Thursday, February 6, 1997
At the Co-op, residents experience the ups and downs of living,
working and playing togetherBy Frances Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
Sometimes, you want to go where everybody knows your name.
Picture a cross between a kibbutz and Cheers, then throw in about
350 of your closest neighbors from every corner of the globe to
share in the unique experience of living, eating, studying, working
and sleeping  in separate beds  together.
It’s not the dorms, the Freemen compound or an underground
society that requires members to learn a secret handshake.
It’s not a commune of hippies clutching desperately to the
free-wheeling days of the ’70s nor is it a Tibetan monastery.
It’s a place where, in exchange for cheap rent and 19 meals a
week, residents must put in four hours worth of chores per
week.
It’s the Co-op on Landfair Avenue, a unique housing experience
where the tenants are not just renters but owners, members and
rule-makers of the University Cooperative Housing Association
(UCHA).
Far from being an artificially created, insulated environment of
banality and homogeneity, residents testify that living at the
Co-op can be a bumpy ride with many ups and downs. The mix of
people is eclectic, to say the least, and always interesting.
Students who prefer to spend their four, five or six years at
UCLA in hiding need not apply. Good social skills, an adventurous
spirit and a willingness to compromise are helpful at the Co-op. So
who, then, is a typical Co-op resident? No one, because there
really is no such thing as a "typical" Co-op dweller. Just ask what
Starr, Oscar and Alex think …
A few months after moving to Los Angeles from Chicago, Starr
Keilman got her nose pierced. Not because it was an "L.A. thing" to
do, but because "I always wanted to do it," Keilman said with a
smile.
She didn’t have the courage to do it alone, however, and
couldn’t find anyone to take her to get it done. In November,
Keilman went out with a friend from the Co-op and came back
sporting a nose ring.
A first-year psychobiology student, Keilman, 18, is also the
youngest person living in the Co-op. She’s a gregarious Diet Coke
addict and, watching her interact with other students at the Co-op,
it’s hard to believe she hated her first week here. But Keilman
attributes that to homesickness; now, she’s "grown to love the
diversity here."
"I ended up at the Co-op almost by accident," Keilman said,
explaining that the dorms ran out of housing. Not that she’s
complaining; after all, living at the Co-op does have its
advantages. There are no resident advisors, for starters, and since
the students make the rules, almost anything goes.
Living space is small, but that hasn’t stopped Keilman from
papering a wall with posters of her beloved Dennis Rodman or paying
homage to her favorite reptile.
"I have a slight turtle fetish," she confessed. Keilman’s turtle
paraphernalia is spread evenly over her side of the room. Turtle
candles, turtle posters, turtle figures  everything and
anything that can be made in the shape of a turtle has found its
way to Keilman.
But the amphibian plays second fiddle to her other passion, a
certain basketball player from her hometown of Chicago.
"I’m a little obsessed with Dennis Rodman," she said
sheepishly.
"Obsession" may be too strong a word. After all, every true fan
can recite Rodman’s milk ad verbatim, can’t they?
Oscar Boykin is a physics graduate student by day and a
rip-roaring disco king by night.
Sporting sideburns and a polyester wardrobe that would make any
self-respecting lounge lizard turn green with envy, Boykin could be
a relic from "Saturday Night Fever."
Or, he could be the boy next door.
Or a computer geek.
Or the really cool Physics 8A teaching assistant that everyone
would love to have.
Boykin is all of the above.
Originally from North Carolina, Boykin "came out here with no
particular place to live. I wanted to live in the dorms to get a
free Ethernet connection," he said but, like Keilman, Boykin ended
up at the Co-op because they ran out of housing.
Far from being the typical south campus denizen, Boykin enjoys
spending time exploring non-scientific pursuits. Whether he’s
playing his guitar (he used to be in a band), donning his leisure
suit to go disco dancing (that’s how he met his girlfriend) or
"working on my mad scientist image," Boykin is a mellow guy who
tries not to take himself too seriously.
But life is not all fun and games, especially for a grad
student. Wielding Darth Vader’s light saber, a Christmas gift from
a friend  "You can tell what kind of friends I have," he
grinned  Boykin described his typical day.
"I get up around 8:30, go to class late almost everyday, (come
back), pretend to do homework and procrastinate, eat, go to bed,
then do it all over again."
Looking apologetically at the mess in his room, Boykin
explained: "I tend to do all my homework on scrap sheets of paper,"
although he doesn’t "do as much homework as I should." With "Modern
Quantum Mechanics" and his guitar competing for attention, it’s not
hard to wonder why.
The first thing Alexandre Kral noticed when he looked out of the
airplane window in 1995 was the size of Los Angeles.
"I looked through the window and saw that huge city. Even a half
an hour later, we were still above the same city  that was
quite impressive," he said.
Kral’s first mistake when he arrived here from Brussels, Belgium
was deciding to take the bus  something most native Angelenos
would never do. Looking out into the city from the bus "reminded me
of (the TV show) ‘CHiPs,’" laughed Kral.
But Kral survived that harrowing experience, and he has settled
comfortably in Southern California. He has learned to surf, loves
the sun and has even tried his hand at modeling. Waxing
philosophical, Kral said, "I think in life, you have to try
different things and do what you want."
Even after two years here, Kral is still fascinated by the palm
trees that dot the Southern California landscape. "I like to see
the palm trees here. Even when I’m at school, I still feel like I’m
on vacation," he said.
A second-year electrical engineering student, Kral, 24, also
serves as president of the UCHA Board of Directors. His duties
include presiding over and organizing board meetings, deciding the
agendas and listening to people address their grievances. But
official duties aside, Kral is on bathroom detail this night Â
not even the president is exempt from scrubbing sinks in the
communal bathroom.
This is Kral’s second year at the Co-op, and he plans to live
here for the duration of his stay at UCLA. "It’s more comfortable
in an apartment," Kral noted, "but it’s lonely because you’re
isolated from people."
"The best thing about the Co-op is the social environment." he
said. "There’s always something to do, and it’s a good place for
foreign students to meet a lot of people."
If life is a journey, then living at the Co-op could probably be
described as a wacky trial run. It’s an adventure, according to
residents, and the lack of privacy can be annoying. But when all is
said and done, the Co-op experience is a positive one for most.
After all, where else on campus can you go where everybody knows
your name?
Clockwise, from top: Alex Kral fulfills his scheduled toilet
duties for his wing; Oscar Boykin surveys his wardrobe before
heading out for the night; Starr Keilman (left) catches up with a
friend; Nguyen Nguyen chats with friend Vanessa Craig on the
balcony of the Hardman-Hansen building, one of the Co-op complexes;
a student parks her bike in the courtyard.
Photos by GENEVIEVE LIANG/Daily Bruin