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.
