French because Yves is a native French speaker. As Yves once said, "There's French French, and French House French." 

French House interacted quite a bit with German House and Spanish House, something that we should consider doing more in the future. French House shared a broken oar with Spanish House because French House and Spanish House had a joint intramural crew team. Spanish House liked taking the broken oar, causing French House to go to Spanish House every Friday at midnight to get the oar back. In terms of German House, French House shared a border with German House that was nicknamed the "Alsace" stairwell boundary because Alsace is a region in France that borders Germany. 

One memorable dish James made that Krista '93 said was the "best dessert ever" was a dessert he learned from his grandma. Consisting of four layers, the dessert contained butter, pecans, flour, cream cheese, and chocolate pudding. I wish I had an image of the dessert in my mind, but based on James' description, I can agree with Krista that it must be a delicious dessert. 

Allison Patton '09

Allison shared a hilarious story about a German House prank that caused a lot of French House German House drama to the point that French House president Michael '09 considered talking to the housemaster about the situation. In the wee hours of the morning, German House removed the shower doors in the French House bathrooms. This angered the French House residents because they couldn't shower, though German House assumed that French House residents would go somewhere else like German House to shower. The incident led to a very long email thread, which involved calling for a "peace summit" with German House. 

Daniel Levine '12 

Active in Dormcon, Daniel helped convince HRS to renovate the kitchens in New House, because back then the kitchens were smaller and unideal for cooking large meals. New House didn't undergo major renovations during this time, but the kitchens were renovated before the building renovation in 2017. 

Daniel said something about the French House experience that struck me for being reminiscent: "French House was a very formative part of my life. It was so in the moment and felt like a timeless thing. But you are gone after four years and everything is different." 

Alan Xu '13

Alan shared a funny memory about an interhouse event that a German House resident organized. The event was "Swiss-themed" because Switzerland speaks French and German. The guy in German House got stinky blue cheese that took up the entire fridge, which had a pungent smell. 

An interesting fact is that Alan introduced the French House GRA opportunity to Rebecca Kleinberger, a PhD student at the Media Lab. Rebecca was a great GRA and helped with the move out of LMF in March 2020 when COVID was declared an emergency. Uyen '22 remembers Rebecca for her fun charcuterie board event. 

Jesse Chang '18 

Jesse shared a lot of insightful information about what it was like to experience the New House renovations in the 2017-2018 school year. None of us current residents saw New House pre-renovations, but New House was structurally quite different compared to now. Before, New House allowed each house to paint a section of the column on the ground floor. Now, New House doesn't allow murals. 

As part of the negotiations between houses, French House moved from the fifth floor of towers 5 and 6 to the fourth floor of towers 1, 2, and 3. The renovations have connected all the towers, which makes the numbering of them outdated. In other words, current French House occupies the eastern side of the fourth floor. Although the renovation year had challenges, French House was fortunate to stay in New House during this time, though this meant having to move from towers 5/6 to 1/2 during IAP. For context, renovations were staggered, so parts of New House were still inhabited. 

Conclusion

LMF has a rich history of 50 years, from its early days to recent years. It was wonderful to hear people share all kinds of stories, from the German House rivalry to memorable meals. I will be graduating in a year, which means that I will step down from historian in 2025. Despite this, I hope that my interest in learning about French House's past will be passed down to future class years. 

MIT LMF Spring 2024 Report

Introduction

Hello, this is Vivian '25, the current historian of LMF. I can't believe that the school year has gone by so quickly, and that LMF is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! As always, lots of interesting things happen in LMF, so I thought it was important to document them in this blog. 

Broccoli Menu 

Teo was the head chef for the broccoli menu, and they made many posters to make us excited for the event. Unlike last year, there was no broccoli war (posters from the opposition party). The entire kitchen was filled with festive decorations, including green balloons, green tablecloths, and green streamers. 

