MHSS - March 2010 house blog

(written by Rachael)

Inter-house Collaboration - In what capacity does your Moishe House collaborate with other Houses? What are your ideas for new ways to collaborate with other Moishe Houses? How will this benefit your community? Feel free to think outside the box on this one and envision ways to utilize our global network.

MHSS & working with other houses: past / current

Our current and past collaboration with other houses is and has been permissible only by individual and isolated intention and desire, corresponding schedules, and geographic proximity. Without a command / demand from "on high" (MHHQ) to interact with one another, it's been my experience that it's up to individual members of individual houses to 1. have the desire and 2. make the time to reach out to other individual members of other individual houses. It's a tricky situation to address: what infrastructure and support can MHHQ provide to further, to allow, to facilitate collaboration between the houses while retaining and maintaining what may very well be Moishe House's strongest asset: organic autonomy? (I personally prefer a loose affiliation to forced parameters and would rather sacrifice my long-held desire to strengthen inter-house connections in order to preserve autonomy and individualism in each house.) The whole situation reminds me a bit of a forced playdate: instead of making kids play together (-- you'll be friends, and you'll LIKE it! --), a parent faces two options: leave the kids to their own devices (and hope the kids discover one another and hit it off), or try to facilitate a friendship (subtly, or the efforts may backfire).

Current collaboration: MH Hoboken has been most responsive to (& also put forth the most initiative in) collaboration efforts, though we (MHSS) have co-hosted a couple programs that have taken place at MHDC. Mostly includes discussing ideas and working through obstacles regarding both individual houses and the greater MH network, visiting one another's MHs, and planning multi-house events (ie: beach, camping). Currently looking towards a camping trip during Memorial Day Weekend.

Fantasized inter-house collaboration: (all of this house-to-house w/ MHHQ support; none MHHQ-to-house)
- committee of reps from various houses to welcome new houses, new MHers, serve as personal resources
- Big Bro / Big Sis -- MHers, MHs
- MH care packages
- MH chat room (3: residents; residents & alumni; res, alum, & community members)
- MH national tour (house to house) (MH Passport -- Collect All 10!)
- MH exchange -- individual or whole-house
- MH remake -- redecorate a room of another MH
- MH Beach Week / beach house
- Mobile MH (as in, van) (or iPhone app...)
- Beach MH
- [sing] "...and many more!"
- ...and, no reputable national or international organization is complete without their own internal.......Beauty Contest! (Miss Moishe House International 2010!) (I can just see them all kvelling now....)