Caption: broccoli quiche 

Caption: featuring Alfonso's sister Miriam 

LMF/La Casa Social 

In March, LMF and La Casa had an interhouse social, which was very fun! LMF residents went to the La Casa kitchen to have wine and cheese. The charcuterie board was wonderful, and there was a lot of food. Before food was served, there was a competition in which one representative from La Casa and another from LMF had to close their eyes and guess the type of cheese based on the taste. I participated, and I had no idea what type of cheese I had. I don't remember if there was a clear winner, but the competition was fun. Overall, the event was wonderful because we got to talk to La Casa residents and have conversations on all sorts of things. 

Solar Eclipse 

A group of 7 LMF residents drove for many hours to see the solar eclipse in Vermont. The trip involved first taking the commuter rail to Newburyport, then picking up the rental car from Newburyport to go to the path of totality. The commute time was very long, but people had a memorable time. Another cool thing is that they ended up crossing the Canadian border! 

Caption: U.S. Canada border. Photo courtesy of Ivy Liu '24 

Meme Posters

As usual, a 2026 made some interesting posters of some residents. Some of them had to do with elections, others were inside jokes from a spring break trip, and the rest were just plain tomfoolery. While poster-making last year was primarily you-know-who's behavior, this year we had contributions from other residents, including Alfonso '24. Will this semester's pattern of making meme posters become a tradition as ingrained as jotting down quotes or making charts? The answer isn't certain, but there's definitely a chance, depending on what LMF looks like in the next 5 or 10 years. 

Top row (left to right): Alfonso '24 and Dien '24 vs. Brian Smith, Teo '26 for LMF president, QR code for LMF Spotify playlist 

Center row (left to right): Melissa '24 photoshopped with Kim Jong Un's bodyguards, Fiona '24 a.k.a. 'lil banh', Melissa '24 for environment chair (but is graduating) 

Bottom row: Andrew '24 a.k.a. 'lil bao', Kimi '24 and Alfonso '24 parody Valley Girl, photoshopped NYT headline featuring Kate '25, Alfonso '24 ur mom meme 

Senior Menus 

What makes the 2023-2024 academic year interesting for French House is the large graduating class consisting of 13 seniors. As a result, LMF had lots of nice dinners this semester. Unlike previous years, some LMF residents made nice posters for their menus and printed them. It was wonderful to eat a diverse range of foods, from Dien's Vietnamese menu to Melissa's Mediterranean menu. 

Caption (top to bottom): Melissa's Mediterranean menu, Melbourne's best of LMF menu, Dien's Vietnamese menu

Another thing I appreciated about the menus was how much effort the seniors put into preparing their menus and how creative they were with designing the menus. For instance, Ivy and Alfonso used the grills in the New House courtyard. Another interesting meal was Melissa's because instead of serving ourselves by lining up for food, we sat at the table for a three-course meal. Last but not least, it was cool that Melbourne invited music lecturer Dr. Teresa Neff for dinner, something we haven't done in a very long time. Bringing faculty and instructional staff to French House dinners is something we should consider doing in the future! 

Senior Brunch 

As stated before, there are 13 2024s in LMF, which means that senior brunch had a record number of toasts. The toasts were touching and heartfelt, as some moved people to tears. After senior brunch, Alfonso '24 and Kimi '24 had their fake wedding in the courtyard. Unfortunately, Eileen '26, an ordained minister, was not there to ordain the marriage, but it was great to see Alfonso 'propose' to Kimi. After the group pictures, LMF residents decided to run cross the busy Memorial Drive (not advised) to enjoy the Charles River. We will miss our seniors and wish them the best for the future! 

LMF Class of 2024 (left to right): Dien, Melbourne, Alfonso, Melissa, Fiona, Christy, Lingyi, Clara, Kimi, Nicole, Ivy, Andrew. Not pictured: Lennie  

Alfonso and Kimi 

Archives in the Lounge 

As a good historian, I decided to rummage through the quiet lounge after finals ended because a couple of LMF residents found an old scrapbook in the middle of the semester. Besides uncovering the 1986-1988 scrapbook that had over 200 photos, I found the following documents in some binders and folders: 

• Meeting minutes from the 1995-1996 academic year 
• Email threads about the early days of LMF, as told by Dan Halbert '78 
• A thick binder of printed GRT applications in the late 90s
• Old constitutions of New House and French House 
• Postcards from the 1990s to the 2000s 
• Photo album with pictures from mid 2010s and late 2000s 
• LMF meeting quizzes in French, with responses in French 

Going through these documents was quite enriching, as I got to see how some things have stayed the same (nettoyages, gardes) while lots of things have gone through major changes. Honestly, I am kind of surprised we still have these old documents in the quiet lounge, and I am glad that we preserved them quite well. Unfortunately, I couldn't find documents after the 1990s, but it honestly may have to do with the rise of the internet and how we started using the LMF wiki in the mid 00s. 

50th Anniversary Reunions 

One main highlight of this semester was the LMF 50th anniversary reunion. There was a Zoom reunion on 5/30 Thursday, and an in-person reunion on 5/31 Friday. The combined attendance of these two events was over 60 people, and it was great to meet people across all the decades, from the earliest residents to recent grads. 

The Zoom reunion consisted of lots of storytelling, as well as a virtual house tour. The in-person event had lots of food, wonderful conversations, and a house tour. Dan Halbert '78 brought a selection of LMF documents from his days, and some alums like Kevin Wilson '99 wore their iconic Lambda Mu Phi shirts! 

Caption: LMF 50th anniversary reunion in the courtyard 

Caption: LMF documents from the 1970s, courtesy of Dan Halbert '78 

Caption: Costco half-sheet cake personalized for LMF 

Conclusion

Overall, the 2023-2024 spring semester for LMF was great! We not only made lots of great memories packed in a single semester, but also got to hear former residents recall past memories of LMF. Although LMF has changed a lot ever since 1974, one thing that has remained the same is how LMF is a tight-knit, friendly community. 

MIT LMF Fall 2023 Report

Summary 

Hello, this is Vivian, the LMF historian again on the LMF blog! Unfortunately, this fall semester was busy, so I didn't do much as a historian. Now that the semester is over, however, I have more time and hope to do more things as historian for the 2024 spring semester. Overall, this semester was great and many events happened in four months. 

New GRAs

We started the 2023-2024 academic year with two new GRAs, Miguel and Irene. Miguel is currently a physics PhD student, while Irene is a research technician at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. They are great GRAs, as they have hosted cheese and fruit study breaks and other fun events. 

Slang 

The most popular phrases people in LMF say include skill issue, cook, giving, etc. Alfonso '24 came up with the pun "skrill issue" and made an illustration that is now a custom Slack reaction sticker on our Slack channel. We also had the beloved "I want to krill myshelf" whale illustration on the board in the quiet lounge that sadly got erased. 

:skrill-issue: Slack custom sticker design, courtesy of Alfonso 

The beloved whale illustration  

LMF Slack Culture 

Going back to the custom "skrill issue" sticker, we also now have more custom LMF stickers that include the following people: 

Dien '24 for :drippy_dien: 

 

Alfonso '24 for :drip: 

Kimi '24 for :kimi_moment: 

Lila '25 for :gottablast: 

 LMF IM Soccer Team 

We gathered a dozen of LMF residents to form an intramural soccer team this fall! The last time we participated in IM was before COVID (League and badminton), so it is nice we are reviving the old LMF tradition of playing intramural sports. Melissa '24 helped form the team and coached residents on soccer. Overall, we had a great season with some wins!  

Pole 

In October, we purchased a pole and installed it near the menu pantry shelf in the kitchen. The pole isn't used all the time, but a couple of residents enjoy spinning on it and learning some tricks on the pole, which makes it a good way to relieve stress. 

Teo '26 and the rest of LMF installing the pole 

New Quiet Lounge 

Acquiring the new pole in the LMF kitchen meant moving one of the tables in the kitchen somewhere else, so we decided to place the table in the elevator lounge near the stairway exit. It's a great workspace and now the formerly empty board is filled with lively illustrations, words, equations, etc. 

Dien '24 diligently studying 

Mystery chart on the elevator lounge whiteboard 

Pumpkin Social 

The LMF social chairs hosted a pumpkin social in mid. October! Besides pumpkin carving, people made the following pumpkin recipes: 

• Creamy roasted pumpkin soup
• Pumpkin gochujang pasta
• Afghan pumpkin with yogurt and tomato sauce
• Pumpkin pie ice cream 
• Roasted pumpkin seeds 

Carved pumpkins 

Pumpkin pie 

Anson's Chart

Anson '26 started weekly charts on his whiteboard asking residents to put pins on the MIT campus map as a response to the question. Here are some of these charts: 

 

 

In November and December, the whiteboard now has Cartesian coordinates to plot ourselves. Some of  these charts can be found down below: 

LMF Wedding 

Jesse '18 and David '20 got married at the Museum of Science in late October! The wedding guests included recent LMF alums from the Class of 2018 to 2023. Keeping up with the LMF alum tradition, they sent us a postcard from their honeymoon in the South Padre Islands. We can't wait to hear other LMF weddings in the future :) 

Jesse and David married on 10/27/23 

Retreat 

A group of 15 LMF people went to Alton Bay, NH during the Veteran's Day long weekend! There were a total of three cars, each having their own itineraries. Some hiked at Mount Major while others went to Salem. The night at the cabin consisted of various activities, including playing games like Cards Against Humanity and roasting marshmallows at the fire pit. It is definitely an experience that won't be forgotten.

 LMF retreat dinner in the cabin 

LMF residents at the campfire roasting marshmallows 

LMF retreat 2023 group picture. Top row (left to right): Lowell '26, Alfonso '24, Kimi '24, Dien '24, Clara '24, Ivy '24, Nicole '24, Locke '27, Kailyn '26, Tobi '26. Bottom row (left to right): Bayo '24, Fiona '24, Greta '27, Vivian '25 

Iconic Menus 

Some menus that stood out this semester was Dien's pho menu and Kimi's dim sum menu. Dien's pho menu required preparation 24 hours in advance, as the pho broth needed to be on the stove for a long time. While we don't record attendance, Dien's menu was probably the highest attendance (30 or more people). Logistically, it was kind of challenging because it required a lot of bowls instead of plates, but it was still an excellent meal. 

Kimi's menu had the most dishes, as it was Kimi's senior menu. The menu had the following dishes: 

• Egg tart
• Sticky rice 
• Spare ribs
• Chicken feet 
• Tripe
• Tofu
• Chive pockets
• Siu mai
• Dumplings
• Smashed cucumbers
• Turnip cake

To prepare all these dishes, preparation started as early as 2 to 3 days before cook team on Monday. Not only that, but also a lot of people outside of cook team helped out with early preparation. Everyone enjoyed the diverse offerings as well as the food's delicious taste. 

Dîner de Nöel 

This year's Dîner was a success! We had lots of yummy dishes, such as the Buche de Noel and matcha cakes. One unforgettable part of Dîner was when Anson '26 revealed his gift for Eileen '26, the current LMF food steward. Anson first exited the Macgregor dining room, then ran back with a large poster of "Kim Ay Leen" (parody of Kim Jong Un) with a word bubble that said "Submit! Your! Menu!" The whole scene caused everyone to burst out laughing. 

The iconic poster now sits outside our quiet lounge 

Conclusion 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Thank you LMF residents for taking pictures, especially Anson!  While the role of the LMF historian is relatively new, I think it is a great idea moving forward that future historians write a summary of each semester to document some memorable events that happened in LMF. I know that I can't capture every single moment in a single blog, but I hope I was able to highlight some important events here. 

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. 

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.